Calhoun, Ga.—While many commercial flooring manufacturers are saying the contract market on the whole continues to be relatively flat, business for Mannington Mills remains brisk. And, as a way to help better focus, manage, communicate and service its customers the company has made a number of personnel additions and promotions to its commercial division. Bob Lee has joined the company as manager of market analysis and product planning for commercial carpet and resilient. He will report to Doug Enck, vice president of sales and marketing for Mannington Commercial and will be based at the division’s headquarters here. Lee, a 20-year flooring industry veteran, comes to Mannington from Interface where he was vice president of sales administration and systems planning. He has also worked for Shaw Industries in a variety of sales administration positions. In his new role as manager of market analysis and product planning, Enck said Lee “will have a pivotal role in the process of planning new products and confirming market intuition with fact-based information.”

Lee’s responsibilities in the position include management of SKU rationalization; analyzing product and color sales; monitoring market trends and competition; analysis of customer base and market demographics, and sales report management. Along with the hiring of Lee, Mannington has promoted three of its resilient sales managers. Andrew Walker has been named national business development manager for the company’s iCore product line which has recently been introduced to the commercial market (FCNews, July 8/15). He will report to Enck from his base in Raleigh, N.C. In his new position, Walker will primarily focus on the product management, marketing and sales strategies for iCore across all sales organizations. Prior to the promotion, Walker, a 17-year industry veteran, was a resilient sales manager covering the Carolinas and eastern Tennessee.

Other promotions include Ted O’Neill and Joe Walker as general sales managers for Mannington Commercial resilient for the Eastern and Western U.S., respectively. Both will report to Dave Thoresen, national sales manager. Both will manage resilient commercial sales, add management support for distribution and key accounts, as well as manage the company’s regional management sales forces. As such, all Mannington Commercial resilient regional managers will report to O’Neill and Walker. O’Neill has been with Mannington since 1993, starting out as district manager in residential sales before joining the commercial business unit in 1995, where he progressed to his most recent position as resilient sales manager in the Mid-Atlantic region. Walker joined Mannington in 1998 after spending 14 years in distribution. Most recently, he was the regional sales manager in the Southwest, a position Walker chose to return to after working in corporate as national sales manager.

In other news, Mannington Commercial announced a change from the GLS Series to LifeLines to of fer architects, designers and end users “superior aesthetics in homo-geneous sheet flooring focused on the health care market segment,” said Enck. LifeLines consists of four patterns—Inspired, Fusion, Frost and Color Wash—that coordinate with other Mannington Commercial VCT, sheet flooring and carpet products. “In addition to a great versatile look,” Enck explained, “all Life-Lines patterns feature homogeneous through-chip construction for outstanding durability and resistance to wear, cuts and stains—features demanded of high-performance commercial flooring.” To help seal out moisture and germs, seams can be chemically welded or heat welded. “We have coordinated high quality, 6-ft. wide vinyl welding rods for all LifeLines patterns.” For more information, call Mannington Commercial at 800/241-2262. —Matthew Spieler