April 5, 2019—Kip Howlett, President of the Decorative Hardwoods Association, and Kemp Harr discuss several key news items related to the engineered hardwood flooring business including importers that are cheating to avoid tariffs, new formaldehyde emission rules that finally went into effect as well as multilayered flooring that has real wood on the top. Listen to the interview for more details.
April 4, 2019—Jenn Hoff, President of Taffy Event Strategies, and Kemp Harr discuss the anticipated crowd and changes to this year's Coverings show—scheduled for next week in Orlando. Listen to the interview to hear more the changes the show is making to keep the show interesting for its audience.
April 2, 2019—Kermit Baker, the Harvard Economist that tracks the Architectural Billing Index and the Remodel Index, and Kemp Harr discuss the outlook for growth in 2019 and beyond in both the commercial and residential building sectors. Listen to the interview to hear Kermit talk of a slowing trend but with some healthy subsets.
March 29, 2019—Carl Embrey, Commercial Sales Manager with Apollo Distributing, and Kemp Harr discuss their initial impressions after having toured two LVT factories in China. Listen to the interview for more details. Carl has worked with Apollo since 1985.
March 28, 2019—John Wu, co-owner of Novalis, and Kemp Harr discuss Novalis' ribbon cutting celebration for the firm's rigid core LVT expansion at its production facility just outside of Shanghai. Listen to the interview to hear about Novalis' plans to focus mot of this expansion on the SPC format as well as the heritage of the Wu family in the LVT business.
March 27, 2019—John Rietveldt, CEO with I4F, and Kemp Harr discuss two recent news items related to a partnership with CFL on several MGO core patents and Unilin's recent press release about 45 companies that Unilin is filing an ITC case against. Listen to the interview for more details and to hear about I4F's focus in 2019.
March 26, 2019—Russ Rogg, President and CEO of Metroflor, and Kemp Harr discuss how LVT manufacturing in China has evolved in recent years. Listen to the interview to get a quick summary of Metroflor's two primary factories just north of Shanghai in China.
March 18, 2019—Bob Peoples, Executive Director with CARE, and Kemp Harr discuss the innovations and changes in plastic recycling mindset that should allow the Carpet America Recycling Effort to meet its goals with Cal Recycling this year. Listen to the interview for more details.
March 15, 2019—Jeff Dill, Director of Mill and Retail Sales with Invista, and Kemp Harr discuss Invista's commitment to the Stainmaster brand for nylon 6,6 carpet fiber. Listen to the interview, recorded at the National Floorcovering Alliance meeting in Whistler, British Columbia, for more details.
March 14, 2019—Jason McSwain, President of the National Floorcovering Alliance (NFA), and Kemp Harr discuss the retail flooring market and a few of the initiatives that the NFA board is focused on for 2019. Listen to the interview for more details.