Flooring Podcast

Floor Focus’ Kemp Harr, The Week in the Flooring Industry

June 27, 2007—Kemp Harr, Publisher, Floor Focus magazine looks back that the past week in the floor covering industry discussing: Mohawk’s asset acquisition of four Columbia Flooring facilities; The opening of the DuPont Tate & Lyle plant in Loudon, Tennessee that produces a key ingredient for Mohawk SmartStrand using DuPont Sorona, made from renewable bio-resources; The record breaking NeoCon 2007 turnout; Interface selling its fabrics unit; And Mohawk University’s revamps website and DCS & WFCA’s Creating Your Space website.

Trivers Looks at Home Depot – Part 2 (14:18)

June 26, 2007—Jon Trivers, Marketing Wit & Wisdom, FCW Columnist, in the second part of a five-part series takes a closer look at Home Depot, the sales of its HD Supply unit and how the sale will affect the operation of the company going forward. Trivers reviews the options open to the company in structuring its installation efforts, the recommendations he would make, the mistakes the company has made in years past and his thoughts about Bob Nardelli and Frank Blake.

Trivers Looks at Home Depot – Part 1 (12:41)

June 25, 2007—Jon Trivers, Marketing Wit & Wisdom, FCW Columnist, in the first part of a five-part series, discusses the rebuilding of Home Depot’s floor covering operation, the unit’s customer base and his view on the some of the greatest challenges facing the department. Trivers discusses some of shortcomings of the company’s flooring departments as they exist today, how flooring operations may be affected by the larger format locations the company is testing and his views on how company will alter its approach to installation in the months ahead.

Barker on the Market - (22:04)

June 23, 2007—Mike Barker, Investment and Retirement Management discusses the ups and downs and of the level of nervousness in the market this week and the events of the week in the bond market. Barker analyses the crude oil and gasoline markets and shares this thoughts on where each is headed in the weeks ahead as well as the affects each factor might have on the floor covering industry. He also discusses the Fed, the Chinese market and what to look for in the months ahead.

Analyst John Baugh on the Residential & Commercial Markets – Part 2 (10:25)

June 22, 2007—John Baugh, Managing Director, Stifel, Nicolaus & Company in the second part of a three-part series, discusses environmental design and the commercial floor covering market and how sustainability is viewed by the financial community. Baugh looks at Shaw’s Evergreen facility in Augusta, Georgia and Mohawk’s SmartStrand made with DuPont Sorona he also looks at the carpet tile market and discusses the momentum it is gaining each year and his impression of carpet tile innovations.

Analyst John Baugh on the Residential & Commercial Markets - Part 1

June 21, 2007—John Baugh, Managing Director, Stifel, Nicolaus & Company in the first part of a three-part series, discusses the state of the commercial and residential markets and the problems in the housing and subprime mortgage sector and his expectations for the remainder of the year and into 2008. Baugh shares his impressions of NeoCon 2007, his reaction to the show, the input he gathered from architects and designers at the show as well as his impression of the products rolled out at the show.

Floor Focus’ Frank O’Neill and the Events of the Week (32:34)

June 20, 2007—Frank O’Neil, Co-Publisher, Floor Focus magazine discusses: The announcement from Beaulieu that it had settled with the IRS, pleading guilty to one count of filing a false income tax return; The opening of the DuPont, Tate & Lyle plant in Loudon, Tennessee that will produce an ingredient from corn to be used in DuPont Sorona polymer, that in turn will be used in Mohawk carpets; Home Depot agreement to sell Home Depot Supply for $10.3 billion; InterfaceFLOR’s move to setup a unit in India; The latest from the Armstrong auction; And Jerry Thomas’ asset acquisition of Thomas Industries.

Armstrong’s Paul Pierce from NeoCon – Part 3 (10:12)

June 20, 2007—Paul Pierce, Product Design Manager, Armstrong World Industries from NeoCon 2007, in the final part of a three-part series, discusses this year’s show, discusses vinyl and the corporate market, the design needs of that market segments, the affects hardwood and ceramic are having on style and design ov vinyl, custom designs, how stainability influences the development process and the Armstrong website.

Armstrong’s Paul Pierce from NeoCon – Part 2

June 19, 2007—Paul Pierce, Product Design Manager, Armstrong World Industries from NeoCon 2007, in the second part of a three-part series, discusses this year’s show, the products introduced at the show and the company’s message at the show as well as the input receiving from visiting architects and designers at the show. Pierce discusses his work in each of the market sectors served by Armstrong’s commercial division.

Nafco’s VP & GM on the Luxury Vinyl Market – Part 3

June 18, 2007—Pierre LeFort, Vice President & General Manager of the Residential Division of Nafco By Tarkett, in the final part of a three-part series discusses Nafco 50th anniversary and the events surrounding this milestone, the company’s founder Stanley Robbins and the innovation he brought to the industry and the company and the innovation Nafco has developed since. Lefort discusses some of the new products introduced by the company, the company’s approach to merchandising and acquiring floor space within retail locations. Lefort also discusses the wholesale distribution sector of the business and his expectations for the sector in the years to come.