Award of Excellence: Mohawk, EF win Best Overall

Garden City, N.Y.—Winning never seems to get old for Mohawk and Engineered Floors, which once again proved to be the big winners in FCNews’ 28th annual Award of Excellence competition. Mohawk earned Best Overall honors in the over-$5 billion category, and Engineered Floors claimed the under-$5 billion category—both for the third consecutive year.

Sponsored by Floor Covering News and Informa, organizers of The International Surface Event (TISE), 27 awards were handed out at the event, which was held last month at the Garden City Hotel.

In addition to Best Overall (over-$5 billion category), Mohawk’s Aladdin brand won the award for Main Street Commercial, Karastan took top honors for area rugs and perennial tile winner Daltile claimed Group A for tile. Engineered Floors, meanwhile, was victorious in Group A for carpet. All were repeat winners.

Best Overall measured suppliers in 10 categories—product innovation, design, service, ease of doing business, professionalism of sales force, training/education, handling of claims, digital tools, on-time delivery and credit terms. In the mega over-$5 billion category, Mohawk edged Shaw.

“The drive for sustained excellence is part of Mohawk’s DNA,” Jeff Meadows, president, Mohawk residential sales, told FCNews. “As a company I think you have to have an edge to you that I would call ‘healthy paranoia.’ Otherwise, somebody is going to try and do something to take your business away with a better idea. At Mohawk, we want to be innovative every day. All our product teams, engineering groups are constantly putting things in front of us and will say: ‘What if we did something like this?’ We’re constantly saying we have to innovate every year.

“Really all 40,00 employees here are working toward that customer satisfaction,” Meadows continued. “Everyone here is touching the customer. That is why we are on the edge because someone is trying to get better every day to beat us.”

Mike Sanderson, vice president of marketing for Engineered Floors, said of winning Best Overall and Carpet A: “Our success is fostered by the commitment we have to our customers, a commitment to provide the highest level of quality, service and innovation. It’s rather simple: If our customers are having success, well then so are we.”

Benchmark of excellence

While Shaw was edged out by Mohawk in the over-$5 billion category, the former company’s Anderson Tuftex (Hardwood-Domestic) and COREtec (Rigid Core A) brands took home first-place finishes.

Retailers who voted for Anderson Tuftex seemed to agree that the brand’s aesthetic and sustainable designs stood out, which was A/T’s goal all along. “Anderson Tuftex is dedicated to designing timeless floors crafted with ethical practices and eco-friendly materials to meet the demands of the luxury consumer,” said Bailey Walton, director of marketing, Anderson Tuftex.

A/T’s sister brand, COREtec, knows a thing or two about meeting the demands of consumers. COREtec has dominated the Award of Excellence competition in the resilient category for a decade, staking its claim as one of the industry’s biggest disrupters. “We earn and maintain our leadership status by consistently pushing the envelope and innovating our products, designs and services with cutting-edge technology and a customer-centric mindset,” said Nicki Rayburn, vice president of COREtec. “As the No. 1 consumer brand and leader in resilient flooring, we prioritize investing in customer satisfaction at every stage of the consumer journey.”

Mannington, a leading innovator in the laminate category with its signature Restoration collection, took home top honors in Laminate A for the third year running, thanks in large part to innovations in digital printing as well as waterproof performance achieved through its SpillShield Plus technology.

In accepting the award, Mannington’s Cristen Del Bove, director of residential styling, identified the factors that give Mannington the edge in style and design over other suppliers. “It’s about the longevity of the associates,” Del Bove said. “The years of experience of associates in the styling department range from 16 years to 35 years. It’s about the team dynamic and the experience. Our strive for excellence and the attention to detail in trying to create true realism. Also, the crossover—designing hardwood for me personally and always wanting to do certain things in hardwood that I couldn’t do because of species, costs or availability—being able to cross those things over into laminate or LVT. That has a lot to do with it as well.”

Mannington wasn’t through with taking home hardware, as it claimed top honors in resilient sheet for the ninth consecutive year.

Indeed, repeat winners were plentiful in this year’s Award of Excellence competition. On the soft surface side, Stanton has been alternating between winning for area rugs or carpet—and sometimes both. This year, the company known for its style and design prowess was recognized by dealers in the decorative carpet category. “The Stanton product development team is focused on creating great-looking decorative products with high salability, quality and performance attributes,” said Jonathan Cohen, CEO. “When we accomplish this with a fair price, backed with 90-plus-percent in-stock ratio, a highly engaged sales team and our best-in-class service, Stanton will win a lot of business and outperform the market—which is our perpetual goal.”

In the hardwood arena, Mirage (Canadian category, seven years), Hallmark (Asia category, three years), Kährs (Import: Europe, three of the past four years) and Anderson Tuftex (Domestic, second consecutive year) were honored yet again.

When asked how Mirage maintains its well-earned reputation—and mindset—year after year, marketing communications manager Anne-Marie Quirion said simply: “It’s about all of the employees who make the difference; their passion, their attention to detail and the relationship we have with the dealers.”

As one of the industry’s longest tenured hardwood flooring manufacturers (167 years in business), Kährs is re-establishing itself as a brand that retailers need to have in their stores. “We still have an ongoing commitment to innovation—whether that’s design, product development, etc.,” said Renee Tester, vice president of marketing, Kährs Americas. “We are committed to ensuring that our retailers have a significant voice. We recognize the unique needs of each retail location and understand that a one-size-fits-all solution is not feasible. To address this, we maintain flexible programs and displays tailored to support the specific requirements of each individual retail site.”

First-timers

Among the first-time winners was Roomvo (Technology), known for its room visualizer tool utilized by retailers, manufacturers and distributors across the industry. “Being voted as the preferred Technology vendor is validation for all of the hard work that our team puts into supporting flooring retailers,” said Pawel Rajszel, CEO of Leap Tools, creator of Roomvo. “It’s never been lost on us that we’ve gotten here today because of our customers, and it only motivates us more to continue to innovate and help our customers stay well ahead of the competition. We’re just getting started.”

Mapei, which boasts an array of products suitable for installation and subfloor preparation, ran away in the Installation category. “We offer 16 different product lines in our North American product portfolio, from adhesives to ceramic tile grout to underground tunneling equipment to concrete restoration—the list goes on and on,” said Jeff Johnson, business manager for Mapei’s floor covering installation systems line. “It’s all about having the product installers need to get the job—and we do a very good job at that.”

In the Wood/Rigid Hybrid category, Cali beat out some formidable players to take home top honors. As Jay Flynn, vice president of business development, noted: “We dedicate ourselves daily to crafting products that embody the authentic California lifestyle our brand represents. This award serves as a wonderful validation of our efforts and commitment to excellence.”

Of the 20 companies competing in Rigid Core C, Bella Flooring Group emerged victorious, taking home its first Award of Excellence win. “Our design team worked to ensure the latest in market trends—clean wood looks with the emphasis on the wood species,” said Paul Dominie, president, sales and marketing. “Add in our microbial process for the finish and commitment to quality, which has made this particular line a winner for our partners.”

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