January 3, 2020—Dean Thompson, CEO of the Resilient Floor Covering Institute (RFCI), and Kemp Harr discuss the launch of Assure Certified third-party certification for rigid core LVT. Listen to the interview for more details on the rapid growth of this category, why SCS Global was picked to manage the program and the four main testing categories.
December 30, 2019—Frank Douglas, VP of Business Development at Crossville, and Kemp Harr discuss the highlights of his career as he retires from a career devoted to the tile industry. Listen to the interview to hear more about how the business has evolved under his leadership and his plans for the future.
January 20, 2019—Bob Chandler, Executive VP with Shaw Commercial, and Kemp Harr discuss a few of the highlights of Bob’s lifelong career in the commercial flooring business as he prepares to retire from Shaw next month. Listen to the interview to hear more about his leadership, mentors and fondest memories.
December 18, 2019—Scott Humphrey, CEO of the WFCA, and Kemp Harr discuss last week’s launch of the Floor Covering Education Foundation, a non-profit subset of the WFCA designed to help the industry recruit, train and retain floorcovering installers. Listen to the interview to hear more details of the components of this new program. As part of this launch, the WFCA is eliminating the membership fee for joining their organization.
December 17, 2019—Kermit Baker, a Harvard economist, and Kemp Harr discuss Kermit's outlook for the economy as he factors in the latest data from the Architectural Billing Index and the Leading indicator for Remodeling Activity (LIRA). Listen to the interview to hear that Baker believes that the bottom of this latest cycle will avoid recessionary numbers and slow growth will return during 2020.
December 16, 2019—Donna Busse, Show Director with Domotex USA, and Kemp Harr discuss a new partnership with the American Society of Interior Designers (ASID) as well as other enhancements the show has made to its Atlanta flooring market scheduled for early February 2020. Listen to the brief interview for more details as well as how to use a discount code for free show access and discounts on education.
December 10, 2019—Scott Sandlin, SVP of Sales, Carrie Edwards Isaac, VP of Marketing, both with Shaw Industries, and Kemp Harr discuss Shaw’s National Sales meeting that is bringing over 1,000 people to Chattanooga this week to see the new products for 2020 and learn more about the sales force reporting changes within the retail sector of the residential flooring business. Listen to the interview to hear Scott and Carrie talk about this launch event for the 2020 product year.
December 9, 2019—Santo Torcivia, Economist with Market Insights, and Kemp Harr discuss Santo’s latest statistics related to the U.S. Economy and flooring sales. Listen to the interview to hear Santo’s initial call for year end sales and his outlook for 2020.
December 2, 2019—Harlan Stone, CEO with HMTX, and Kemp Harr discuss the section 301 tariff exclusion announced November 8th that removes the 25% tariff on all click LVT imported from China. Listen to the interview for more details on why this happened, what products are covered and when it might go away.
November 27, 2019—Russell Grizzle, CEO of Mannington Mills, and Kemp Harr discuss Mannington’s announcement of their plans to acquire Phenix and Pharr Yarns. Listen to the interview to hear more details about the strategy behind this decision and the initial integration plans. This puts Mannington into the residential carpet market as well as the specialty yarns business and makes them a family run top 5 player in the flooring business.