FloorCoveringNews

by Steven Feldman

When 2011 gives way to 2012, Mohawk Industries will have two new leaders in place. Brian Carson becomes president of the Mohawk Flooring Business Unit, while John Turner Jr. will carry out the same role for the Dal-Tile Business Unit. Both were promoted to COO of their respective divisions in early 2011.

Carson, who joined Mohawk in 2006 as president of Hard Surfaces after a 16-year career at Armstrong, succeeds Frank Peters, who has held the title of Mohawk Flooring president since 2008. Turner, meanwhile, takes over for Harold Turk, who has been with Dal-Tile since 1976, serving as its president for the past five years. Both Peters and Turk will continue with Mohawk by leading strategic development activities in their respective segments.

DALTON—Mohawk has formed a partnership with BlueTarp Financial, a credit provider specializing in business-to-business credit management services for the building materials industry.

Chicago—Mohawk was honored with a Best of NeoCon Gold Award in the Fiber Category for its next-generation fiber system SmartStrand Contract. Made with DuPont Sorona polymer, the branded name for triexta fiber, SmartStrand Contract contains 37% renewably sourced ingredients and is a game changer for the commercial carpeting industry.

ROSLYN, N.Y.—Following a two-year hiatus, Shaw Industries was voted the industry’s Best Overall Manufacturer in the 15th Award of Excellence competition. This was the third time in the award’s history that Shaw took top honors, which it last held in 2008. Shaw also repeated its performance from last year by taking home the Award of Excellence for Environmental Leadership, which was first awarded in 2010.

Roslyn, N.Y.—The 15^th annual Award of Excellence competition, sponsored by Floor Covering News and the World Floor Covering Association (WFCA), is a way for manufacturers’ customers—retailers, distributors, designers, installers, specifies, etc.—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. In other words, those manufacturers help them do the best job running successful, profitable business operations, whether it be a retail operation, distributorship, design centers or installation workrooms.

In 2008 two pieces of legislation were passed. One was an amendment to a 109-year-old federal law and the other a new regulation by the state of California. Each was expected to have a profound impact on the wood flooring industry in terms of the types of species being offered and how products are manufactured.

New York—Shares of Mohawk Industries, (NYSE: MHK) are trading lower by -.16% ahead of its quarterly earnings release. The company is expected to release its quarterly results on May 5^th.

Atlanta—Mohawk Industries is among the top five Georgia companies for sustainability practices in the Southeast—and number one in its industry—according to rankings from the 2011 Southeastern Corporate Sustainability Rankings.   The companies reviewed were selected from the largest 3,000 U.S. equities from Georgia, Alabama, Florida, Tennessee, North Carolina and South Carolina. In addition to Mohawk, other Georgia companies recognized for exceptional performance included Coca-Cola, NCR, and UPS.

Dalton—ABC World News Tonight recently devoted two weeks of evening news broadcasts to this challenge:  “Could you furnish a home using only American-made goods?”  It included products from Mohawk Industries as one of its solutions. ABC News traveled to Dallas, TX, and visited the home of the Usrys, a middle-class family of four who thought they had furnished their home with mostly American-made products.  When the show’s producers checked the labels, it found that virtually everything owned by the family was made outside the USA—including upholstery, casegoods, appliances, flooring, lamps, and other furnishings.  ABC News removed everything that wasn’t American made, then set about giving the Usrys a total home makeover—using only goods made domestically.

In today’s fast-paced world it seems like spotting a trend is a difficult task. Most things we think may stick and create a certain movement or direction end up dissipating rather quickly. In other words, it was more a fad than a trend.

But, whether it is a trend, a fad or some quirk that makes a particular item popular, products that are in vogue are what help create sales and move inventory. And with many retailers still struggling to bring in extra business, making sure your store has the latest products is one thing. Knowing why they are trendy, as well as understanding consumer shopping habits, are key to putting your company in the forefront.

Last fall, the state of California passed the Carpet Product Stewardship Act, otherwise known as AB 2398 and, since then, the industry has been scrambling to make sure everyone in the selling chain is up to speed on what the bill means and how it will affect them once it goes into full effect on July 1.

In a nutshell, the purpose of AB 2398 is to keep carpet sold in California from going to the landfill while at the same time encouraging the recycling of post-consumer carpet either back into new carpet or as a secondary product, such as the plastic molds used in automobile engines.

The industry’s two largest manufacturers, Shaw Industries and Mohawk Industries, were once again ranked by Training magazine as having two of the best employer-sponsored training and development programs in the country. The business publication for learning and development professionals announced its Training Top 125 at an awards gala at the Training 2011 Conference & Expo last month in San Diego.

DALTON—With a less than impressive economy this year, the Department of Commerce’s International Trade Administration embarked on a series of tours across the country, aimed at bringing government and industry together to promote local business.

The event here, themed SMARTer Textiles: Enhancing U.S. Competitiveness of the Carpet Industry by Addressing Sustainability Challenges in Local Supply Chains, was a gathering of approximately 80 carpet mill executives, policy makers, politicians and members of the press at Shaw Industries’ headquarters with a goal of educating investors as to how they are implementing and developing sustainable business models.

Calhoun, Ga.— Mohawk plans to expand its international presence with an investment of a minority interest in Sanfi Ceramics, a Chinese tile manufacturer. This joint venture lays the foundation for Mohawk’s participation in the largest ceramic tile market in the world with opportunities to increase its equity investment in Sanfi in the future.

Sanfi began manufacturing ceramic tile in 2003 and, with its strong management team, has quickly grown to one of the top 10 participants in the Chinese industry. It presently specializes in mid to high-end polished floor and glazed wall tile segments using product innovation and multiple brands to maximize its market position. The company has a reputation of quality and value supported by two large, efficient manufacturing facilities. Sanfi’s original manufacturing site in Foshan supplies the national market and a new facility is starting up this year in Mongolia to focus on Northern China. This fall, new equipment will be installed to produce glazed floor tile, the fastest growing segment of the Chinese tile industry.

Dalton—Mohawk Industries announced it will raise prices by an average of 6% on select hardwood flooring and accessories in the Columbia and Century brands, effective on all orders and shipments made on or after July 5.

Mill executives attributed the raise to the continued escalation of  lumber and transportation costs. Over the last two years, U.S. economic conditions have caused saw mills to reduce capacity and lower supply to the market, as well as go out of business altogether.

“This is a classic example of supply and demand economics; there is more demand than there is supply,” said Roger Farabee, vice president of marketing for Mohawk Hard Surfaces and Unilin Flooring. “As the market starts to pick up, everyone is scrambling for raw materials. There’s just not enough out there to meet our needs, but we hope the increases stop when more players re-enter the market.”

For more information, call Mohawk at 706.629.7721 or visit online at mohawkind.com.

Can technology be utilized in order to achieve art, or an art form, as it relates to carpet fiber? With all that fiber producers can do nowadays with the technology at their fingertips, why not?

According to Bart Rich, director of brand management for Mohawk Industries, the mill’s newest fiber innovations include both nylon and polyester advancements that focus on enhancing durability and softness. “In nylon, Mohawk introduced WearDated SoftTouch featuring our new soft fusion technology. This proprietary process combines the benefits of superior durability along with ultra-soft comfort. We market it as the softest soft nylon in carpet. This fiber gives consumers an irresistibly comfortable carpet that is tough-tested and long lasting.

According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the definition of sustainability calls for “policies and strategies that meet society’s present needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.”

While every area of the industry has made vast strides in making itself and its products more sustainable, perhaps no category has done more than carpet. From fiber makers down to the individual family business, stories of making carpet sustainable abound—from landfill diversion and using less natural resources to closed loop recycling and finding new industries that can reuse all or part of post-consumer carpet.