Researchers Offer Assistance to Wood Flooring Manufacturers

In the business world, "It's all about who you know." One person wood flooring manufacturers should know is Pat Donahue, director of the Market-Oriented Wood Technology Program at the University of Minnesota Duluth's Natural Resources Research Institute. "My goal is to help the North American flooring manufacturers," Donahue says. In his research lab, Donahue has apparatuses to scientifically test important wood flooring characteristics, including hardness, wear resistance, cleanability, chemical resistance, scratch and mar resistance, aging, bending strength, and more. One company that has benefitted from Donahue's guidance is Cook, Minn.-based Hill Wood Products. A few years ago, he company sought Donahue's guidance as it looked to improve business during the recession. Donahue helped Hill Wood Products develop two flooring lines: Ashawa Bay custom flooring and Ashawa Bay stock flooring. Donahue assisted Hill Wood Products with doing the stability testing and specifying an adhesive for laminating the multi-layered flooring. The assistance from Donahue has paid off: "It's an integral part, and it's a growing part of the company," Randy Rosoundich, Hill Wood Products' vice president, says of Ashawa Bay and Ashawa Trail. For Donahue, his mission is simple: "I'm a wood scientist trying to help build an industry, trying to move it forward."