Made in the USA: Domestic firms tout homegrown advantages

April 29/May 6, 2019: Volume 34, Issue 24

 

American manufacturing isn’t just sought after because of the quality and patriotic value, but also because of the delivery time frames. When companies don’t source from overseas, pricing and response time benefit. To that end, the Made in USA movement continues to be important to the flooring industry as major manufacturers move more production to the U.S. or expand existing operations, while dealers actively display their American-made products or promote their many benefits.

Anderson Tuftex
Anderson Tuftex’s quality hardwoods and carpets represent what the brand stands for—history, stability, legacy, craftsmanship and timeless beauty. Hand crafting products in the U.S.—from the East Coast to the West Coast—is part of this vision.

A/T’s American-made hardwoods have been brought to life in South Carolina since 1946. Every board is hand scraped and hand stained by skilled craftsmen. Since 1969, the brand’s carpets have been made in Southern California and stood out for color and design. The company understands how important it is to provide good jobs to local communities in the United States.

The results are seen in every board of hardwood and every cone of yarn. Anderson Tuftex recognizes that choosing a floor is a tough decision. To that end, it begins with the best materials to create floors that its customers can be confident about purchasing.

In addition, by manufacturing in the United States, Anderson Tuftex can uphold the highest quality standards and be better stewards of the planet by focusing on sustainability. Its products are Cradle to Cradle certified, which verifies safe, recyclable or reusable ingredients across material health, material reutilization, renewable energy, water stewardship and social fairness. In addition, Greenguard certification ensures A/T products meet design specifications for indoor air quality.

Anderson Tuftex does more than just create timeless, beautiful floors. It is committed to being transparent about the products are sourced, designed, manufactured and verified responsibly to better serve customers, the community and our planet.

 

DriTac
Owned and operated in the U.S., DriTac Flooring Products has exhibited more than 60 years of American craftsmanship and leadership. DriTac manufactures premium-grade adhesives, underlayment and installation solutions for the wood and resilient floor covering industries in commercial and residential construction. The company remains committed to providing its valued customer base with dependable, innovative and eco-friendly flooring products, and it takes great pride in stating that its flooring installation solutions are Made in the USA.

DriTac understands that America’s communal and economic well-being sustains the company, its customers and the overall business environment. DriTac strives to make a difference in America and throughout the world. Its commitment and appreciation are evident in its work with groups such as Homes for our Troops, for which DriTac is honored to provide materials for specially adapted homes built for American veterans.

Ensuring DriTac’s flooring installation solutions are manufactured entirely in the U.S., and helping to create strong, safe foundations for American homes and businesses will always be a driving force in DriTac’s mission.

 

Engineered Floors
Made in America isn’t just a marketing phrase to Engineered Floors, it’s a commitment to Dalton—the community that has given so much to EF. In 2013, Engineered Floors broke ground on the first phase of the “SAM” plant; since then the facility has gone through multiple stages of growth. Today the plant is on its seventh phase of expansion.

“We are currently expanding to make room for new twisting and heat-setting machines,” said Rob Neal, plant manager. “We are also adding space for yarn warehousing. The facility’s walls, on the west side, are made to be moved easily for further growth. The expansion is expected to increase SAM’s workforce by approximately 20%.”

Additionally, EF’s new modular plant, which began production in early 2018, covers 535,000 square feet. However, the plant can easily double its square footage. “We believe it will have one of the largest capacities in the U.S.,” said James Lesslie, president of commercial.

Engineered Floors builds facilities with expansion and growth as a priority. That’s not just growth for EF, but for the surrounding communities as well. As Bob Shaw, founder and CEO stated, “We have serious capital dollars in Dalton. We’re prepared and ready to take on projects that are worth-while.”

 

Foss Floors
Founded in 1952, Foss Floors is a leading, American textile manufacturer producing some of the most versatile product offerings for the flooring industry. Foss products range from area rugs, broadloom carpet and modular options such as carpet tiles and planks in a wide range of styles and colors that are built for enduring performance—indoors and out.

Foss Floors has invested heavily in some of the most mod- ern manufacturing facilities in the world and produces flooring in three plants located in North Georgia. State-of-the-art equipment enables Foss to provide patterns that were previously impossible for non-tufted carpet products. Exclusive Duralock technology eliminates the need for secondary backing and will never fray or unravel. All of Foss Floors carpet tiles and planks feature the company’s exclusive self-stick technology. These products can be installed over virtually any surface, including carpet.

Foss Floors’ DuraKnit technology provides unmatched performance characteristics for traditional install over pad and will never wrinkle or “zipper.” The recently launched line of Grizzly Grass products is revolutionizing the synthetic grass market with exclusive constructions that dry fast and are weatherproof.

All Foss Floors products now feature the Foss Lifetime Warranty, and all Foss Floors carpet collections are made in the U.S. from 100% PET fiber made from recycled post-consumer plastic bottles. From the homeowner to the business owner and do-it-yourselfer, Foss Floors offers some of most versatile flooring collections available today.

Mohawk
As the world’s largest flooring manufacturer, Mohawk brings quality flooring to families around the globe, but its roots are solidly planted in America. This is where it got its start more than 140 years ago, and this is where it continues to get its inspiration, ingenuity and drive.

Mohawk’s real competitive edge comes down to the quality of its people. Mohawk employs more than 20,000 U.S. employees who come to work every day determined to create the best American-made products with persistence, innovation, cutting-edge technology and good old-fashioned hard work. From South Carolina to Washington, Mohawk operates manufacturing facilities representing every category of product, including carpet, hardwood, vinyl, ceramic and resilient.

In each of these communities, Mohawk makes an impact on a daily basis. It is dedicated to innovation, which ensures employees and retailers that they are making and selling products that consumers want. Mohawk, its employees and its retailers support the American economy, local businesses and worthwhile organizations and causes such as joining Susan G. Komen in the fight against breast cancer. Mohawk is committed to making communities around the nation a better place in which to live by making its products and processes more sustainable.

Mohawk invests in communities like Melbourne, Ark., where it has expanded its plant to be the only one in the country capable of producing both solid and engineered prefinished hardwood flooring with larger dimensions and more characteristic styling.

Mohawk and its employees are proof that the American spirit of the entrepreneur and the generosity of the American heart are alive and well. At Mohawk, “Made in the USA” is more than a slogan. It’s a proud way of life.

 

Raskin Industries
It has been three years since Raskin Industries launched FloorNation, its first foray into domestic LVT production. And the phthalate-free, virgin vinyl flooring has played to rave reviews from both distributors and retailers. “Having product made in the USA offers some significant selling points,” said Michael Raskin, president. “We have
the ability to deliver hundreds of thousands of square feet in less than three weeks without the need to stock in a distributor’s warehouse.”

In addition, FloorNation is absolved from any tariff or environmental issues that can plague some imported products. “The pricing is more stable,” Raskin explained. “Plus, China is cracking down on some factories for environmental issues that do not exist with our domestic product.”

FloorNation is offered in three lines, all bearing patriotic themes: Freedom is 2.5mm thick with a 12- mil wear layer in a 7 x 48 format with unique embossing; Pride includes two collections that feature 3mm, 20-mil wear layer constructions in a 7 x 48 format, distinguished by varying textures, along with tiles; and Glory is a 4mm fiberglass sheet that can be loose laid or glued down. All products feature the company’s G88 advanced coating system. A FloorNation rigid product is set to launch in the third quarter in the line’s best-selling colors.

Raskin said FloorNation provides traditional looks that are reliable sellers and follow the latest color trends with variations of grays and multicolors with gray mixed tones. “It is about having product that works with the interior finishes so the designer can pick up the color of the floor to work with the room.”

With a domestically made product, Raskin feels his customers will have faster turns and thus won’t have to keep as much inventory. “We do a good job with our imported lines, but no one can say they are 100% certain [it will arrive in time], so this increases the chances of getting more commercial jobs.”

The domestic production of FloorNation has made a huge difference for T&L Distributing in Houston, improving the company’s ability to service customers on a timely basis. “The product is being built in Ohio, and they are carrying product in Ohio,” a spokesperson said. “I can have the product in one to two weeks as opposed to eight to 10 weeks [if imported]. That is huge for my business.”

 

Shaw Floors
As a both a customer- and consumer-centric manufacturer, Shaw Industries seeks to consistently meet and exceed the needs of both those audiences. This means continuously driving innovation forward, focusing on high levels of style and design, quality and efficiency to create the best products for its customers.

Upgrading and expanding its existing facilities to incorporate the latest, state-of-the-art technology and processes allows Shaw to continue growing with consumer trends and manufacturing needs. Over the past few years, Shaw has invested more than $1.5 billion in its U.S. operations—including expansion and modernization efforts throughout the Southeast—and across a wide variety of flooring categories including resilient, carpet and hardwood.

Shaw seeks to streamline its domestic manufacturing processes as well. Shaw’s combined heat and power (CHP) plant at its fiber production facility in Columbia, S.C., has allowed the company to produce energy equal to taking almost 5,500 passenger vehicles from the road each year while allowing it to operate efficiently and invest resources in innovation to meet customer demands.

At Shaw, people are at the heart of its business and allow the company to continue creating its expansive portfolio of industry-leading products. The talented and diverse 22,000 individuals working for Shaw are passionate about creating products that are the foundation for consumers’ homes.

Shaw understands it has a responsibility to contribute to economic prosperity in the communities in which it operates. Shaw’s investments in domestic manufacturing have created hundreds of new jobs. The company will continue to grow, working to ensure its people thrive and its processes evolve.

Tarkett North America
Tarkett North America now offers both soft and resilient surfaces for every room of the home, making sure homeowners have healthy, practical and beautiful flooring solutions that coordinate flawlessly from one space to the next.

From weekend DIY projects with easy installation to whole-house carpet replacements, Tarkett offers all the flooring needs for a busy household. Consumers will find waterproof options designed around the needs of bathrooms, kitchens and laundry rooms as well as soft, luxurious carpets that provide cushion and warmth everywhere else.

Tarkett’s residential carpets (formerly branded Lexmark) are designed and manufactured in Dalton, Ga., to keep quality high, carbon emissions low and local economies strong. Browse the entire pattern and color offering at lexmarkcarpet.com, or find resilient solutions at tarkettna.com.

No story about Tarkett is complete without the mention of its sustainability. Since 2010, Tarkett has been designing its resilient and soft surface products so that they contribute to better indoor air quality, and many of those products now have ratings that are 10 to 100 times below the strictest total volatile organic compound (TVOC) standards in the world.

In 2001, Tarkett began removing ortho-phthalates from its products—and by 2013, it had eliminated them from all of its purchasing.

By 2020, Tarkett expects 100% of its raw materials to be third-party assessed for health and planet impacts. Today, the company is at 95%.