October 3, 2018—Don Maier, CEO with Armstrong Flooring, and Kemp Harr discuss Armstrong's strategy with its imported products in light of the recently announced Chinese tariffs on floorcovering. Listen to the interview for more details. Armstrong imports 25% of the products it sells.
October 2, 2018—Dave Chambers, Director of Flooring with Nebraska Furniture Mart, and Kemp Harr discuss the health of NFM's flooring business and its strategy in light of the recent tariffs on Chinese sourced floorcovering. Listen to the interview for more details.
October 1, 2018—Jeff Macco, co-owner of Macco's Floorcovering, and Kemp Harr discuss business conditions with his 7-store flooring chain in Wisconsin and Florida and the short-term headwinds created by the new Chinese tariffs. Listen to the interview to hear more details on this, plus what Macco's is doing to address the installer labor issue.
September 27, 2018—Don Hudgins, a 40-year employee at Karastan's Eden, North Carolina plant, and Kemp Harr discuss Don's 40-year career at this woolen carpet and rug plant. Listen to the interview to learn that he is the third generation in his family to work at this facility.
September 26, 2018—Don Finkell, CEO of American OEM, and Kemp Harr discuss the Hardwood Federation's position on the Trump administration's Chinese tariffs. Listen to the interview to hear more details about how these tariffs effect the membership and what impact it will have on the flooring industry.
September 25, 2018—Armondo Cafiero, Managing Director with the Italian Ceramics Trace Association, and Kemp Harr discuss the highlights of the Cersaie show—the largest ceramic tile show in the world—which is being held this week in Bologna, Italy. Listen to the interview to learn more about this year's event, the continuing leadership role the Italians play in this business, as well as how the Europeans have addressed imports of tile from China.
September 24, 2018—Delma Galloway and Lottie Purcell, two 50-year employees at the Karastan plant in Eden, North Carolina, and Kemp Harr discuss the highlights of their 50-year careers at the 90-year-old Karastan factory. Listen to the interview for more details. The Karastan factory in Eden was built by Marshall Fields and has been making woven wool rugs for nine decades.
September 20, 2018—Piet Dossche, founder of Coretec and EVP of Shaw Hard Surfaces, and Kemp Harr discuss this week’s news about a 10% tariff on flooring products imported from China, whether this decision is final and how the industry plans to react, especially if it moves to 25% in January 2019. Listen to the interview for more details.
September 14, 2018—Pierre Thabet, President of Boa Franc/Mirage, and Kemp Harr discuss the highlights of Mirage's 35-year history as the firm celebrates its 35th anniversary. Listen to the interview for more insight on the strategy that has made this Canadian hardwood flooring producer successful.
September 13, 2018—Federica Minozzi, CEO with the Iris Ceramica Group, and Kemp Harr discuss the Stonepeak and Fiandre tile business and the market potential for these new large format panels, not only for floors and walls, but also for countertops, furniture cladding and building facades. These two new Sacmi Continua lines are capable of producing 1,000 60"x120" panels a day.