August 26, 2011—Thomas Trissl, President of Centiva, and Kemp Harr discuss the strategy behind Centiva's rapid growth and details around its sustainability initiatives. Listen to the interview to hear how this American based commercial LVT producer is doing now that it's part of the Tarkett family.
August 25, 2011—Jim Walker, CEO with Certified Floorcovering Installer, and Kemp Harr discuss the highlights from last weeks CFI Convention, how the prolonged recession has affected the installer trade and the promising outlook that the new S600 ANSI standard for installation could require qualified installation as a pre-requisite for warranty coverage. Listen to the interview for more details.
August 24, 2011—Cathy Buchanan, Showroom Manager at Independent Carpet One in Westland, Michigan, and Kemp Harr discuss the Carpet One Healthy Living installation program. Healthy Living was rolled out last summer as a value added differentiation program to help separate the Carpet One installation experience from other retailers and big box stores. Listen to the interview to hear Cathy give more details and also talk about current market conditions in her market.
August 22, 2011—Chris Abbate with Novita Communications, and Kemp Harr discuss some of the highlights upcoming Cersaie show in Bologna, Italy. Listen to the interview to hear more about the show and some of the noteworthy global design speakers.
August 19, 2011—Kermit Baker, the chief economist with the American Institute of Architecture, and Kemp Harr provide an update on the latest AIA billing index and what it tells us about where we are in the economic recovery. Listen to the interview to hear Kermit provide more details about the commercial interiors market and also the residential housing market in his role with Harvard's Joint Center for Housing Studies.
August 18, 2011—Werner Braun, President of the CRI, and Kemp Harr discuss the recent decision to reorganize the Carpet and Rug Institute. Listen to the interview to hear Werner discuss the elimination of the ten committees and issue teams which will be replaced by one leadership council and three panels. Through this decision, the CRI hopes to streamline its ability to be effective in achieving its goal of removing the barriers that hinder the growth and profitability of its membership.
August 18, 2011—Dean Thompson, President of the Resilient Floor Covering Institute, and Kemp Harr discuss the status of the NSF 332 environmental standard for resilient products. Listen to the interview to hear what products this standard covers, what attributes it evaluates, how many levels of compliance there are and what individual producers are doing to get certified.
August 15, 2011—Jenny Cross, Mohawk's Director of Sustainability, and Kemp Harr discuss the highlights of Mohawk's second annual Sustainability Report. Listen to the interview to hear more details about Mohawk's third party validation with this report.
August 12, 2011—Robert Fry, an economist with DuPont, and Kemp Harr discuss the current state of the economy based on the latest events in Europe and the recent volatility of the U.S. stock market. Listen to the interview to hear Robert say that the odds are in favor of us seeing steady but slow growth for the next several years.
August 11, 2011—Tim White, a financial planner with Wells Fargo, and Kemp Harr discuss some of the reasons for the current volatility in the stock market. Listen to the interview to hear Tim talk about the fundamentals and how we should react in this situation.