Hardwood Floors E-News - 10/1/2007

Shaw Industries Group Inc. (Dalton, Ga.), a subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway, has acquired the privately owned Anderson Family of Companies (Clinton, S.C), which includes Anderson Hardwood Floors, for an undisclosed amount. Anderson had previously manufactured select products for the Shaw alliance. "Anderson really represents the mid- to high-end field of the market in engineered wood, and they're leaders on styling and innovation, so we think there's a lot of synergy between the two companies," said Vance Bell, CEO of Shaw Industries Group Inc.

With the acquisition, there will be no personnel changes to Anderson management. Shaw will give financial backing to the Anderson brand, and Anderson's existing product lines will continue to be sold only through its established circuit of distributors.

"This really allows the Anderson family to take their chips off the table," said Don Finkell, president and CEO of Anderson Hardwood Floors. "[Shaw] resources will potentially be placed behind Anderson. In the long term, I think it will help us be competitive in the marketplace."

The NWFA and NOFMA hosted a Wood Flooring Basics School at the NWFA training facility in St. Louis September 18-21. Instructors Mickey Moore, NOFMA; Daniel Boone, Everwood Floors; and Frank Kroupa, NWFA; led the class of 69 students and were assisted by Rusty Swindoll and Glen Miller, NWFA; and David Vinson, NOFMA. Volunteer instructors included: Galen Fitzel, 3M; Bob Sponamore, All Type Hardwood Flooring; Brad Betz and Scott Johnson, Basic Coatings; Dave Erickson and Matthew Thrane, BonaKemi USA Inc.; Mark Long, Chemque Inc.; Wayne Lee, Clarke American Sanders; Bill Costello, Dura Seal; Mark Lamanno, Franklin International; Brian Gamet and Chris Pryjomski, Glitsa American Inc.; Michael Kordash, Independent HWFs & Inspection Services; John H. Dailey, Midwest Restoration & Inspection Service; Nick Motto, Motto’s Flooring; Richard A. Wheeler Sr., Porta-Nails Inc.; Stan Lawson, Powernail Company Inc.; Mike Summers, UFloor Systems Inc.; Todd McDonald, W.D. Flooring; Dave Posey, Wagner Electronic Products; and Joey Waugh, Waugh’s Hardwood Flooring. Decorative Flooring (Port St. Joe, Fla.) held a wood flooring school September 13 at its facility in Port St. Joe. Instructors for the school included Daniel Boone of Everwood Floors, Bob Moffett of Ceno Group, Charles Peterson of The International Parquetry Historical Society and Donnie Bouchard of Perfection Home Flooring. Vendors represented at the school included Bostik Inc., Powernail Company, Festool, Ceno Group, Professional Coatings and U-V Cured.

DriTac Adhesive Group (Brooklyn, N.Y.) has partnered with Granwax Products Ltd. (Derbyshire, United Kingdom) to market and distribute two of DriTac’s adhesives in the United Kingdom, Scotland and Ireland.

Magnum Wood Floors (North Charleston, S.C.) has moved its head office to 3294 Ashley Phosphate Road, Suite 2G, North Charleston, SC 29418. The phone number is 843/225-3373 and the fax number is 404/745-0274. The company’s warehousing facility remains in Calhoun, Ga.

Vecoplan (Archdale, N.C.) celebrated its newly expanded headquarters at a grand opening on September 15. The new facility features 10,000 square feet of office space and 50,000 square feet of warehouse space. The company has also opened its new state-of-the-art test lab, which contains a selection of Vecoplan’s most popular shredders and wood grinders.

Artistic Finishes Inc. (St. Paul, Minn.) has committed to a five-business-day lead time for about 80 percent of its total volume of molding parts, a two-day reduction.

Mannington Mills (Salem, N.J.) has awarded its Stand on a Better World Awards to Barbara Drennen of Kent, Wash., for her local contributions; Debra Bonde of Livonia, Mich., for national contributions; and Nancy Press of Portland, Ore., for her global contributions.

Horizon Forest Products (Raleigh, N.C.) has transitioned into its new 101,640-square-foot building located at 4115 Commodity Parkway in Raleigh. The phone and fax numbers remain the same. Cikel American (Pompano Beach, Fla.) has named Gerry Schappell vice president of sales. Schappell was at Hoboken Floors for more than 20 years, most recently as vice president of sales for Florida, Georgia and Texas. He can be contacted at 800/971-7896 or [email protected]. The company has also named George Celtrick director of sales. Celtrick has over two decades of experience in the wood flooring industry, most recently at Austin Hardwood Flooring. He can be reached at 800/971-7896 or [email protected].

BonaKemi USA Inc. (Aurora, Colo.) has restructured its management team, which resulted in the departure of Ron Peden, president and CEO. BonaKemi AB (Malmö, Sweden) President and CEO Dr. Kerstin Lindell now serves as managing director for BonaKemi USA. The executive management team includes: John Rauvola, sales and marketing; Kirk Roberts, product management; Paul England, operations; Brad Stone, finance; and Erin Wright, human resources.

Harold M. Stuhl Jr. has been appointed vice president of the Rubber Group of DASH Multi-Corp. (St. Louis), a group of wholly owned subsidiaries that include RB Rubber Products Inc.

Preverco Hardwood Flooring (St-Augustin-de-desmaures, Quebec) has hired David Pierce as territory manager for the Northeast United States. Pierce is responsible for Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts and New York. Pierce most recently was a district manager for Mohawk Industries.

Brent Sorbet is now technical services manager at ProStar Inc. (Milwaukee). He was previously at Basic Coatings for 14 years, most recently as field services manager.

Powernail Company Inc. (Lake Zurich, Ill.) has hired Mark Mukosiej as regional sales manager. Mukosiej covers Florida, Georgia and eastern Tennessee and will be the first to introduce Powernail’s demonstration van. He previously worked for BonaKemi USA. Donovan Norton will also represent Powernail as regional sales manager. Norton covers West Virginia, Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina. He most recently managed wood flooring crews for Western Carolina Home Place.

Blastrac (Oklahoma City) has named Spencer Murphy sales service technician. The company also appointed Phil Johnson area sales manager for Georgia, Alabama and Mississippi.

Entrepreneur Magazine recognized hardwood flooring dealer ICC Floors (Indianapolis) as No. 144 on its "2007 Hot 500 List." Sika Corp. (Lyndhurst, N.J.) has launched a new Web site at www.sikafloorusa.com.

Wicanders Cork Flooring (Hannover, Md.) has started a blog at wicanderscorkoakblog.com.

Harvest Timber Co./Pioneered Wood Flooring (Lakebay, Wash.) has launched its new Web design at www.harvest-timber.com.

The NWFA will hold a Custom Factory Finished School November 14-16 at its facility in St. Louis. For more information, e-mail [email protected] or visit www.nwfa.org.

Legendary NFL coach Don Shula will be the keynote speaker at the NWFA 2008 Convention, to be held March 25-28 in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. Shula first coached the Baltimore Colts from 1963 to 1969, and then the Miami Dolphins from 1970 to 1995, taking the team to six Super Bowls. For more information, visit www.nwfa.org and click on the "2008 Convention" link.

The NWFA has released its school schedule for 2008, as listed below. Several new schools have been added, including a Subfloor Preparation and Wood Flooring Installation school and a school between the Intermediate and Advanced schools called Advanced Intermediate Installation and Sand & Finish. Additionally, the Advanced School has been renamed Custom Design & Craftsmanship.

January 23-25		Intermediate Installation and Sand & Finish		Portland, Ore.
February 12-15		Introduction to Wood Flooring		Long Beach, Calif.
February 27-29		Custom Design & Craftsmanship		St. Louis
March 4-7		Wood Flooring Basics		St. Louis
March 10-13		Wood Flooring Inspection		St. Louis
April 8-11		Advanced Intermediate Installation and Sand & Finish		San Francisco
April 23-25		Intermediate Installation and Sand & Finish		St. Louis
May 6-9		Advanced Intermediate Installation and Sand & Finish		Hartford, Conn.
May 21-23		Subfloor Prep & Wood Flooring Installation		St. Louis
June 18-20		Intermediate Installation and Sand & Finish		Riverside, Calif.
August 26-29		Advanced Intermediate Installation and Sand & Finish		Atlanta
September 9-12		Advanced Intermediate Installation and Sand & Finish		St. Louis
September 16-19		Wood Flooring Basics		St. Louis
September 22-25		Wood Flooring Inspection		St. Louis
October 7-11		Expert Installations		St. Louis
October 13-15		Expert Sand & Finish		St. Louis
October 22-24		Intermediate Installation and Sand & Finish		Phoenix
November 5-7		Wood Flooring Makeover-Basic to Advanced		St. Louis
November 12-14		Intermediate Installation and Sand & Finish		Minneapolis

The USDA Forest Service Wood Education and Resources Center and the Sloan Foundation Forest Industries Center will co-sponsor a workshop, "Managing and Leading Change," October 15-16 in Princeton, W.Va. Topics covered include strategies for leading and managing organizational change and why even well-planned initiatives can fail. For more information, call 540/231-3095 or visit www.na.fs.fed.us/werc. Total housing starts for August 2007 were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,331,000 units, the slowest rate in 12 years and one of the steepest declines in rates in 16 years, according to the U.S. Commerce Department. This is 2.6 percent below the July 2007 figure of 1,367,000 units and is 19.1 percent below the revised August 2006 rate of 1,646,000 units. Horizon Forest Products is looking for a product/marketing manager. The job is based in Raleigh, and a hardwood flooring background is required. Résumés should be sent to David Williams at [email protected]. Hardwood Floors needs real dealer/contractor marketing pieces to be redesigned by professional design expert for its Sharper Image column. To have a piece considered for a redesign, hardwood flooring contractors and dealers should send in their newspaper ads, magazine ads, Yellow Pages ads, direct-mail pieces or company brochures to Redesign, Hardwood Floors, 4130 Lien Road, Madison, WI 53704. The Kids Cancer Connection in Woodland Hills, Calif., offers a variety of services for families of children with cancer, including no-cost housing while the families’ children receive treatment at nearby UCLA Medical Center. The organization purchased a 2,400-square-foot house that will allow it to help more families facing childhood cancer. The house is being renovated, and the NWFA has committed to replacing all the old flooring in the home with new and healthier wood flooring. NWFA-member companies have graciously donated all the materials needed for this extensive project, including W.D. Flooring (Laona, Wis.), Sheoga Hardwood Flooring & Paneling (Burton, Ohio), Dura Seal (Upper Saddle River, N.J.), Powernail Company (Lake Zurich, Ill.), Fortifiber Building Systems Group (Reno, Nev.), Golden State Flooring (San Francisco), Johnson Premium Hardwood Flooring (City of Industry, Calif.) and L & L Hardwoods (Milford, Ohio). About half the flooring has been installed thus far by volunteer contractors from Johnson Premium Hardwood Flooring and Avi’s Hardwood Flooring (Martinez, Calif.). Several other volunteers will be assisting in the next few weeks and will be coordinated by NWFA Technical Instructor Steve Marley.

If you would like to participate in this project, contact the NWFA by phone at 800/422-4556 (U.S.), 800/848-8824 (Canada) or 636/519-9663 (local and international), by e-mail at [email protected] or visit www.nwfa.org.