November 9, 2012—Santo Torcivia, an economist with Market Insights/Torcivia, and Kemp Harr discuss the strategy behind Mohawk's decision to buy Pergo. Listen to the interview to hear Santo talk about the growth of the laminate market and how these two companies fit both today and into the future.
November 7, 2012—Nate Kredich, VP Residential Market Development with USGBC, and Kemp Harr discuss next week's Greenbuild Conference that starts Wednesday, November 14, in San Francisco. Listen to the interview to hear a quick summary of the outlook for the show and the key speakers and education tracks that should be attended.
November 6, 2012—Phil Schrimper, Owner of JP Flooring (a successful retail flooring business based in Cincinnati, Ohio), and Kemp Harr discuss how politics in Ohio have affected his business. Listen to the interview to hear Phil talk about the challenges of growing his business in light of all the attention Ohio is getting from the candidates during this presidential election.
November 2, 2012—Walter Eckhardt, CEO with Kraus in Canada, and Kemp Harr discuss the debt restructuring the company has gone through this year and its current business strategy. Listen to the interview to hear more details about the company's ownership, where it focuses its business energy, and current economic conditions in Canada.
November 1, 2012—Rita McGlone, Executive Director with the University of Pennsylvania, and Kemp Har discuss the leadership education program sponsored by four of the flooring industry's trade associations. Listen to the interview to hear more about the type of business leaders the course targets, the cost, the timing and more specifics around what the participants will learn. The sponsoring associations are the WFCA, the NWFA, the NAFCD and the ARCS (rug cleaning).
For more specific information, go to www.starwoodmeeting.com/book/theinstituteforleadershipandbusinessgrowth.
October 30, 2012—Kaye Gosline, a freelance color consultant, and Kemp Harr discuss the highlights from the Color Marketing Group's annual meeting held last week in Miami, Florida. Listen to the interview to hear what effect the economy has on color and which direction color is forecasted to trend in the coming year.
October 26, 2012—Marc Ammen, President and CEO of Universal Fibers, and Kemp Harr, discuss Paul Ryan's campaign visit to Universal's headquarters in Bristol Virginia yesterday. Listen to the interview to hear a few of the key points Ryan made during his brief visit to one of the flooring industry's key yarn suppliers.
October 25, 2012—Dave Gartshore and Rick Moon, VP of Furnishings Business and Senior Account Manager, respectively, for Propex, and Kemp Harr, discuss the news of Propex's recent U.S. patent for the yarn used in its EX3 primary carpet backing. Listen to the interview to hear more details about this innovation and current business conditions.
October 23, 2012—Dan Haycook and Ralph Grogan, EVP of Surfaces and VP of Antron Business Development respectively, and Kemp Harr discuss last week's news of a $20 million expansion at Invista's Camden, South Carolina facility. Most of this investment will go toward enhancements to Invista's Antron commercial carpet capacity. Listen to the interview to hear more details about this investment plus their outlook for business in 2014.
October 19, 2012—Allison Rea, Director of Marketing for FloorExpo (FEI Group), and Kemp Harr, discuss the strategy behind the Internet, mobile and tablet tools that Allison is developing for the FloorExpo members. Listen to the interview for more details.