Whitehall, PA, December 7, 2006--Tarkett and carpet and fiber manufacturer and flooring distributor Kraus Carpet Mills, have merged their respective sales, customer service, and logistics operations in a joint venture in the U.S. Midwest.
The new company, Kraus Floors LLC, will be headquartered in Chicago and will serve Midwestern markets in the U.S..
This new venture will integrate McKee Floor Covering, a Tarkett subsidiary and distributor of wholesale flooring products based in Minneapolis with Kraus Royal Scot’s infrastructure in Chicago to create a sales and service powerhouse in the U.S. Midwest.
“We are thrilled about this partnership and are confident this new association with Kraus Carpet Mills will build an efficient distribution platform to cover these key markets,” said Guillaume Laverdure, North American president for Tarkett Residential. “Combining our sales, service and logistics operations will enable us to build stronger relationships with Midwest retailers”
“Kraus has distributed Tarkett product lines in the U.S. Northeast and Southeast for years, and we’ve just taken on some of their lines in the Northwest. But this Midwest partnership goes beyond the traditional manufacturer-distributor business model,” commented Kraus’ CEO, Gary Witt. ”We’re putting the financial and marketing strengths of two great manufacturers to work for our customers and equipping ourselves to offer better service, better value and better retail support programs to our customers in the Midwest.”
