Issue Date:5/28/2002
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Issue Date:5/28/2002
Tuesday, May 28, 2002 Issue 185 Next issue published June 10 Deadline for items June 6 Send news to mailto:[email protected] Coverings Records Growth In Total Attendance With total attendance reaching a record 30,695 trade and professional visitors from more than 101 countries, Coverings 2002 concluded its four-day run at the Orange County Convention Center. While attendees posted a 20 percent gain, the total number of the show's population reached a 16 percent gain over the 2001 event held last year in New Orleans. The Coverings conference program also saw growth, with total session counts growing more than 26 percent.
NWFA Holds First Factory-Finished Installation School NWFA held its first Factory-Finished Installation School May 15-16 in Rockford, Ill. The school included instruction on topics such as the basics of factory-finished products, preparation and testing of subfloors, methods of installation and troubleshooting. Demonstrations given during the school included nail down, staple down, glue down (engineered & parquet), inserting a medallion and board replacement. School instructors, led by the NWFA's Steve Seabaugh, were: Dave Polisky, Harris-Tarkett Inc.; Tom Peotter, Historic Floors of Oshkosh Inc.; Steve Sharke, Lauzon Distinctive Hardwood Flooring; and Jim Duffek, Powernail Co. Inc. The lead distributor for the school was Ridgefield Industries (Crystal Lake, Ill.).
Manufacturing Sector Will Help Lead Economic Recovery While the housing industry has helped lead the economy out of recession and posted gains in this year's first quarter, housing and the economy are expected to drift down to sustainable growth levels throughout the year, leaving the manufacturing sector and others to carry forward the economic recovery and become key engines of growth, according to the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB). According to David Seiders, chief economist for NAHB, the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) grew by approximately "5 percent plus" in the first quarter and "housing was a star performer, averaging more than 1.7 million starts on an annualized basis." However, because housing did so well during the recession, there is no "pent-up demand to lead the economy forward." Instead, Seiders predicts the manufacturing sector will drive expansion over the next few quarters, with the GDP dropping back to the 3.5 percent range.
People News DriTac Adhesive Group (Brooklyn, New York) has appointed Miles Charlesworth as southeast regional sales manager. Formerly a sales representative for DriTac, Charlesworth will be responsible for all sales efforts covering Florida, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee, South Carolina and North Carolina.
Tembec Hardwood Flooring Division (Huntsville, Ontario) had added Tom Crandall as its account manager for the eastern United States. He is based out of Pennsylvania. Crandall most recently served as northeast regional manager for Harris-Tarkett.
Manufacturer News Armstrong Wood Products Inc. (Addison, Texas), in celebration of Earth Day, joined with select schools across the nation to promote healthy forestry. The company adopted 12 schools, at each of which company representatives talked to students about forestry management and responsible use of the earth's renewable resources. Each school also participated in a tree planting ceremony and students were given take-home educational materials and tree seedlings to plant with their families. Nationwide, approximately 1,900 students received tree seedlings.
Columbia Flooring (Danville, Va.) has donated $5,000 toward the construction of Habitat for Humanity's "Hero House" in Danville, Va., and has issued a challenge to other area businesses to make like donations in order to generate the $40,000 necessary to complete the project. Members of the Danville Fire Department will build the house, along with other volunteers, including several from Columbia, which also will donate all of the flooring.
EcoTimber (San Rafael, Calif.) has been acquired by Monterey-Calif.- based Hayward Lumber Co. EcoTimber's product line is focused on solid and prefinished engineered wood flooring.
Distributor News BonaKemi USA (Aurora, Colo.) has named Armfield Floor Distributing Inc. (Charlotte and Raleigh, N.C.) its Distributor of the Year. Armfield is a full-service hardwood flooring distributor serving North and South Carolina for the past 10 years.
Shelman U.S.A. (Red Bank, N.J.) has announced a change in its distributorship. As of June 1, the company's exclusive distributor for the state of Texas will be Master's Craft Hardwood Flooring (Tulsa, Okla.).
On the Web McKay Flooring Ltd. (Glasgow, Scotland) has launched its new hardwood flooring Web site at www.mckayflooring.co.uk. Among its other features, the site includes a guide to hardwood flooring that includes information on such topics as the qualities of different wood types, maintenance and cleaning and hardwood block flooring.
Appalachian Flooring Ltd. (Cowansville, Quebec) has unveiled its Web site at www.appalachianflooring.com.
By the Numbers The National Association of Home Builders' (NAHB) Housing Market Index (HMI) for May remained unchanged from April's upwardly revised reading of 61. According to the NAHB, the HMI has held within three points of this strong reading since the beginning of the year.
Strip shipments for April 2002 totaled 50,890,000 board feet, up 23 percent from April 2001. For the first four months of 2002, strip shipments totaled 199,905,000 board feet, up 16 percent from the first four months of 2001, according to data from NOFMA, the Wood Flooring Manufacturers Association.
Nationwide housing starts retreated 5.4 percent in April to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.56 million units, the Commerce Department says. The shortfall occurred mostly in the multi-family sector, where production often fluctuates widely on a month-to-month basis. Housing permits, which can be an indicator of future building activity, were virtually unchanged in April at a rate of 1.63 million units.
Residential remodeling made a rebound in the first quarter of this year, according to the latest Remodeling Market Index (RMI) released by NAHB. Following a slowdown in remodeling activity during the second half of 2001, the RMI showed across-the-board gains in all of the components that make up the index. High-end alterations and additions showed the most improvement, rising nearly 10 points to a 49.6 rating, while minor additions and alterations rose to a score of 53.7 and maintenance and repairs rose to 54.5.
Watch Your Mail Forms for Hardwood Floors' October/November Resource Book have been sent out. Watch for them in your mail. For answers to questions about the forms, e-mail Katie Wilke at [email protected].
Member Services The NWFA offers online opportunities to learn from your office. New "webinar" topics include Job Costing/Cash Flow, Marketing Strategies, Retaining Good Employees and Inventory Management. Additionally, the NWFA offers its Industry RoadMap and Tool Kit, a self-diagnostic tool that will allow distributors to analyze and improve their business operations. Using the RoadMap, distributors can review sales management, operations and inventory management. For more information, contact the NWFA at 800/422-4556 (U.S.), 800/848-8824 (Canada), 636/391-5161 (international), or e-mail [email protected].