Issue Date:5/15/2006
NWFA Holds Subfloor and Engineered Schools
The NWFA held a Subfloor Solutions School May 9-11 at the NWFA headquarters in St. Louis. NWFA Technical Director
Steve Seabaugh, along with the NWFA’s Technical Advisor
Frank Kroupa and Assistant Director of Technical Training
Rusty Swindoll, led the 19 attending students. Volunteer instructors included
Sam Elliot,
Dayle Moore and
Steve Lima, Bostik Inc. ;
Alan Blake,
ElkCorp;
Roger H. Barker,
Fortifiber Building Systems Group;
Frank Szubart,
Harmony Source Inc. ;
Charles Peterson,
The Int’l Parquetry Historical Society;
Brent Stoller,
Interstate Supply Company; and
Dave Posey,
Wood Pro Floors.
The NWFA also held an Engineered Installation School May 12 at its headquarters. Twenty-one students attended this school, which was led by again by Seabaugh, Kroupa and Swindoll. Volunteer instructors included Frank Szubart, Harmony Source Inc. and Charles Peterson, The Int’l Parquetry Historical Society.
Manufacturer News
Chemcraft International Inc. (Port Hope, Ontario) has acquired the majority of the assets of
ICD Coatings SA of Brazil (Campina Grande de Sul, Brazil). The new company will be known as
Chemcraft Do Brasil Tintas E Vernizes Ltda.
Brazilian Direct Ltd. (Quakertown, Pa.) has a new toll-free number at 888/4-JATOBA (888/452-8622), a redesigned Web site at www.brazilianhardwood.com and a new automated ordering system at www.brazilianhardwood.com/_crm/pro/reg/.
Mannington Mills (Salem, N.J.) has started its Stand on a Better World Scholarship fund for local high school students. The company plans to award five $500 scholarships.
Distributor News
Hoboken Floors (Wayne, N.J.) held a showroom event on April 20 in Manhattan’s D & D Building. The event was sponsored in part by
BR-111 Imports & Exports Inc. (Medley, Fla.) and
NY Spaces magazine, and featured a guest appearance by
Thom Filicia of "Queer Eye for the Straight Guy."
Mullican Flooring (Johnson City, Tenn.) has appointed Southeast Hardwood Flooring Distributors Inc. (Mandeville, La.) to distribute its product line throughout the southern Gulf region.
Lon Musolf Distributing Inc. (Vadnais Heights, Minn.) held its customer appreciation/vendor open house on May 9 at its Vadnais Heights location. More than 200 people attended. The company also held a hardwood flooring installation workshop at its Waukesha, Wis., location on May 11.
Mirage/Boa-Franc (St. Georges, Quebec) has expanded Golden State Flooring’s (South San Francisco, Calif.) distribution territory to include Los Angeles; San Diego, Calif.; Phoenix; and Las Vegas.
Dealer/Contractor News
Rick Bent Flooring (Hilton Head Island, S.C.) has opened a 4,700-square-foot showroom in Savannah, Ga.
Ronnie Akins is the store manager and
Kevin McKelleget is the Savannah sales manager.
Convention News
DomotexAsia/Chinafloor 2006 broke several records at its show held in Shanghai March 28-30. More than 32,424 flooring professionals attended the show, an increase of 28 percent from the 2005 show. Foreign visitors totaled 4,315 from 83 countries. Next year’s show will take place March 29-31, 2007, in Shanghai’s new International Expo Center.
People News
Erickson’s Flooring and Supply (Ferndale, Mich.) has added three people to its Indianapolis sales staff:
Michael Lockett,
Yvonne Yocum and
Lynn Raney. Lockett will cover the central and northern Indiana territory, Yocum will serve the central and southern Indiana territory and Raney will work out of the Indianapolis office as a customer service representative.
Quality Woods Ltd. (Flanders, N.J.) has hired Theresa Hogge as COO. Hogge has more than 13 years of wood flooring experience, most recently as building products manager at International Hardwood Flooring.
Mirage/Boa-Franc has appointed Sylvie Landry architect and designer representative for the Quebec territory. She has 15 years’ experience in the home building products industry.
Panel Town & Floors (Columbus, Ohio) has hired Brian Roberts as sales manager-wholesale division. Roberts has more than 20 years’ experience in the flooring industry and most recently worked with Franklin International. He can be contacted at 614/905-2109.
Dayton Hardwood Floors Inc. (Spring Valley, Ohio) has added Randy Weed to its sales team. Weed comes to DHF with 21 years of hardwood sales experience.
Michelman (Cincinnati) has promoted David Towell to global marketing manager-paint and coatings. He previously worked as a technical sales representative and global marketing manager-additives for Michelman.
By the Numbers
Wood flooring shipments for March 2006 totaled 49,376,000 square feet, according to
NOFMA: The Wood Floor Manufacturers Association. This is a 20 percent increase over the same month last year, and brings the year-to-date shipments to 135,639,000 square feet, a 13 percent increase over the same time period in 2005. The NOFMA data is from hardwood flooring manufacturers in the U.S., corresponding to actual figures from a majority of the known producing units, plus projections representing units for which actual data is occasionally provided or not provided. The flooring shipments reported include solid prefinished and unfinished oak, beech, birch, maple, hickory/pecan, ash, cherry and walnut.
New home sales in March 2006 were 1,213,000 units, according to the U.S. Department of Commerce . This rate is up 13.8 percent from February 2006, but down 7.2 percent from March 2005.
Mark Your Calendar
The NWFA will host an Engineered Installation School in Las Vegas June 26. For more information, e-mail
[email protected] or visit
www.nwfa.org.
NOFMA: The Wood Flooring Manufacturers Association will offer its next NOFMA-Certified Wood Flooring Inspector School August 19-23 at the Holiday Inn Select in East Memphis, Tenn. The five-day course will be limited to 20 participants. For more information, contact NOFMA by phone at 901/526-5016, by e-mail at [email protected], or visit the Web site at www.nofma.org.
Job Watch
Glitsa American Inc. (Seattle, Wash.) is seeking a qualified sales professional for the central U.S. territory. This position requires two years of outside sales experience, a strong technical background and availability for frequent travel. Glitsa offers a competitive salary and a full range of benefits. Résumés and salary requirements should be sent to Glitsa American Inc., 327 South Kenyon, Seattle, WA 98108, or e-mailed to
[email protected].
Clarke American Sanders (Springdale, Ark.) is looking for a sander specialist for all of Canada, with the primary territory being the GTA. The ideal candidate must have direct sales experience calling on professional sanding contractors and craftsman dealers, excellent presentation skills to lead sanding schools and product training, floor care knowledge to assist and support customers with their floor care needs and the ability to travel 65 percent of the time. Résumés and salary histories should be sent by mail to Clarke, Attn: Human Resources-SS-CAN, 2100 Hwy. 265 S., Springdale, AR 72764; by fax at 479/750-8236; or by e-mail at [email protected].
Addition
The previous issue of
Hardwood Floors E-News should have listed the second- and third-place teams of the Xtreme Wood Flooring Makeover competition that took place at the NWFA Convention April 26-29 in Baltimore. The second place team, which consisted of
Dave Marzalek of
DM Hardwood Designs (Mission Viejo, Calif.);
Mark Scheller of
Scheller Hardwood Floors (Lemoyne, Pa.); and
Steve Marley of
Cal Coast Hardwood Flooring (Simi Valley, Calif.); immediately donated its prize money of $750 to the NWFA Technical School Scholarship Program.
Jamie Lupresto of
Diamond Flooring (Elizabethtown, Ky.),
Tony Robison of
Floor Service Supply Company (Davie, Calif.) and
Evandro Carvalho of
Maximum Hardwood Floors (Coral Springs, Fla.) placed third and won $500.
NWFA Member Services
The NWFA’s Contractor Profit Report, "Working Harder or Working Smarter," shows contractors how to make changes in their businesses that can improve profits and identifies which suggested improvements yield the greatest profits. Author
Dr. Al Bates provides an analysis of exactly how much of a profit increase is driven by improvements in sales and pricing, and he also provides guidelines on how to ensure that pricing policies maximize profits. Get your copy of the report available online at
www.nwfa.org. Click on the "Services and Supplies" menu option and select the "Statistical Reports" link. To request a hardcopy of the report, contact the NWFA by phone at 800/422-4556 (U.S.), 800/848-8824 (Canada) or 636/519-9663 (local and international), or by e-mail at
[email protected].