Article Number: 2955
Mannington uses technology to leap ahead, New developments highlight biggest product launch ever
By Louis Iannaco
Salem, N.J.—Last year Mannington Mills continued its trend of being in all product categories when it leapt into two emerging segments in resilient and wood—fiberglass-backed resilient and wood featuring a mechanical locking system—in what was its largest product launch to date. Not content to rest on its laurels, the company is continuing its trend of servicing specialty dealers in as many categories as possible, but that is just part of the mill’s story for 2008. Now it wants to dominate.
To do so, Mannington is utilizing various technologies to create more realistic looks and offering the most products in its history, all while being mindful of the fact there is only so much space on the dealer’s show floor, said Ed Duncan, senior vice president of residential marketing and new business development. “You only get a set amount of real estate in a store.” Accordingly, Mannington has made it its mission to become the ultimate one-stop shop.
“It’s our biggest launch [ever] because now we’ve got five categories covered,” he said. And, while it may be surprising to some, resilient is selling so well right now for Mannington it is playing an even more prominent role in what the mill is offering.
“There is a movement of consumers and builders going back to vinyl floors for price value,” Duncan explained. “Builders are looking for every way possible to maintain their margins. And, they are looking at alternative materials to do this. At the same time, end users are saying, ‘I’m not going to go with the most expensive product. I’m going with a lower-priced one, but I am going to purchase the best looking product.’ If you compare the price of the best looking vinyl per square foot versus wood, laminate or ceramic, it’s still a great value.”
Resilient rules
With that, Mannington announced it would be coming out with 17 new SKUs in Sobella, bringing the line’s total count to 52. “Sobella has done very well for us,” said John Rocconi, resilient product manager. “It has exceeded our expectations. We want to keep this growth going. We’re putting quite a variety together as it has two price points, better and best, Classic and Supreme.”
New additions to the Sobella Classic line include Jatoba, a 4-inch wide plank wood look in Brazilian cherry—three colors, as well as Cantabria, a stained concrete look featuring two colors. Sobella Supreme includes three patterns and 12 SKUs, including Estonia, a large 18-inch tile with an earthy texture and five colors; Perugia, highlighted by various combinations of marbles and rectangles, rectified grout lines and comes in three colors, and Surfside, a 12-inch sandstone tile with thin grout lines and four colors.
“We continue to see the resilient tiles get bigger,” said Rocconi, “and we are seeing them in both small and large rooms, whereas it used to be smaller tiles for smaller rooms.”
Hardwood expansion
Mannington, which introduced 30 wood SKUs in 2007, is debuting more than 60 just through April. In past years, Jamestown had performed the best, noted Dan Natkin, hardwood product manager. “It’s a simple oak, but as the laminate visuals have improved, people want wood to look like wood, so we came up with American Oak Plank.” Mannington is also offering more gray colors in its wood collections, “which go well with today’s modern-day stainless steel appliances.”
Mannington’s technology story in wood includes adding multiple layers of stain in the manufacturing process. “We are able to achieve a depth of visual in American Oak like never, before” he said. The new product comes in 3- and 5-inch widths with a matte finish, and deep colors in an open grain construction.
As distressed/handscraped products now account for 30% of Mannington’s wood flooring sales, the mill has several handcrafted offerings, among them Savannah Hand Sculpted and an expanded Inverness collection. Inverness now includes Glenmore Hickory, Willshire Walnut, Scottish Amberwood and Stonehenge Walnut.
Cape Charles is the mill’s entry into the 3/4-inch engineered segment, and comes with a thick, sandable face in a total of 15 colors. Available in a 5-inch width, it comes in Red Oak, Hickory, Maple and Rustic Maple.
Atlantis, Mannington’s most successful launch last year, has been expanded in 2008 with Atlantis Prestige, which features: sawn-faced exotics in natural and stains; a thick, sandable face; lengths up to seven feet long, and eight colors.
Laminate looks
In the laminate segment, Al Boulogne, product manager, spoke about the ‘hourglass effect’ happening in the industry, or the pinch of the mid price point. “With the explosion of the low end due to imports, and growth of high end because of technology, the mid price point has been ignored.” To combat this, Mannington has added to its Coordinates collection, with Asian Plum, which follows the trend in fruitwood. Its colors are designed to coordinate with the latest cabinetry and furniture trends.
In 2007, Mannington introduced a mixed modular tile format called Adirondack, which did so well it has now added Venecia, a 12 x 24 inch subway tile format in three colors. Venecia comes with embossed in register grout lines and a mock grouted edge. Mannington now has 35 SKUs in its laminate tile.
All of Mannington’s new laminate lines feature Optic-Edge, a digital print technology. “It gives us the ultimate in styling and design when it comes to the bevel,” said Boulogne. “It allows for an unlimited array of colors and designs we can put onto the bevel of the product. This is the first time we’ve been able to use this technology with our new introductions. We’ve been working on it for two years.”
Among the new offerings is the Diamond Bay Collection, a high-gloss laminate with diamond-like characteristics. It has two SKUs, and both feature a ‘kissed’ micro-bevel.
The mill’s Time Crafted Maple product features a “unique” worn visual achieved through paper design, edge innovative treatment and character embossing.
(Editor’s note: Given that this a record year of product introductions for Mannington, FCNews will focus future stories on ite launches in tile and Adura)
Salem, N.J.—Last year Mannington Mills continued its trend of being in all product categories when it leapt into two emerging segments in resilient and wood—fiberglass-backed resilient and wood featuring a mechanical locking system—in what was its largest product launch to date. Not content to rest on its laurels, the company is continuing its trend of servicing specialty dealers in as many categories as possible, but that is just part of the mill’s story for 2008. Now it wants to dominate.
To do so, Mannington is utilizing various technologies to create more realistic looks and offering the most products in its history, all while being mindful of the fact there is only so much space on the dealer’s show floor, said Ed Duncan, senior vice president of residential marketing and new business development. “You only get a set amount of real estate in a store.” Accordingly, Mannington has made it its mission to become the ultimate one-stop shop.
“It’s our biggest launch [ever] because now we’ve got five categories covered,” he said. And, while it may be surprising to some, resilient is selling so well right now for Mannington it is playing an even more prominent role in what the mill is offering.
“There is a movement of consumers and builders going back to vinyl floors for price value,” Duncan explained. “Builders are looking for every way possible to maintain their margins. And, they are looking at alternative materials to do this. At the same time, end users are saying, ‘I’m not going to go with the most expensive product. I’m going with a lower-priced one, but I am going to purchase the best looking product.’ If you compare the price of the best looking vinyl per square foot versus wood, laminate or ceramic, it’s still a great value.”
Resilient rules
With that, Mannington announced it would be coming out with 17 new SKUs in Sobella, bringing the line’s total count to 52. “Sobella has done very well for us,” said John Rocconi, resilient product manager. “It has exceeded our expectations. We want to keep this growth going. We’re putting quite a variety together as it has two price points, better and best, Classic and Supreme.”
New additions to the Sobella Classic line include Jatoba, a 4-inch wide plank wood look in Brazilian cherry—three colors, as well as Cantabria, a stained concrete look featuring two colors. Sobella Supreme includes three patterns and 12 SKUs, including Estonia, a large 18-inch tile with an earthy texture and five colors; Perugia, highlighted by various combinations of marbles and rectangles, rectified grout lines and comes in three colors, and Surfside, a 12-inch sandstone tile with thin grout lines and four colors.
“We continue to see the resilient tiles get bigger,” said Rocconi, “and we are seeing them in both small and large rooms, whereas it used to be smaller tiles for smaller rooms.”
Hardwood expansion
Mannington, which introduced 30 wood SKUs in 2007, is debuting more than 60 just through April. In past years, Jamestown had performed the best, noted Dan Natkin, hardwood product manager. “It’s a simple oak, but as the laminate visuals have improved, people want wood to look like wood, so we came up with American Oak Plank.” Mannington is also offering more gray colors in its wood collections, “which go well with today’s modern-day stainless steel appliances.”
Mannington’s technology story in wood includes adding multiple layers of stain in the manufacturing process. “We are able to achieve a depth of visual in American Oak like never, before” he said. The new product comes in 3- and 5-inch widths with a matte finish, and deep colors in an open grain construction.
As distressed/handscraped products now account for 30% of Mannington’s wood flooring sales, the mill has several handcrafted offerings, among them Savannah Hand Sculpted and an expanded Inverness collection. Inverness now includes Glenmore Hickory, Willshire Walnut, Scottish Amberwood and Stonehenge Walnut.
Cape Charles is the mill’s entry into the 3/4-inch engineered segment, and comes with a thick, sandable face in a total of 15 colors. Available in a 5-inch width, it comes in Red Oak, Hickory, Maple and Rustic Maple.
Atlantis, Mannington’s most successful launch last year, has been expanded in 2008 with Atlantis Prestige, which features: sawn-faced exotics in natural and stains; a thick, sandable face; lengths up to seven feet long, and eight colors.
Laminate looks
In the laminate segment, Al Boulogne, product manager, spoke about the ‘hourglass effect’ happening in the industry, or the pinch of the mid price point. “With the explosion of the low end due to imports, and growth of high end because of technology, the mid price point has been ignored.” To combat this, Mannington has added to its Coordinates collection, with Asian Plum, which follows the trend in fruitwood. Its colors are designed to coordinate with the latest cabinetry and furniture trends.
In 2007, Mannington introduced a mixed modular tile format called Adirondack, which did so well it has now added Venecia, a 12 x 24 inch subway tile format in three colors. Venecia comes with embossed in register grout lines and a mock grouted edge. Mannington now has 35 SKUs in its laminate tile.
All of Mannington’s new laminate lines feature Optic-Edge, a digital print technology. “It gives us the ultimate in styling and design when it comes to the bevel,” said Boulogne. “It allows for an unlimited array of colors and designs we can put onto the bevel of the product. This is the first time we’ve been able to use this technology with our new introductions. We’ve been working on it for two years.”
Among the new offerings is the Diamond Bay Collection, a high-gloss laminate with diamond-like characteristics. It has two SKUs, and both feature a ‘kissed’ micro-bevel.
The mill’s Time Crafted Maple product features a “unique” worn visual achieved through paper design, edge innovative treatment and character embossing.
(Editor’s note: Given that this a record year of product introductions for Mannington, FCNews will focus future stories on ite launches in tile and Adura)
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