Hicksville, N.Y.—With the month of June drawing to a close, executives from several of the industry’s resilient manufacturers seem very happy about the way things have gone so far in 2002, and are looking forward to what lay ahead for the rest of the year. “As we move through the final days of the second quarter, we believe our momentum is gaining,” said Roger Oates, vice president of residential flooring for Armstrong World Industries. “It’s like rolling a big rock over the side of a hill. It’s hard to stop when you’ve got positive momentum going. We think the second half is going to be even better. “On the resilient side of our business, in a relatively flat market, we are doing close to double digit sales growth with our residential sheet business,” he continued. “Our Urban Settings collection has also been getting a lot of attention. “We came out with a new package of designs in the spring,” he explained. “We call it Vinyl For Vinyl’s Sake. And, the response has been nothing short of exceptional.”

Oates, like so many resilient manufacturer executives, seemed bullish about the category. “We think the economy is going to help us—home construction is still strong. The indications for the independent retailers are that their business is OK at this point, with store traffic and so forth. We think it will be a great second half as well. “We are very optimistic about the economy,” he added. “The only downside is, and I know the fiber producers and carpet mills have already done this, raising prices.” (See related story on page 3). “We’ve been very pleasantly surprised at the way the year has started and how it has progressed,” said Kim Holm, president of residential business for Mannington Mills. “It started very strong with us and has maintained its positive pace. “On the residential side,” he continued, “we are fortunately, knock on wood, up double digits in every category we are doing business in, so we are very pleased. “We believe the economy is continuing to percolate and improve,” Holm added. “All the drivers of our in dustry—new home sales, new home construction—continue to look very positive. So, we are very optimistic about the balance of the year and that the improvement we have been experiencing will continue to grow and will probably accelerate.” Holm noted, while there are many situations around the world that could impact the economy, assuming there are no international disasters “I think we’re going to have a very strong rest of the year.”

Dennis Jarosz, senior vice president of marketing for Congoleum, told FCNews, “April was a near record month for us. It was terrific. Overall, we are doing extremely well.” Jarosz credited Ultima in sheet vinyl and Durastone in tile as two reasons the mill was doing so well. “Ultima has been sensational for us. The Durastone tile we debuted last summer has exceeded our expectations unbelievably so. The volume we are doing with it is probably three times what we estimated it would be.” “We’re quite satisfied with the year so far,” said Jan Lembregts, president of Domco Tarkett Residential, “especially with our TruTex finish. We are very optimistic. The year has been better than we thought it would be. We had a fairly conservative plan because of 9/11 and the economy, but we are doing better than we expected.”

Consumer Perceptions Executives believe one of the main reasons for the recent resilient rebound is the perception among retailers and consumers that there is more to choose from in the category, as well as higher quality, increased aesthetics and more durable performance. “I think what the vinyl category did was get hit on the head with the side of a board and woke up to realize that it can make better products, products that perform better, look better and look more natural—not like cheap plastic,” said Jarosz. “The products the industry now offers are extremely durable and easy to take care of, easy to install, and easy to replace compared to some other floorings. “Based on the new products which have been developed, vinyl has the opportunity to maintain its niche in the marketplace,” he explained. “When you manufacture the old standbys like carpet and vinyl, everything is new or hot makes you take a back seat for a little while, but the market always comes back.” “Retailers and consumers have an increased enthusiasm towards our products based on what all the manufacturers have been able to accomplish in recent years,” said Lembregts. “This has resulted in the rebound of the vinyl category.”

 “With ToughGuard, we included new technology which improved the overall durability of the floors,” said Oates. “This was the first phase in helping the vinyl category. Second, as we now focus on executing new designs, people are still seeing vinyl as an incredible value in the marketplace.” Armstrong, which will be switching from square yard pricing to square foot pricing by the beginning of next year, recently re-introduced its linoleum products to a positive response. “There are some installation questions concerning linoleum,” he said. “Prior to us bringing it back to the residential marketplace, the only seaming technique was heat welding. We are in the process of kicking off a new seam sealing application which will eliminate the complexity of the heat welding system. We’ve received a great response to our saturation of colors. “Because linoleum is a natural product and is not urethane-coated,” he explained, “we are educating a whole new generation of retail salespeople as well as consumers on how to maintain the genuine linoleum versus a vinyl floor.

We will introduce a two-part maintenance system at the end of July that covers polishing and waxing. It’s almost like coming out with a brand new category.” “If you look at this category,” said Holm, “all the manufacturers have invested a great deal over the last several years to improve the aesthetics of the products as well as its overall performance. I believe we’ve begun to turn on some lights with some retailers who maybe had walked away from the category. “They see this is a really great product to provide to their customers,” he concluded. “The segment probably bottomed out a couple years ago. We’ve experienced a rebound ourselves and we believe the category overall has rebounded as well and is in a growth mode.”