Jan 4/11; Volume 30/Number 14
By Ken Ryan
World Products Sourcing (WPS), a flooring supplier co-owned by USFloors’ CEO Piet Dossche, will introduce its own WPS-branded line of wood plastic/polymer composite (WPC) products—which the company categorizes as engineered vinyl flooring—at Surfaces.
Dossche and Philippe Erramuzpe are co-owners of the Augusta, Ga.-based company that quietly introduced a mid-range composite product in August 2015. WPS will unveil its high-end Fusion Max line at the Las Vegas event.
WPS will sell through distribution while USFloors sells its best-selling COREtec direct to retailers. “Piet has both sides covered,” said Ray Rucier, residential product manager for Derr Flooring, Willow Grove, Pa., one of 11 distributors selling the WPS line.
This year will mark WPS’ first time exhibiting at Surfaces. In all, the company will introduce 47 SKUs for residential and commercial use at the show. “We want to be meaningful for our distributors and their retailers with a presence in their showrooms,” Erramuzpe told FCNews.
Fusion has been on the market since the summer. “We have done very well with it,” Rucier said. And despite the expected influx of WPC products into the marketplace, the distributor believes WPS can find its niche. “It’s an easy product to install; you don’t need an underlayment because it can be installed over existing floors. Plus, it is reasonably priced, of high quality and the visuals are very good.”
Erramuzpe said the idea for WPC came about 10 years ago from synthetic decking that was being manufactured in China. “We didn’t know the first thing about synthetic decking at the time. We found the original recycled material that was being used for LVT wasn’t stable; pieces would come apart. So we came up with a waterproof laminate.”
WPS does not use a cork underlayment like USFloors does with COREtec. Otherwise the products are similar, albeit they take different paths to market. “We try to differentiate ourselves from [USFloors],” Erramuzpe said. “But we stay very transparent.”
At Surfaces, WPS will showcase three collections: Vision, its entry-level option; the previously introduced Fusion, and the brand-new, high-end Fusion Max Plank and Tile line. Jim Nielsen, vice president of sales at WPS, said Fusion and Vision are hybrid flooring solutions that combine the best attributes of laminate and LVT.
Vision planks are offered in
5 x 48 x 5.5mm thick formats with a 12 mil wear layer. The product comes with a 25-year residential warranty and a five-year light commercial warranty.
Fusion is offered in 6-inch-wide planks with variable lengths of 18, 30 and 48 inches. It features a 20 mil wear layer and is 6.5mm thick. It comes with a lifetime residential warranty and 10-year commercial warranty.
Fusion Max Plank and Tile is offered in 7 x 7 planks with a 6.5mm thickness and 20 mil wear layer, along with a 24 x 18 tile format. Fusion Max offers a lifetime residential warranty and 10-year commercial warranty.
The company said it would focus exclusively on the U.S. market.