Dalton— Robert Shaw, the face of Shaw Industries and one of the main architects of the modern floor covering industry, announced his plans to step down effective Sept. 1. He will remain on the board and will advise, at the request of management, on long-range planning which includes potential acquisitions. Vance Bell, executive vice president of operations, has been elected to succeed Shaw. At the same time, Randy Merritt, executive vice president of sales and marketing, was elected president, succeeding Julian Saul, who retired July 14.

The only CEO the company has ever known since the position was created in 1958, Shaw, who turned 75 this month, will leave behind a legacy dreamt of by many yet achieved by very few.

Warren Buffett, head of Berkshire Hathaway, Shaw’s parent company since 2001, termed the level, of success Shaw has achieved a “rare feat. There aren’t many stories like that,” he told the Dalton Daily Citizen. “In effect, he’s the equivalent in his industry as legends in other industries have been.”

Upon his retirement, he will leave behind a business that began as a small dye house to a company with approximately 30,000 employees; more than 70 manufacturing plants in seven states and scattered over 32 communities; 31 regional distribution centers across the U.S.; one of the largest private trucking fleets in the country; a product range that consists of more than 25,000 styles and colors, and annual sales approaching $6 billion. Its operations are so massive that every year Shaw manufactures more than 700 million square yards of floor covering—enough to wrap a 6-foot-wide path around the Earth’s equator seven times.