What keeps CEOs up at night?

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From rising inflation and the uncertainty surrounding the implications of the COVID-19 variants, to ongoing supply chain challenges and labor woes, industry executives have no shortage of issues that keep them awake at night. FCNews rounded up leaders from the various flooring categories to identify the challenges that concern them the most. Following is a sampling of the responses.


There’s not one thing, there are many. I’ve been doing this for a long time, and I’ve talked to many long-time executives, and we’ve never seen anything like what we have today with multiple raw material price increases passed on through necessity. There’s total chaos in terms of raw material availability that has limited production and labor short-ages all coming at once. It has made it difficult on all of us, but I am proud of Mannington Mills and the way we have managed through it. Again, what we are going through versus historical norms is unprecedented.

—Russell Grizzle, president/CEO, Mannington Mills

 


leadersI wrestle with the personal and professional impact of COVID-19 on our associates, customers and supply partners. Many are wrestling to protect both their lives and their livelihoods. I mourn the health impacts and loss of loved ones that many have had to endure. I work daily to provide a safe and effective work environment for our associates so we can serve our customers and enable their businesses to prosper.

—Tim Baucom, president/CEO, Shaw Industries

 


I believe there are solutions to most of the challenges as long as we keep our business adaptable, flexible and built for speed. So, making sure that we have the right talent who can do that is what keeps me up at night.

—Raj Shah, president, MSI

 


 

Jeff Meadows

Inflation, supply chain, raw materials. All these things, and maybe COVID-19, although I hope not. Even when the Delta spike happened, it slowed down some of the commercial business. However, I just think the supply chain issues are going to be here for a while. Hopefully, at some point, inflation tails off. In January [2022], we will have the sixth price increase in 15 months— that has never happened before.

—Jeff Meadows, president, Mohawk Residential

 


leadersIt’s a continuation of what we’ve seen through 2021, namely the emergence of COVID-19 variants, increasing raw material costs, supply chain issues and labor shortages. From a soft surface standpoint, many of these challenges have eased through the second half of 2021, but as COVID-19 cases are once again on the rise this will be something the industry will need to continue to monitor in 2022.

—Jason Surratt, president, Tarkett Residential

 


I think about the impact of inflation on the consumer. While many market fundamentals remain in place to drive healthy business conditions in 2022, I am concerned about the impact of inflation and higher prices on home renovation activity. We saw multiple, significant increases in raw materials and ocean freight in 2021, so I am hopeful 2022 will be more stable and possibly even bring some relief.

—T.M. Nuckols, president, residential division, The Dixie Group

 


Michel VermetteThe last two years have taught us a lot about ourselves as a company, and as we come out of 2020 and 2021, we should be a stronger company for it. We made significant investments in our plants, systems and people—so as the economy and supply chain issues normalize, we expect to be well positioned to excel in a more stabilized economy.

—Michel Vermette, president/CEO, Armstrong Flooring

 


leadersThe impacts of the pandemic on supply chain and the labor challenges in our industry pose a concern that, unfortunately, cannot be resolved as quickly as we would all like. We are flush with inventory in all categories, price points and styles and are ready for the demand, but these global issues affecting all industries will continue to affect the timelines in construction.

—Mara Villanueva-Heras, vice president of marketing, Emser Tile

 


Supply chains. My teams work diligently to facilitate the development and sourcing of new products, as well as all the supporting collateral that goes along with launching these products. We stay in overdrive monitoring the day-to-day challenges we are experiencing in the current environment.

—Micah Hand, director of marketing and product management, Florida Tile

 


I’m acutely aware that our battle with this virus isn’t over, and I want our people and their families to stay healthy. I’m committed to making the environment at Cali as supportive as possible for our team and customers so everyone can thrive. I’m most excited to get back out in front of customers, shake hands and expand Cali’s brand. We’re also anticipating a diversification of our product offering and a move into the lifestyle realm.

—Doug Jackson, president, Cali

 


leadersThe outlook for our category is still so strong—it’s a matter of figuring out how to stay ahead of all the demand for the next decade. Residential and commercial acceptance of rigid core products in the middle- to high-end segments will give us a whole new design category.

—Steve Ehrlich, VP of sales and marketing, Novalis

 

 


Brian CarsonMaking sure our customers and employees continue to know how much we appreciate them and that we continue to respond as quickly to their needs. There will inevitably be continued challenges in 2022. I don’t think the freight, material and labor challenges will return to normal. There could be new challenges we don’t envision. What I do believe is that the consumer demand for flooring will remain strong, so we just need to ensure we are leading to listen, adapt, innovate and execute.

—Brian Carson, president and CEO, AHF Products

 


leadersOur biggest challenge will be continuing to navigate the unsteady supply chain and balancing costs while providing fair pricing to our customers. We are incorporating learnings from this year into our planning for 2022, including continued improvement of stock levels and managing costs. We will have to watch the economy very closely and continue to keep an eye on the housing market, along with interest and unemployment rates. We may see some of our growth areas shift, but I still believe there is a ton of potential for 2022.

—Bill Anderson, CEO, Karndean Designflooring

 


Labor shortages, inflation and the continuation of the pandemic.

—Scott Maslowski, senior VP of sales, Dal-Tile

 

 


leadersWith laminate, it’s raw material supply. As a product that’s entirely made in the USA, this is the only thing that constrains our growth in this category. In hardwood, the stressors continue to be related to supply chain challenges—freight, logistics and raw material supply.

—David Sheehan, VP residential hard surface, Mannington Mills

 


Thomas BaertInflation and shipping costs will continue to be a challenge and an unknown. Despite the rapid racking up of the capacity in our U.S. facility, we are still a little concerned about meeting demand given the abundance of requests for capacity we’ve been fortunate to receive.

—Thomas Baert, president, CFL

 


leadersLabor is the No. 1 concern. Not only does this impact manufacturing, but it also touches all aspects of our industry. Volatility with material availability/pricing is a close second.

—Paul Rezuke, VP, U.S. sales, Wickham Hardwood

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Jan. 24/31, 2022

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