Issue Date:5/10/2004
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Hardwood Floors E-News Monday, May 10, 2004 Issue 237 Next issue published May 29, 2004 Deadline for items: May 19, 2004 Send news to [email protected]
Armstrong Announces Personnel Changes, First-Quarter Results Armstrong Holdings Inc. (Lancaster, Pa.) has announced that long-term company executive Stephen J. Senkowski has been elected an executive vice president, effective immediately. In addition to serving as president and CEO of Armstrong Building Products since October 2000, Senkowski is responsible for Armstrong Cabinet Products, as well as the corporate functions of information technology, process improvement, purchasing and environmental health and safety. In addition, the company has announced the retirement of Van C. Campbell and John A. Krol from its board of directors. Campbell served on Armstrong's board since 1991, and Krol since 1998.
In other company news, Armstrong announced its first quarter 2004 results. First-quarter net sales were reported at $845.0 million, a 9 percent increase over first-quarter net sales of $774.9 million in 2003. The increase in sales was driven primarily by strong demand for the company's products in the North American residential and commercial markets. Also contributing to the improvement in sales was the impact of price increases initiated in 2003. Operating income of $39.8 million was recorded for the first quarter of 2004 compared with operating income of $11.3 million in the first quarter of 2003. During 2003 and continuing into the first quarter of 2004, Armstrong implemented several manufacturing and organizational changes to improve its cost structure, which are reflected in lower selling, general and administrative expenses, as well as lower manufacturing overhead costs in the first quarter of 2004. These improvements, together with the benefits of increased sales volume and selling prices, were partially offset by higher raw material costs. Wood flooring net sales of $197.4 million in the first quarter of 2004 increased 18.1 percent from $167.2 million the prior year. This increase was primarily due to improved pricing and increased volume to the U.S. new home construction market.
Wood flooring operating income of $10.3 million was recorded in the first quarter compared with operating income of $2.2 million in the same period last year. The increase in operating income was primarily due to sales volume gains and lower manufacturing overhead costs resulting from the cost-reduction initiatives. In the first quarter of 2004, higher lumber costs substantially offset all of the benefits realized from higher selling prices, the company says.
Manufacturer News Barlinek S.A. (Poland) has added a new flooring production line with an annual productivity range of approximately 1,500,000 square meters. This third line will begin production on May 28 and will increase total production to approximately 4 million square meters, the company says. State-of-the-art equipment has been purchased for the new line, including the WoodEye System, a tool for monitoring, detecting and classifying quality faults in wood without the need to slow or halt production.
Distributor News Johnson Premium Hardwood Flooring Inc. (City of Industry, Calif.) has relocated its operation to a larger facility. The new address is 825 Sentous St., City of Industry, CA 91748. Staff e-mail addresses remain the same; however, the new phone and fax numbers are: 626/323-9000, 800/910-3047 and 626/323-9048, respectively. The company's Web site is www.jfloor.com . The company's old telephone number and fax number will remain in effect for three months; however, the new numbers are fully operational.
Southeast Hardwood Flooring Distributors Inc. (Mandeville, La.) has added the Medallion Hardwood Floor line, which includes a variety of nail-down and glue-down hardwood floors in oak, maple, Brazilian cherry, santos mahogany and South American chestnut.
Lon Musolf Distributing Inc. (Vadnais Heights, Minn.) held its customer appreciation wood flooring workshop on May 5. The workshop was the last in a five-part series held at the company's Vadnais Heights location. More than 200 people attended the event, and vendors included 3M, Artistic Finishes, Boen/Palo Duro, BonaKemi USA, Boral Timber, Duratool, Grill Works, Hassell & Hughes, Horner Flooring, L_gler, Lobadur, Oshkosh Floor Designs, Powernail, Revolution Inc., Shelman, Steps By Design, Timbermate, Ua and Warm Floors . The event included a pig roast, beverages and door prizes. The grand prize of two airline tickets to anywhere in the continental United States was won by Larry O'Connor of Larry's Floor Covering (Stillwater, Minn.).
People News Capella Hardwood Flooring (Vicksburg, Miss.) has named Jeff Cloer its vice president of sales and marketing. Cloer formerly served as vice president of sales and marketing for Zickgraf Hardwood Flooring. He is responsible for overseeing all sales and marketing activities, cultivating current customers and expanding Capella's national distribution. Cloer is based out of Franklin, N.C., and can be reached at 828/349-1404.
Bill Price has been named to the newly created position of director of technical services and product development at NewParks , a division of Zinsser Co. Inc. (Fall River, Mass.). In addition to developing new products with a focus on the professional floor finisher, Price will be working closely with the Parks Pro Finisher sales team on major flooring accounts to create training protocols, and to provide technical expertise and related business building strategies. Price will be based in Fall River, Mass., at the corporate headquarters.
Junckers Hardwood Inc. (Anaheim, Calif.) has hired Jim Watson as its territory sales representative for Los Angeles, Ventura, Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties. Watson brings the company 10 years of dedication to the sales industry in both the retail and wholesale markets.
Poloplaz (Jacksonville, Ark.) has appointed Mark Donovan northeast regional sales manager. He will be responsible for the distribution of Poloplaz stain, sealers and finishes in the northeast United States and eastern Canada. Donovan will be based in the Philadelphia trade area. For distribution opportunities, contact Donovan at 800/421-7319 or visit www.poloplaz.com .
Porta-Nails Inc. (Wilmington, N.C.) has named Richard Wheeler its national sales manager. He will be responsible for all aspects of the company's domestic sales, product management and customer service activities. Wheeler has extensive experience in the industry and with PNI, having worked for the company as operations manager prior to starting his own business.
The Southern Cypress Manufacturers Association (SCMA) (Pittsburgh, Pa.) has elected Charles F. Wilson of Wilson Lumber Co. (Memphis, Tenn.) its president and William C. Bell of Kempfer Sawmill Inc. (St. Cloud, Fla.) vice president.
By the Numbers Strip shipments for March 2004 totaled 60,083,000 board feet, up 7 percent from the 56,136,000 board feet shipped during March 2003, according to NOFMA: The Wood Flooring Manufacturers Association . For the first three months of 2004, strip shipments totaled 166,236,000 board feet, up 9 percent from the 151,752,000 board feet shipped during the same period last year.
Sales of new single-family homes in March 2004 were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,228,000, according to the Commerce Department . This is an increase of 8.9 percent above the revised February rate of 1,128,000 and 21.8 percent above the March 2003 estimate of 1,008,000.
On the Web Brazilian Direct Ltd. (Quakertown, Pa.) now offers a free 18-page E-book on its Web site at www.brazilianhardwood.com/braziliancherryguide.pdf . The E-book provides information on the company and its products, as well as technical information. The download is free and is in the form of a one-click Adobe Acrobat file. In addition, Brazilian Direct's updated Web site features details on the company's cash-back rebate on all jatoba orders over 2,500 square feet.
Job Watch Blainville Mouldings Inc. (Blainville, Quebec), a custom manufacturer of hardwood moldings and components, currently is seeking manufacturers' representatives to introduce transition moldings for the flooring industry. Potential representatives should have existing relationships with flooring distributors and manufacturers in the United States. Résumés should be sent to Blainville Mouldings Inc., c/o Diane Caron at 444 22nd Ave. E., Blainville, QC, Canada, J7C 4LB or [email protected] . The company's Web site is www.blainvillemouldings.com .
Mark Your Calendar The NWFA will hold an Installation and Sand & Finish School at the Connecticut Expo Center in Hartford, Conn., May 18-21. Designed to provide extensive hands-on training, this school is set up in a modular format so students can attend the entire school or only the days that best meet their needs. Modules include business management; installation, job-site evaluation and preparation, installation techniques, safety, custom design procedures and medallion demonstrations; sanding and finishing techniques and equipment use and maintenance; and finish, repairs and recoats, board replacement and hand-scraping. The NWFA also will hold its Advanced Installation School at its headquarters and training facility in St. Louis June 2-4. Attendees must have at least three years' experience in the wood flooring industry and must have successfully completed an NWFA Professional Installation School to attend. The school will cover borders, medallions, corner blocks, mixed media, metal inlays, designer/architect relations, custom job estimating, specialty tools, sanding and finishing techniques, and troubleshooting. For more information, call the NWFA at 800/422-4556 (U.S.), 800/848-8824 (Canada) or 636/519-9663 (local and international), fax 636/519-9664, e-mail [email protected] or visit www.nwfa.org .
Addition In the April 26 issue of the Hardwood Floors E-News, Galen Fitzel of 3M should have been listed as a director on the NWFA Board of Directors.
NWFA Member Services Looking for the right person to fill a job opening at your company? Are you in search of a position? NWFA serves as a career resource center for you. Members can access the exclusive online Classified Ads Service to post jobs available or jobs wanted. To do this, go to www.nwfa.org , click on "Member Networking" and then on "Classified Ads." Be sure to have your member ID ready, and then post the job for your company. Both members and non-members can access this service to view listings of jobs available or jobs wanted. If you need assistance in using this service, contact Jan Keuhn at the NWFA at [email protected] . For more information, call the NWFA at 800/422-4556 (U.S.), 800/848-8824 (Canada) or 636/519-9663 (local and international), fax 636/519-9664 or visit www.nwfa.org .
