Virginia Beach, Va.—Industry veteran John Patterson has joined wood manufacturer Scandian Industries as its North American vice president of sales and marketing. “Scandian is committed to establishing its brand name in North America,” said Fabio Scandian, vice president. “Therefore it was critical for our long-term success for us to find a key person to drive this entity. Patterson will be responsible for flooring sales throughout North America.”

Patterson, who was most recently at Columbia Flooring as vice president of sales, said, “The Scandian family is dedicated to success in all facets of their business operations—from securing raw materials to a high-quality, low-cost manufacturing pro-cess and to a commitment to customer satisfaction.

“In fact,” added Fabio, “at Scandian, everything begins with the customer. This simple principle is a driving force behind our success. By placing the customer and employee first, it allows us to focus our energy on one issue: 100% satisfaction within our company and client base.

Patterson has that same commitment, and with his expertise and knowledge of the industry, he is the perfect choice for our organization.” Although the Brazilian company’s hardwood flooring products have been sold here for the past 10 years, they were done under private label agreements (OEM: original equipment manufacturer) and import relationships.

The most notable example is BR-111, which markets and sells some of Scandian’s products under its own label. Earlier this year, the company undertook a new strategy to enter the U.S. under its own brand through Scandian USA, a division set up five years ago to help support existing customers.

The company, which has been in business for 33 years, employs over 1,000 people and has more than a dozen plants throughout Brazil to produce solid and engineered wood floors, decking, plywood, veneer core stock, railroad ties, etc., is planning a coming out party Feb. 1 to 3 in Las Vegas as part of Surfaces 2006.

During this time, Scandian will introduce a glueless engineered hardwood floor featuring the Uniclic locking system. The new line will be produced at the company’s newest facility, a state-of-the-art, multi-million dollar manufacturing plant in Curitiba, Brazil, and will also feature a factory-attached cushion on each plank.

In addition to the glueless line, Scandian will offer 3/4- and 5/16-in. solid flooring under the Exotic Fashion Flooring label. Patterson said the line will also feature premium engineered floors with a thick sawn wear layer and acoustic backing. This is the first of four collections to be released and includes the most popular South American species on the market today.

Along with products, the company has spent the better part of the year developing a complete package of retail merchandising and marketing materials, including displays, brochures and other literature. These were created with the help of U.S. consultants “to make sure we do it right,” noted a spokesman.

With its target customer being the specialty retailer, Fabio noted Scandian has been working hard to secure quality flooring distributors, such as Elias Wilf Corp, which is handling the company’s complete line of products in the Mid-Atlantic region. “We’ve been looking for a complete program to satisfy growing consumer demand for high quality exotic flooring,” said Jeff Striegal, president of Elias Wilf.

“Scandian compliments our existing hard surface programs and will allow us to target the growing exotics market.” To learn more about Scandian and its products, call the company toll-free at 866/575 7657.