Issue Date:6/12/2006
NWFA Holds Intermediate Cincinnati School
The NWFA held an Intermediate Installation, Sand & Finish School June 7-9 in Cincinnati. Twenty-six students attended the school, which was led by NWFA Technical Advisor
Frank Kroupa. Volunteer instructors included
Kip Morsch,
Basic Coatings LLC;
Gene Jarka,
BonaKemi USA Inc.;
Dave Leibach,
Clarke American Sanders;
William Costello,
Dura Seal;
Roger Barker,
Fortifiber Building Systems Group,
Chris Pryjomski,
Glitsa American Inc.;
Michael Klinge,
Loba GmbH & Co. KG;
Michael McSwain,
McSwain Carpet & Floors;
Matt Ward,
Norton Abrasives;
Tom Peotter,
Oshkosh Designs;
Bob Goldstein,
Sabra International Inc.;
Johannes Boonstra,
Synteko Floor Finishes;
Todd McDonald,
W.D. Flooring; and
Marlin J. Yoder,
Wood Floors Unlimited Inc. There were two lead distributors:
Lanham Hardwood Flooring Co. Inc. (Louisville, Ky.) and
Palmer Donavin Mfg. Co. (Cincinnati).
Manufacturer News
Foresbec Inc. (Drummondville, Quebec) celebrated the opening of its new facility on June 4 with an official "board-cutting" ceremony. More than 60 guests attended. This ceremony ended a week-long celebration the attracted more than 1,000 people.
PoloPlaz (Jacksonville, Ark.) has completed a six-month project to improve production capacity at its plant in Jacksonville. The project included additional building space, storage tanks, pumps and personnel.
Armstrong World Industries (Lancaster, Pa.) will offer more than 65 wood flooring certification classes for its Armstrong Certified Installer Program this year. For more information, visit www.floorexpert.com, or call 800/356-9301, ext. 5376.
Mapei Corporation (Deerfield Beach, Fla.) will co-sponsor #7 Robby Gordon in the Nascar Nextel Cup Series throughout 2006.
Distributor News
BonaKemi USA Inc. (Aurora, Colo.) has named
Floor Style Products (Hastings, Mich.) its 2005 Distributor of the Year. BonaKemi also awarded its Outstanding Growth Award to
American Products Inc. (Pineville, N.C). Winners of the company's Achievement Awards included: for abrasives,
Horizon Forest Products (Raleigh, N.C.); for oil-modified polyurethane finishes, Floor Style Products; for floor care and dust containment systems,
Golden State Flooring (South San Francisco, Calif.); for machines,
Denver Hardwood Company (Denver); and for waterborne finishes,
Derr Flooring Company (Willow Grove, Penn.). Bona also recognized 20 distributors as distributors of merit.
DriTac Adhesive Group (Brooklyn, N.Y.) has appointed Brampton Hardwood Floors (Brampton, Ontario) its distributor for Canada.
Teragren Bamboo Floors, Panels & Veneer (Bainbridge Island, Wash.) has chosen T & A Supply (Kent, Wash.) to distribute its bamboo flooring to Northwest retailers. T & A has more than 6,600 floor covering retailers throughout Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana and Alaska.
Ancestral Floors Inc. (St. Georges, Quebec) has selected Beaulieu Canada (Acton Vale, Quebec) as a distributor.
Hardwood Pro (Winterset, Iowa) was selected as Green River American Hardwood's (Great Barrington, Mass.) 2005 Distributor of the Year.
Blake-Stevens Wood Flooring Inc. (Pewaukee, Wis.) held a cookout at its headquarters on May 19 as part of its 2006 Summer Cookout and Education Workshops. Norton Abrasives (Sanborn, N.Y.) sponsored the event and introduced its Red Heat line of abrasives to more than 40 contractors.
Front Range Hardwood (Colorado) has been named as Global Direct Engineered Wood Flooring's (Clinton Township, Mich.) sole distributor for the Colorado area. To celebrate, Front Range will hold its first annual Fourth of July flooring sale from June 12 to July 7. For more information, contact Richard Wynkoop at [email protected].
Dealer/Contractor News
Quality Craft Wood Floors Inc. (Palm Coast, Fla.) has built a 2,900-square-foot showroom office and warehouse located at 8110 Cypress Plaza Drive, Jacksonville, FL 32256. The company will host an open house July 28-30. For more information, call 904/696-1994.
People News
DriTac Adhesive Group has appointed
Erik Landry Midwest regional sales manager. Landry has eight years of hardwood flooring sales experience, the last five of which he spent at Bruce Hardwood.
Penn Wood Products Inc. (East Berlin, Penn.) has named Ira Lauer lumber purchasing manager. Lauer worked for Penn Wood in the 1980s as lumber yard manager and is returning to the company after several years of working with other companies in the wood products industry.
By the Numbers
Hardwood flooring shipments for April totaled 38,797,000 square feet, according to
NOFMA: The Wood Flooring Manufacturers Association. This is a 21 percent decrease from the March shipments and an 11 percent decrease from the same month last year. The overall shipments so far this year total 174,436,000 square feet, a 7 percent increase from the same time last year. 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.
Mark Your Calendar
The NWFA will hold an Intermediate Installation, Sand & Finish School August 9-11 in Toronto at the Metro Toronto Convention Center. For more information, e-mail
[email protected] or visit
www.nwfa.org.
Basic Coatings LLC (Des Moines, Iowa) will partner with Norton Abrasives (Sanborn, N.Y.); Künzle Tasin Sanding Machines (USA) (Fort Lee, N.J.), Primatech Fastening Systems (Quebec); Oshkosh Designs (Winneconne, Wis.); and W.D. Flooring (Laona, Wis.) to offer two installation, safety, sanding and finishing classes, which will be held July 18-21 in Ontario, Calif., and November 14-17 in Nashville, Tenn. For more information, call 800/441-1934 or visit www.basiccoatings.com.
Lon Musolf Distributing Inc. (Vadnais Heights, Minn.) will hold Bona Days June 22 in Eden Prairie, Minn., and June 23 in Vadnais Heights. Representatives from BonaKemi USA Inc. will fix machines for free; customers just pay for parts. For more information, call 651/484-3020.
Job Watch
Oshkosh Designs is looking for a national sales director. This position will grow revenue and expand the company's customer base, as well as establish national sales initiatives, provide consistent feedback on performance and implement an effective customer service process. The successful candidate will have a bachelor's degree and at least 6 years' experience in business development in a two-step distribution market. Three years of supervisory experience is a plus.
Résumés should be e-mailed to
[email protected] or mailed to Oshkosh Designs, Attn.: Recruitment Department, 911 E. Main St., Winneconne, WI 54986.
Erickson's Flooring & Supply (Ferndale, Mich.) is looking for a customer service/inside salesperson in Illinois. Applicants must be computer-literate, able to multitask, detail-oriented, and they must possess excellent customer service skills. Knowledge of hardwood flooring is a plus. The company offers full benefits, 401(k) and paid holidays. Résumés should be mailed to Eric Mook at Erickson's Flooring and Supply, 647 Thomas Drive, Bensenville, IL 60106; e-mailed to [email protected] or faxed to 630/350-8468. For more information, call 866/819-9663.
Resource Book Reminder
Updated forms for the 2007
Hardwood Floors Resource Book are due June 19. If you haven't received your form, contact
Pam Walker at 800/722-8764 or 608/249-0186.
Calling All Newspaper Ads
Hardwood Floors is looking for great newspaper ads for its October/November dealer/contractor marketing contest. A professional branding expert will pick the best one, the winner will receive a
Hardwood Floors T-shirt, and the winning ad will appear in the magazine. The deadline for submitting ads is Friday, July 14. If you are a hardwood flooring dealer or contractor and think you have a great newspaper ad, mail it to: Newspaper Ads, Hardwood Floors, 4130 Lien Road, Madison, WI 53704.
NWFA Member Services
Did you know that when you increase sales just 5 percent by extending credit to credit-worthy accounts, you could increase your profits more than 20 percent? By eliminating billing errors, late billing and failure to follow up quickly when accounts become overdue, you can invest more in accounts receivable and positively impact your bottom line. See how in the NWFA's Profit Improvement Report by
Dr. Albert Bates. The complete report is online at www.nwfa.org. Click on the "Services and Supplies" menu option and select the "Statistical Reports" link. To request a hardcopy, 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].