Article Number : 2280 |
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| Date | 8/15/2007 8:08:43 PM |
| Written By | LGM & Associates Technical Flooring Services |
| View this article at: | http://www.floorbiz.com/BizResources/NPViewArticle.asp?ArticleID=2280 |
| Abstract | Does it exist? Where? And how can you get it? When I got into the industry almost 34 years ago there was an abundance of technical people to work with and learn from. Most of them were working for the fiber producers and they understood carpet at a very high level... |
| Article | Does it exist? Where? And how can you get it? When I got into the industry almost 34 years ago there was an abundance of technical people to work with and learn from. Most of them were working for the fiber producers and they understood carpet at a very high level. Fortunately, I had the opportunity to get involved with many of these people. Not only did I learn from them but they were willing to refer me to other technical people in other areas of the industry who were a wealth of information as well. As the industry started to both slow down and consolidate there was a purging of services and a cut back of employees. The first people to be eliminated were many of the technical folks, and they weren’t replaced. Consolidation also eliminated the majority of manufacturers to the extent that today we have three majors who control about 85% of the market. Of the three, only one has a full service technical facility that is unrivaled in the carpet industry. The smaller manufacturers have few, if any, technical people to speak of, except for possibly having someone employed who has a technical background that has to wear several other hats as well. Age has taken its toll as well. Many of the technical people still around are getting older or have retired. That leaves a position either left unfilled or filled by a young person who has not been exposed to the truly technical side of the industry. I’ve often said that even the people who make carpet don’t fully understand the product. And just what does that statement mean to you? Let me give you just one example that happened today. A dealer calls with an installation question on some woven goods that they are having challenges installing. The carpet falls apart at the edge no matter how carefully it’s cut. A call to the manufacturer does not get him an answer. He’s referred instead to an installer who has had success installing the product. The referred installer explains to the dealer and his installers, what he’s done in the past with this particular carpet style to make it work. The point I’m making is the manufacturer has no one on staff to offer assistance to the dealer. They have to refer him to someone else and the dealer has to hope the information he gets is reliable. To confirm what he’s heard he called us and relayed what he was told. Since we have done extensive consulting work with this manufacturer we understand his plight. We were able to, not only confirm that what he was told should work but refer him to an associate that would definitely be able to help him. We get calls like this almost every day from commercial and residential floor covering dealers. The other problem, which is also relative to technical issues, is that most people who think they know, who are entrusted by the industry to have answers, don’t really know. There are some excellent technical people in the floor covering industry, most of them we are associated with in some way. Very few of them work for flooring manufacturers but many did at one time. We have ready access to these fonts of information. Most dealers have to rely on the rep for information and that’s not the best source. Another example, if you have a claim and it is denied based on an independent inspection, which says it is not a manufacturing related issue, the claims analyst takes for gospel what the inspection says. The dealer gets a nicely phrased denial letter, maybe with a copy of the report. We had one of these today as well, a dealer who called and then forwarded the information he received from the manufacturer. The inspection report was ambiguous, contradictory within its content and actually implicated the manufacturers’ responsibility to the cause of the problem, when he was trying to exonerate them. However, the way the report was interpreted by the claims analyst, it was cause for denying the claim. The point here being the manufacturer takes the report for gospel to justify denial of the claim and the inspector really doesn’t know what he’s talking about – he had his facts wrong and didn’t understand the data he had. All of this may make you a little disconcerted and it should. So what can and should you do about it? You can call us. We can test, review a claim, give you guidance, refer you to the right source or get involved in your case and let you know, honesty, whether you’re at fault or not. Or you can refer customers or contacts to us for help. There’s virtually nothing we can’t help you with. You shouldn’t have to be frustrated, confused or otherwise feel helpless when the answer actually exists. Use us, that’s what we’re here for. Have a wonderful holiday season and a happy and successful New Year. And thank you for your readership loyalty, I sincerely appreciate it. |