May 22/29, 2017: Volume 31, Issue 25
By Ken Ryan
Garden City, N.Y.—Mohawk Industries turned in one of the most dominant performances in the 21-year history of FCNews’ Award of Excellence competition, being voted Best Overall Manufacturer for the second year in a row and winning seven awards in all, including four under the Mohawk banner.
Mohawk Industries won Best Carpet Manufacturer (Group A), Best Commercial Carpet Manufacturer (a new category for 2017), Best Hardwood Manufacturer (Group A) and Best Area Rug Manufacturer. Furthermore, Dal-Tile was named Best Ceramic Manufacturer (Group A), and Quick-Step took home top honors for Laminate (Group A).
“On behalf of Mohawk Industries, we thank our valued retailers and our partners at Floor Covering News,” said Brian Carson, president of Mohawk Flooring North America. “Continuous innovation with an unmatched commitment to quality and service is what we’re all about at Mohawk Industries, and I’m extremely proud and humbled to bring home seven Floor Covering News Awards of Excellence, including Best Overall Manufacturer this year. The recognition from our retailer partners is so appreciated by the Mohawk team, because our commitment to continuous innovation in everything we do is squarely aimed at creating value for our retailers by helping them delight their customers, grow their businesses and make more money with Mohawk. We’re always up to something, and the best is yet to come.”
Dal-Tile won for an unprecedented 19th consecutive year. “This recognition is very meaningful for us, because votes were cast by those we serve—our customers,” said John Turner, Jr., president of Dal-Tile. “Being named Ceramic Tile Manufacturer of the Year for the 19th consecutive year confirms that customers know Daltile offers an unparalleled breadth and depth of product, the industry’s best designs, cutting-edge innovation, consistent quality and excellent customer service/product availability—all at an attractive price. Daltile is committed to continuing our mission of equipping our customers for success.”
Quick-Step won the laminate award for the sixth time in the last seven years.
Shaw Industries and its divisions won three awards, including the Environmental Leadership Award, which Shaw has won every since the category was created in 2010. “Shaw is honored to be the recipient, yet again, of the Award of Excellence for Environmental Leadership,” said Paul Murray, vice president of sustainability and environmental affairs. “At Shaw, we take a holistic approach to sustainability and strive every day to do our part in creating a better future. We would like to thank our valued customers for recognizing our efforts for the eighth year in a row.”
Meanwhile, Tuftex, its high-end carpet division, won for Best Carpet Manufacturer (Group B) for the second year in a row; newly acquired USFloors was honored as the LVT (Group B) winner; and Anderson took home top honors for hardwood (Group B).
“Tuftex is honored to receive the Award of Excellence for Carpet (Group B) from our valued retail partners,” said Doug Jackson, vice president of sales and marketing. “Creating beautiful, high-fashion carpet is our passion and being recognized as a leader in the industry for our designs and innovations is the greatest compliment we could receive.”
USFloors, marketer of the highly successful COREtec brand of WPC, was a repeat winner in the LVT category. “To achieve an Award of Excellence from your customers is the most meaningful and valuable recognition any company can wish for,” said Piet Dossche, CEO. “I am very proud and honored to receive this trophy on behalf of our entire team of dedicated people who are working hard to provide the best product and service to our retail partners. The revolution our COREtec product has created in the LVT product category has been great for our customers who have embraced this exciting new product wholeheartedly..”
Being part of the Shaw family, Dossche added, has given USFloors more opportunities to grow the COREtec business. “We are committed to remain the leader in this category and to build COREtec into a strong consumer brand.”
Armstrong was named Best LVT Manufacturer (Group A), winning for the second year in a row. Mannington was a repeat winner as Best Resilient Sheet Manufacturer.
In winning Hardwood (Group B), Anderson unseated Mirage, which had won the award four years running. “Shaw is thrilled that our premium hardwood brand Anderson is this year’s recipient of the Award of Excellence for hardwood,” said Drew Hash, vice president of hard surface category management, Shaw Floors. “It’s an honor to be recognized by our retail partners, and we are grateful for their continued support in our efforts to provide the best quality hardwood products on the market today.”
While there were many familiar names and repeat winners, some new recipients emerged. Emser Tile won for the first time in Ceramic (Group B), and Inhaus took top honors for Laminate (Group B), marking its first appearance in the winner’s circle.
“Emser was thrilled to be honored by our customers and receive the FCNews Award of Excellence this year,” said Bob Baldocchi, chief marketing officer/vice president of business development. “Our goal as an organization is to bring cutting-edge products, provide compelling merchandising options and provide best in class training to our customers. This award is both humbling and validating that our customers have recognized these efforts and inspires us to work even harder to earn this honor again next year.”
Derek Welbourn, CEO of Inhaus, commented: “We feel extremely fortunate and are honored that our customers voted for us. We have a passion for our product offerings and strive to create products that people are excited about both in terms of innovative design and quality. In our eyes, this award is a recognition of our efforts, and we are very appreciative of that.”
Methodology
Sponsored by FCNews and Informa Exhibitions, proprietors of The International Surface Event (TISE), the Award of Excellence is a way for manufacturers’ customers—retailers, distributors, designers, installers and specifiers—to honor the companies they feel consistently provide the best service, professionalism of sales force, management responsiveness, value, design, B2B, handling of claims and ease of doing business.
“The Awards of Excellence are honors bestowed to manufacturers by the heart and soul of the flooring industry, the retailers,” said Dana Teague, vice president, Design Group, Informa Global Exhibitions. “It is a pleasure and an honor for Informa/Surfaces to co-sponsor this year’s awards with Floor Covering News. We are delighted to share our enthusiasm for innovation with brands that continually strive for excellence. Surfaces is the platform that manufacturers use to launch or highlight many of the winning products to the delight of the thousands of retailers, distributors, designers and installers that come to Las Vegas every January. Congratulations to the recipients of this year’s awards.”
FCNews readers, as well as other industry personnel visiting trade shows such as Surfaces (and not employed by a manufacturer), voted between October 2016 and the end of March 2017 for the companies they felt best met established criteria in flooring.
As has been done for the previous nine years, individual category winners were selected in two groups based on their volume. Also, manufacturers did not have to pay a fee to be eligible to receive a vote, which has been customary since the first Award of Excellence competition.