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February 10, 2011

Werner Braun: Scratching the ‘Surfaces’

Dalton Daily Citizen

I enjoy getting together with close friends and seeing people with whom I might have lost touch. That’s one reason I enjoyed my trip to the Surfaces flooring industry trade show a few weeks ago. With roughly 35,000 floorcovering buyers, sellers and customers and more than 1,000 exhibitors, Surfaces is an important business and education event for the floorcovering industry, as well as an opportunity for some enjoyable social interaction with my flooring friends.

As I have mentioned previously, Surfaces is the first industry event of the year, making it an “unveiling” of the newest and most innovative products, tools and technologies in floor covering.

This year, Surfaces was at the beautiful Mandalay Bay hotel and conference center in Las Vegas. The Carpet and Rug Institute staffed an exhibitor booth where we handed out copies of Carpet Cleaning Tips for Dummies and talked about carpet care and maintenance, carpet recycling and Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) to retailers and customers.

Visitors to CRI’s booth recognize CRI as the source for science-based information on soft floorcoverings, with information on carpet cleaning and maintenance, asthma and allergy, sustainability, volatile organic chemicals, standards and specifications, international involvement and installation.

Some who stopped by the booth were from California, with questions about California’s AB 2398 Carpet Stewardship Program. CRI staff and CRI Vice President Frank Hurd helped explain the new law to all those who had concerns. California AB 2398 Carpet Stewardship Program requires that beginning in July 2011 a 5-cent per square yard fee must be added to customers’ final invoice and be visible on invoices throughout the supply chain, from manufacturer to distributor, retailer, etc.

This  fee will be put into an “incentive fund.” The Carpet America Recovery Effort (CARE) will act as the stewardship organization under the bill, administering the program and dispensing the monies to carpet recycling businesses in California. The idea behind AB 2398 is that by rewarding results, companies that are successfully diverting carpet from landfills and recycling carpet into other usable products will be able to increase their activities and keep more and more carpet out of the landfill.

I also had the opportunity at Surfaces to speak on a state of the industry panel with representatives from other areas of the floorcovering industry, such as laminate, hardwood, tile, and resilient. Each of us spoke about our industry’s current position in the global market. I shared the good news that buyers are still investing in carpet because they recognize its beauty and long-term value.  

It was heartening to hear my counterparts from other industries share my views on the economic future of flooring. We’ve all felt the squeeze of a tight economy over the past few years, but ultimately, we’re optimistic that brighter days lie ahead.

Because in the end, nothing is more comforting than hearing that times are getting better, innovation is still occurring and new ideas are flowing for future development. Surfaces has jump-started this year’s floorcovering sales, and just as I would at any gathering of friends, I’d like to make a toast to the successful global good news that the flooring industry is alive and well.

Cheers! 

Werner Braun is president of the Carpet and Rug Institute

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