Flooring Podcast

Bob Peoples on the Progess of CARE in 2005 - Part 2 (17:23)

May 22, 2006—Bob Peoples, executive director, Carpet America Recovery Effort, (CARE) and director, sustainability, CRI, in the second part of a five-part series, discusses CARE’s recently concluded 4th Annual conference and the growing global demand for resources that can be derived from post-consumer carpet. Peoples talks about what has in essence been the launch of a new industry, the entrepreneur members of the CARE organization and some of the products they are producing from post-consumer carpet and the end uses for the carpet that recovered by the program.

Bob Peoples on the Progess of CARE – Part 1 (16:22)

May 21, 2006—Bob Peoples, executive director, Carpet America Recovery Effort, (CARE) and director, sustainability, CRI, in the first part of a five-part series, discusses CARE’s recently concluded 4th Annual conference and its annual report, which was presented at the conference. Peoples outlines the organization’s goals, of diverting post-consumer carpet from the nation’s landfills as he discusses the nationwide problem of carpet disposal. Peoples also talks about the volume of carpet the CARE program has diverted from landfills in 2005, and the progress it has made toward its ultimate goals and the potential growth in the demand for post-consumer carpet in the future.

AmericasMart’s Chas Sydney on the Rug Sector and the Summer Rug Market – Part 2

May 21, 2006—Chas Sydney, vp area rugs and new business for AmericasMart talks about the AmericasMart complex and the changes and additions that are underway there as he previews the upcoming Summer Market, which is scheduled for July 16-19. Sydney looks back at the rug business over 2005 and the first quarter 2006, discussing its growth and the what he sees as the transitions among some of the large and mid-sized players.

AmericasMart’s Chas Sydney on the Rug Sector and the Summer Rug Market - Part 1 (12:18)

May 18, 2006—Chas Sydney, VP Area Rugs and New Business, AmericasMart in the first part of a two-part series, talks about the AmericasMart complex and the changes and additions that are underway there as he previews the upcoming Summer Market, which is scheduled for July 16-19. Sydney looks back at the rug business over 2005 and the first quarter 2006 discussing its growth and the what he sees as the transitions among some of the large and mid-sized players.

Barker on Why the Market Tanked (35:45)

May 17, 2006—Mike Barker, Investment & Retirement Management discusses the Dow’s 214 point drop yesterday after the release of the consumer price index revealing a 0.6% increase and an increase of 0.3% in the core CPI. Barker talks about why the market seemed to be caught by surprise by the presence of inflation even thought there have been many signs since the Federal Reserve Open Market Committee’s last meeting. He talks about those inflation indicators as well as the announced price increase by DuPont, Dow and other suppliers and Home Depot’s announcement that it would cease furnishing same-store sales numbers. He also reacts to Home Depot’s contention that its sales are not effected by housing sales.

Floor Focus’ Frank O’Neill and the Week in the Floor Covering Industry (35:24)

May 16, 2006—Frank O’Neill, Publisher, Floor Focus’ Frank O’Neill discusses: Home Depot’s first quarter earnings and the company’s reported weak flooring sales during the quarter; Interface’s announced deal with Ford Motor Co. that will see Interface Fabrics supply the company with recycled seating fabrics; The Floor Focus Annual Report, from the magazine’s May issue covering market share changes by company and by product segment.

Trivers on Selling Direct & the Distribution Community – Part 1 (17:32)

May 14, 2006—Jon Trivers, Marketing Wit & Wisdom in the first of a three part series talks about Armstrong’s recent move to sell direct to the NFA, and the expanding trend that is seeing manufacturers increasingly selling directly to larger retailers. Trivers also discusses the affect this trend is having on the distribution community, the growing volume of flooring imports from China coming into the U.S., the general health of the distribution sector in 2006 and Mohawk’s dual-channel approach in offering laminate produced by its Unilin division.

Trivers and the Future of Selling Direct -- Part 2 (16:10)

May 14, 2006—Jon Trivers, Marketing Wit & Wisdom in the second part of a three-part series talks more about manufacturers selling product direct to retail customers and Mohawk’s dual-channel approach to selling laminate produced by its Unilin division. Trivers discusses his view on the probability of this approach changing in the future and his view in the possibility that the industry will see more and more hard surface producers increasingly offering product directly to retailers. Also discussed is the potential increase in the link-up of Chinese wood and ceramic producers with U.S. distributors.

Trivers the CARE Program & Doing the Right Thing -- Part 3 (13:45)

May 14, 2006—Jon Trivers, Marketing Wit & Wisdom in the third part of a three-part series discusses CARE, the Carpet America Recovery Effort program, a program, which has as its goal the diversion of 40 percent of post consumer carpet from landfills by the year 2012. Trivers discusses the benefit of this program to the industry and to the benefit to retailers who ultimately become involved in the program. He also talks about the gains to all in the industry for simply electing to do the right thing. Trivers also discusses the retail market for environmentally responsible products and its promise in years to come.

Dan Rogers on Omnova and SB Latex – Part 1 (23:54)

May 14, 2006—Dan Rogers, Business Director, Carpet, Omnova Solutions, in the first part of a two-part series, discusses the company Omnova Solutions and it spin-off from Gencorp along with its long history in the carpet and the floor covering industry. Rogers discusses SB latex and the dramatic reduction of VOC levels that have occurred in the past decade in this product. He also discusses the company’s fit in both the laminate and vinyl sectors of the floor covering industry.