New York— Shaw Industries’ move to a full-service flooring provider in recent years has paid off, as the mill won the coveted Best Overall Manufacturer title in the 11th Award of Excellence competition. The company also took top honors for the third year in a row in the Area Rug category.

Sponsored by Floor Covering News and the World Floor Covering Association ( WFCA), the Award of Excellence is a way for manufacturers’ customers—retailers, distributors, designers, installers, specifiers, etc.—to honor the companies they feel consistently provide the best Service, Professionalism of Sales Force, Management Responsiveness, Value, Design, B2B, Handling Claims and Ease of Doing Business. In other words, which manufacturers they feel help them the best in running successful, profitable business operations, whether it be a retail operation, a distributorship, a design center or an installation workroom.

“The WFCA is proud to once again co-sponsor the annual Award of Excellence program with Floor Covering News,” said Chris Davis, the organization’s president and CEO. “WFCA is committed to enhancing quality in our industry, and this competition is designed to recognize and reward quality.”

Scott Sandlin, Shaw’s vice president of marketing, said upon receiving the Best Overall award, “We would like to thank the dealers who voted for Shaw as the Best Overall flooring supplier. We would not be the company we are today without our great retail, builder and commercial flooring partners. Our goal is to take the leadership position our customers have helped us achieve into all categories of flooring. We feel our customers deserve a supplier that focuses intensely on styling, quality and service in every flooring category.”

To receive the Best Overall honor, readers of FCNews, members of the WFCA as well as any other industry personnel not employed by a manufacturer voted for the companies they felt best met the previously mentioned criteria in the six individual floor covering categories—Carpet, Area Rugs, Resilient, Hardwood, Ceramic and Laminate—as well as the top Overall mill.

Voting for this year’s awards was different than previous years as FCNews and the WFCA revamped the process to better reflect changes within the industry. This is nothing new, as noted by Matthew Spieler, FCNews’ senior executive editor.

Changing with the industry

“We recognized that since launching the Award of Excellence in October of 1996 the industry has drastically changed at all levels and in many ways,” he said. “And, as the industry has changed, so too has the Award of Excellence as we’ve continually strived to ensure a system to better reflect how today’s industry looks and operates.”

Recognizing the industry has become polarized in many ways, especially at the manufacturing level where some companies’ sales in certain categories are so huge they do in a week what it takes others to do in a year, changes were necessary.

“This is not to denigrate the smaller mills,” Spieler said, “as many produce products and provide services that in some cases outdo their larger counterparts. The problem is, they tend to get lost in the shuffle when thinking of the industry as a whole.”

So as a way to recognize them, the six floor covering categories—Carpet, Rugs, Resilient, Laminate, Wood and Ceramic—were divided into Group ‘A’ and Group ‘B’. The only category not to be divided was rugs.

“We didn’t set some arbitrary figure,” he explained, “rather, with the help of the WFCA, used common sense to determine the groupings. The idea was to put each company on a more level playing field, thereby giving everyone the same chance to walk away with an award.”

And it worked, as a record number of votes—over 5,250—were cast between last October and Feb. 28. Plus, because of the new structure, a number of companies such as Karndean, Alloc and Mirage were represented on the winner’s podium for the first time in the competition’s history.

And the winners are…

A total of 12 Awards of Excellence were handed out during a special luncheon here. As noted, Shaw took both the Best Overall and Best Area Rug honors. The other winners for 2007 were:

Carpet—Group A: Mohawk Industries; Group B: Milliken Carpet.
Resilient—Group A: Mannington Mills; Group B: Karndean International.
Laminate—Group A: Wilsonart Flooring; Group B: Alloc.
Ceramic—Group A: Dal-Tile; Group B: Crossville.
Hardwood—Group A: Armstrong/Bruce/Robbins; Group B: Mirage Prefinished Hardwood Flooring.

During the awards ceremony, Davis told the invited guests that along with the fact contest winners are determined by their constituents, WFCA likes the notion there are no charges as well as all manufacturers of floor covering are eligible to participate. “There are no fees to enter the competition nor any other barriers to nomination. The procedures that have been put in place ensure these awards are open to all floor covering manufacturers of the product categories represented, regardless of company size, affiliation or origin.

“Most important,” he added, “the voter gets to make all the choices, just as it does in the marketplace.”

Davis concluded by noting in this era of consolidation, the Award of Excellence provides a great barometer for manufacturers on how they are perceived in the marketplace. “With a dwindling number of manufacturer partners from which to choose, it is critical for retailers to pick business suppliers/partners who focus on complete customer satisfaction. The Award of Excellence program recognizes those who are the best at delivering on their promise of design, quality, service and value.”

Voting for the Best Overall Manufacturer as well as Best Manufacturers in their respective categories, the 12th Award of Excellence competition will begin in October.