Hardwood Floors Oct/Nov 2019

WHAT'S NEXT

2020

Keale said he is positioning T & G Flooring for the future by bringing technology into the picture. Before entering the wood-flooring business, he worked in technology, and sees opportunity for greater efficiency in the contracting and construction fields. "These are the things that I’m trying to put in place so that if a recession comes, we’re going to weather the storm better because builders are going to say, ‘Look, I don’t have any headaches with these guys.’” Technology was a top option selected by many survey respondents. Many manufacturers said they planned to continue automating their processes. For contractors, ongoing education for their crews was key going in 2020. And companies throughout the supply chain want a stronger presence on the Internet going in the next year. Product and end-market diversification was also top of mind. One distributor said they want to build an offering with other product lines that go beyond flooring: “The market is oversaturated.” Another was focused on the bottom line. “Bring out better products with better margins,” said one survey respondent. “If the decline is inevitable as long as LVT is growing at the rate it is, we need to have better margins and profit on the wood business than we have.”

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