Interface and Tricycle Build on Sustainable Produc
Chattanooga, TN, June 1--Interface Flooring Systems is leading the flooring industry into a new evolution of sustainable product design, with a customized installation of Tricycle's Apso product development systems at the company's LaGrange facilities.
Plans are in development to add installations at Interface's affiliated facilities in Europe and Asia.
With this agreement, Interface becomes the only carpet manufacturer to take advantage of the full range of product development simulation capabilities available through Tricycle, integrated company-wide on a global scale.
A new, multi-year agreement to license this technology builds on an established history of cooperation between the two companies. SIM from Tricycle, the company's Neo-Con Gold Award winning simulation, already powers Interface's Inspired Online web tool, with over 4,000 Interface and Bentley Prince Street products now available to customers and specifiers via simulation. Interface's award-winning Pictorials program for the Hospitality market also utilizes Tricycle technology.
"Sampling products by traditional means sending 'fuzzy' samples of carpet requires the use of over 4,000 pounds of yarn per month," said John Wells, president of Interface Americas. "The environmental implication of that is substantial. It is equal to three million BTUs of embodied energy, or 52 barrels of crude oil. This doesn't take into account the transportation impact for freight shipments.
"This technology has the potential to reduce our use of this raw material as part of our larger strategy to apply more sustainable practices to the Interface sampling and merchandising process."
"We are delighted to be working with Interface in this new way," said Tricycle CEO Jamie Harrison. "This globally-enabled solution represents the most advanced wide-area implementation of SIM technology in the flooring industry to date, and clearly demonstrates Interface's leadership in sustainable design."
