Issue Date:9/18/2006
Elway Keynote Speaker for NWFA Convention
Former Denver Broncos quarterback
John Elway was named the keynote speaker for the 2007 NWFA Convention to be held April 10-13 in Denver. He will speak at the opening session on Wednesday, April 11. Elway led the Broncos to six AFC championships and five Super Bowl appearances and was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2004. For more information on the convention, visit
www.nwfa.org and click on the "Convention and Expo" link.
NWFA Holds Engineered School
The NWFA held an Engineered Installation School in Miami September 8. NWFA Assistant Technical Director
Rusty Swindoll led the instruction of 30 students. Volunteer instructors included
Alan Blake,
ElkCorp;
Todd Goldstein,
Hardwood Flooring Group;
Alisson Carvalho and
Evandro Carvalho,
Maximum Hardwood Floors Corp.,
Bob Goldstein,
Wood Flooring International Inc.; and
Dave Posey,
Wood Pro Floors.
Floor Style Products-Florida (Dania Beach, Fla.) was the lead distributor.
Manufacturer News
Lauzon Distinctive Hardwood Flooring Inc. (Papineauville, Quebec) will transfer all its hardwood production to and invest $19 million Canadian dollars in a sawmill located in Thurso, Quebec. This hybrid sawmill, known as
Lauzon (Thurso)-Forest Resources, will produce both random boards sold as per NHLA grading rules and custom orders for industrial clients,
and will reduce production costs by 40 percent. Lauzon will increase the mill’s production from 30 million to 54 million board feet annually. This acquisition is the first phase of Lauzon’s $50 million Canadian dollars investment strategy, in which the Quebec government is contributing $6.3 million Canadian dollars. For more information, contact
Francine Houle at 819/771-6213 or by e-mail at
[email protected].
Alston Inc. (Los Angeles) is celebrating its 10th anniversary by moving into a new 25,000-square-foot distribution facility located at 21487 Ferrero Parkway, City of Industry, CA 91789.
Junckers Hardwood Inc. (Anaheim, Calif.) won first place in the GlobalShop 2006 New Product Showcase with its Nature’s Beauty "Fine Line."
Signature Innovations LLC’s (Wood Dale, Ill.) French Victorian Collection flooring has been selected for the Kitchen & Bath Showcase at the 2006 Remodeling Show in Chicago October 19-21.
Distributor News
Horizon Forest Products (Raleigh, N.C.) has purchased
Millwood Flooring (Knoxville, Tenn.). This is the sixth branch for Horizon and its first branch in Tennessee, located at 1632 Robert C. Jackson Drive, Maryville, TN 37801, which
Kevin Daniel will manage. The phone number is 865/982-3114.
Award Hardwood Floors (Wausau, Wis.) has appointed Dealers Supply North (Durham, N.C.) distributor for western Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Ohio, Kentucky and Indiana.
People News
Columbia Flooring (Danville, Va.) has appointed
Greg Pray to the newly created position of executive vice president. Pray will work with president
David Wootton, who is set to retire in 2007.
Rochester Hardwood Floors of Utica Inc. (Utica, N.Y.) has promoted Kevin G. Claeys to vice president.
Tarkett (Whiteall, Pa.) has appointed Guillame Clement vice president of marketing and sales, residential North America. Clement has been with the company for nine years and was most recently residential division controller.
Owens Flooring Company (Shawano, Wis.) has promoted Frank Austin to national sales manager. Austin has been with Owens Flooring since 2002, most recently as sales and marketing manager.
Lenmar (Baltimore) has hired Dan Justitz for southeast and south-central sales. Justitz will also provide bilingual technical support and training for Spanish-speaking contractors and distributors. He most recently worked for Hoboken Floors.
BSL Wood Products (Mt-Joli, Quebec) has appointed two territory managers: Scott Taylor for the Midwest and Pam Moore for the Southeast. Both can be contacted at [email protected].
Bill Dixon of Progressive Finishing (Concord, Ontario) has changed his e-mail address to [email protected].
On the Web
Mirage/Boa-Franc (Saint-Georges, Quebec) has launched a Web site that highlights its Nanolinx finish at
www.miragenanolinx.com.
Reclaimed flooring manufacturer Our Heritage Preserved (Greenville, N.C.) has unveiled its Web site at www.ourheritagepreserved.com.
Mark Your Calendar
The NWFA will hold an Intermediate Installation, Sand and Finish School October 25-27 in San José, Calif. For more information, e-mail
[email protected] or visit
www.nwfa.org.
The Minnesota Floorcovering Association will hold a Lunch-N-Learn Series featuring speaker Roy Reichow of National Wood Flooring Consultants Inc. (Cedar, Minn.) September 19 at the Mermaid Entertainment and Event Center in Mounds View, Minn. Reichow will discuss the causes and prevention of moisture-related issues that effect prefinished and unfinished wood flooring.
Domotex 2007 will be held January 13-16, 2007, in Hannover, Germany. The 2006 show attracted more than 50,000 flooring professionals and seven NWFA-member companies. For more information, call 49-69-13376804 or visit www.domotex.de.
Job Watch
ForesFloor-product of Foresbec Inc. (St-Eugene, Quebec) is looking for an experienced sales territory manager for western Canada. Résumés should be sent to
[email protected]. For more information, visit
www.foresfloor.com.
Alston Inc. is seeking several experienced sales representatives for the East Coast for prefinished hardwood flooring and related products. Résumés should be mailed to Alston Inc., Attn.: Human Resources Dept., 21487 Ferrero Parkway, City of Industry, CA 91789; faxed to 909/718-0388; or e-mailed to [email protected].
NWFA Member Services
Financial analysts have argued for years that it is more profitable to increase sales to existing clients than to seek out new business. In the NWFA’s "Distributor Profit Improvement Report, Driving Sales Volume: Thinking Inside the Box,"
Dr. Al Bates provides examples that show how adding one additional line item to each order, while increasing average line-item values by just 1 percent, can improve distributor profits by nearly 35 percent. The report is available online at
www.nwfa.org. Simply click on the "Service and Supplies" link, select "Statistical Reports" and click on "Profit Improvement Report." For more information, 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].