August 23, 2006—Evan Hackel, president Carpet One Floor & Home, in the first part of a four-part series, discusses the CCA Global Summit and the Carpet One Summer convention, which were recently held in Denver. Hackel talks about the re-launch of the carpetone.com website, which will permit consumers to purchase installed carpet via the internet, and the research to that went into the development of the new and improved site.
August 22, 2006—Frank O’Neill, co-publisher, Floor Focus magazine discusses: the confirmation of Armstrong’s fourth amended plan of reorganization, the structure of the new company after it emerges from bankruptcy and chairman and CEO Mike Lockhart’s statement that the company will focus on acquisitions once emergence has taken place; The naming of David Duncan and Brad Matthaidess to marketing VP posts at Mohawk; Congoleum’s new reorganization plan and the competing plan filed by insurers and bondholders. Carpet One’s new e-commerce website and; Larry Jones’ reentry into the flooring business with the launch of a FloorCo Design Center in California.
August 21, 2006—Steve Mone, president, Kaindl Flooring USA and Sonna Calandrino, publisher, Fabulous Floors magazine, in the second part of a four-part series, discuss the findings from a recent Fabulous Floors/FloorRadio consumer focus group touching on consumer wants and expectations during a flooring purchase. They also discuss what consumers expect from retailers to meet their needs, and consumer's environmental mind-set and concerns for corporate responsibility and how these feelings influence flooring purchases. Mone and Calandrino discuss consumers’ inclination toward a perpetual state of remodeling and how much of their energy is directed to the kitchen and consumers desire to try new products and looks, they also look at consumer attitudes toward durability and cleanability.
August 21, 2006—Lew Migliore, The Industry’s Troubleshooter and president of LGM & Associates, discusses the ever-changing relationship between retailers and floor covering retailers in the arena of claims and claims resolution.
August 20, 2006—Steve Mone, president, Kaindl Flooring USA and Sonna Calandrino, publisher, Fabulous Floors magazine, in the first part of a four-part series, discuss the findings from a recent Fabulous Floors/FloorRadio consumer focus group. Mone and Calandrino talk about the timing for the focus group, how consumers view the laminate category and the motivating factors behind consumer choices and the features consumers most often seek in floor coverings.
August 17, 2006—Mike Barker, Investment & Retirement Management, discusses the recent meeting of the Federal Reserve, when for the first time in two years, rates were not raised, talking about the market’s reaction to the move and his thought on what may be ahead. Barker discusses some of the action that have taken place historically in similar occurrences, he looks at the price of crude which, as he had forecast, has dropped about $7 a barrel from its high last month. He also looks at the housing market and housing related stocks and second quarter earnings
August 16, 2006—Lew Migliore, Benny Wood and Sim Crisler, in the first part of a three-part series, discuss LGM & Associates, Technical Flooring Services, a recently formed consulting, trouble-shooting partnership, which offers complaints resolution, on-site inspections, as well as installation and product selection consultation across all floor covering categories. The trio discuss the partnership, its focus, the partners and the various industry groups it serves.
August 16, 2006—Lew Migliore, Benny Wood and Sim Crisler, in the second part of a three-part series, discusses LGM & Associates, Technical Flooring Services, a recently formed consulting and trouble-shooting partnership, the groups that the partnership serves, including the legal community, the problem areas, which the group is most often called out to investigate and working with end users prior to the purchasing to reduce the errors.
August 16, 2006—Lew Migliore, Benny Wood and Sim Crisler, discuss LGM & Associates, Technical Flooring Services, a recently formed consulting and trouble-shooting partnership, in the final part of a three-part series, discuss some of the recurring problems that they have seen in industry installations, the procedures they use to solve some of these problems and the educational services that the partnership offers.
August 15, 2006—Frank O’Neill, Co-Publisher, Floor Focus magazine discusses: Home Depot’s second quarter earnings and the company’s plans for the second half of the year; Shaw’s move to offer and activate company credit cards online; Shaw’s trucking fleet; Comments about global competitiveness made by Assistant Secretary of Commerce and Fabrica co-founder Al Frink .