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Bath & Kitchen e-News week ending October 20, 2006

Table Of Contents:

Breaking News Hotwire
People On The Move - Wholesalers
People On The Move - Manufacturers     
Companies Making News
New Showrooms

This 'n That
Product Development
Data Corner
Calendar Of Events

Welcome to Bath & Kitchen E-News

This new e-newsletter is brought to you by Supply House Times, PM Magazine and PM Engineer Magazine. This is a prototype of what we will begin producing twice-monthly beginning in January 2007.

We plan to provide the latest updates on new products, events, statistics, codes, design ideas, profit tips and industry news in a condensed, easy-to-read format, with convenient links to Web sites for additional or more in-depth information.  If you would like to continue to receive this eNewsletter, please go here to sign up.

We welcome your feedback, comments and suggestions.

For editorial information, please contact Pat Lenius, managing editor of Supply House Times, who will serve as editor of this e-newsletter:
leniusp@bnpmedia.com or 630-694-4335.

For advertisers, B&K E-News will deliver a highly targeted bath and kitchen audience delivered to your email address in a condensed, quick-to-read format with links provided to learn more.

For information about advertising in the e-newsletter, please contact your sales rep or Scott Franz, publisher of Supply House Times:
franzs@bnpmedia.com or 937-748-9975.

Don't forget to register to receive this e-newsletter on a regular basis beginning in January.  Signing up is easy, follow this link to ensure you're up-to-date on the latest happenings in your industry.

Breaking News Hotwire

AB 1953, the controversial California legislation designed to drastically eliminate the lead content of faucets sold in that state, was signed into law Sept. 30 by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. The key effect of the law on plumbing manufacturers is a phase-out of lead in plumbing materials for use in public water systems and available to retail consumers and a modification of the definition of "lead free" to less than 0.25% by 2010 from the current standard of 8%.  

The various reactions to the passage of AB 1953 expressed by faucet manufacturers contacted at the fall meeting of the Plumbing Manufacturers Institute in Washington, DC, included assigning engineers to find alternative materials (plastic or stainless steel were named as the most likely options); taking a wait-and-see approach; and supporting a legal challenge to the legislation. Several said the legislation was politically motivated.

Read more about AB 1953 at the link below. (Free registration required.)

http://www.pmmag.com/CDA/Articles/Breaking_News

The preliminary deal struck between the International Codes Council (ICC) and the International Association of Plumbing and Mechanical Officials (IAPMO) to have a single plumbing code and mechanical code by 2009 has been declared dead. ICC withdrew their support after their membership bombarded the board of directors with comments regarding the deal. (Read more below. Free registration required.)

http://www.pmmag.com/CDA/Articles/Breaking_News

People On The Move -- Wholesalers

Murray Supply Co., Winston-Salem, NC, hired Mark Stille as the showroom manager for The Fuller House showroom in Apex, NC, and  Meredith Porter as the showroom consultant for The Fuller House showroom in Winston-Salem, NC.

Longley Supply Co., Wilmington, NC,  hired Angela Maglione as showroom manager at that location.

Salem Plumbing Supply/Designer Bath, Beverly, MA, hired Jay Aptt and Mike Frontiera as outside sales representatives and Gene Stibolt joined the company to work in inside sales and technical support.

People On The Move - Manufacturers

GROHE named James R. Griffin (at right) president and chief executive officer of the company's U.S.-based subsidiary, which serves the U.S., Canada, Central America and South America. Most recently he was president and general manager of Specialty Construction Brands, a wholly owned subsidiary of adhesives, sealants and coatings manufacturer H.B. Fuller.

American Standard Cos. appointed Dale Elliott president of its global bath and kitchen business, Donald Devine as president of the Americas region and Richard Ward, president of bath and kitchen Asia. Devine, Ward and John Rietveldt, who was named president of bath and kitchen Europe in May, will report to Elliott. Elliott most recently was chairman, president and CEO of Snap-on Tools Corp. He succeeds James Dwyer, who is leaving the company. Devine most recently was president/COO at Jacuzzi Brands. Ward had been vice president and general manager at American Standard.

Elkay 's Plumbing Products division is dividing the sales department into two regions: Pat Mulvey is vice president of trade sales and market development for the East region and Mark Whittington holds that position for the West region. Mike Purcell has been promoted to a national account manager. Tom Samanic has been named director of marketing services, a new position. Bob Seeley is executive vice president of marketing and sales for the Plumbing Products division. In other news, Bill Blaine has announced his plans to retire from Elkay effective Jan. 15, 2007, after 12 years of service. He joined the company as vice president of sales in January 1995 and was promoted to senior vice president of sales in February 2004.

Falcon Waterfree Technologies has named three new vice presidents and a director of technical services, effective immediately. Mike Schmidt is now vice president, operations; Bill Stimer is vice president, customer experience; and Randall Goble is vice president, marketing. Also, Jim Rice was named director, technical services.

Briggs Industries named Victor E. Post vice president/business development. He has held positions in product development, sales, marketing and management at Gerber, Kohler, Hewlett-Packard, Porter Cable and Nokia in the United States, Latin America and Europe.

Graff appointed Paul Barr director of sales and Dale Archer field sales manager. Each brings more than 20 years of experience in the industry. Archer was formerly employed by both Hansgrohe and Dornbracht. The company manufactures decorative faucets.

Companies Making News

Sloan Valve Co. turned 100 this year. In 1906, William E. Sloan, company founder and inventor of the Flushometer, introduced his first model of the Royal® Flushometer. Today, the basic design remains essentially the same.

Longley Supply Co., Wilmington, NC, a family-owned supplier of plumbing fixtures, pipe, electrical and HVAC systems, is celebrating its 100th anniversary this year. The company has grown from a one-man heating contracting business to a full service supply company with 120 employees in nine branches in southeastern North Carolina. Emily Longley, granddaughter of company founder Henry Longley Sr., is president.

Gerber Plumbing Fixtures LLC has moved into a larger space. Its new 250,000-sq.-ft. headquarters in Woodridge, IL, consists of office space, a distribution center, warehouse space and a newly constructed showroom and training center. The company will celebrate its 75th anniversary in 2007.

MAAX Corp ., a North American manufacturer of bathroom and spa products, said it will exit the kitchen cabinetry sector. Fabritec, a Quebec-based cabinet manufacturer, has purchased all assets, equipment and material of MAAX's Cookshire facility and trademarks for all MAAX cabinetry products. This agreement provides that the Cookshire facility will continue to operate under management of the new owners and that the Laval facility will close Nov. 30, 2006.

New Showrooms

Ferguson plans to open a 12,000-sq.-ft. showroom in Annapolis Technology Park shopping plaza that will feature fully functional displays for appliances, designer lighting, plumbing fixtures, cabinetry and working gas fireplaces.

Builders Plumbing and Heating Supply opened new Kohler showrooms in Ann Arbor, Midland, Traverse City, Grand Rapids and Lansing, MI. The showrooms also offer products from Maax, Pearl, Acryline, Ultra, VitrA, Elkay, Blanco, Brizo, Delta, Hansgrohe, Grohe, Moen, ShowHouse and Lennox Fireplaces. The Ann Arbor, MI, location also has Kallista products.

Noland Co., has opened a 2,600-sq.-ft. showroom, the Bath & Idea Center, in its new $2.7 million, 36,350-sq.-ft. prototype building in Salisbury, MD. Noland is now owned by WinWholesale, Dayton, OH.

Basco Shower Enclosures is opening a 7,500-sq.-ft. warehouse/showroom in Jessup, MD.

Designers, architects and builders were invited to Genz-Ryan's new Design Studio in the Minneapolis area for a special event co-hosted by Kohler Co. and contracting firm Genz-Ryan, a family-owned business that specializes in heating, plumbing, cooling and air quality. The Design Studio, a full-service interactive kitchen, bath and HVAC studio, displays multiple kitchen and bath product lines, including St. Thomas Creations, Grohe, Kohler, Decolav, Moen and Delta.

This 'n That

U.S. hotels are developing spiffier bathrooms to attract guests, according to a recent USA Today article. Hotels are enjoying a boom, with occupancy jumping 11% in the last two years. Prices are rising accordingly.

An Arizona company called Wasuana makes a Whirlpool TV Tub equipped with a waterproof 14 inch flat-screen television and waterproof remote control. For more info, visit www.wasauna.com.

LINX Search:
BNP Media LINX

 

Data Corner

Supply House Times' 2006 Showroom Survey asked wholesalers:

Which one of the following is the single most serious competitor for your showroom business?

Home centers/DIY retailers: 53%

Other wholesalers w/ showrooms: 35%

Dealers on the Internet: 7%

Other: 5%

Calendar Of Events

October 12 - 14
Roth Industries Training
Rhode Island
(888) 266-7684
katrint@roth-usa.com

October 17
WANE President's Invitational Golf Tournament
Ambler, Pennsylvania
wane@asa.net

October 19
NCWA Tour of Robertson Heating Supply
Hosted by American Supply Association
Alliance, Ohio
dan310@earthlink.net

October 22 - 25
ASPE Meeting
Tampa, Florida

October 24 - 26
Habit of Selling Workshop
Hosted by American Supply Association
Dayton, Ohio
pfmartin@asa.net

November 4 - 7
Heating Air-Conditioning & Refrigeration Distributors (HARDI) Annual FallConference
Palm Desert, California
(614) 488-1835

November 8 - 9
ASAEF Board of Trustees Meeting
Chicago, Illinois

November 11 - 14
Air Conditioning & Refrigeration Institute Annual Meeting
La Quinta, California
(703) 524-8800

December 13, 2 p.m. EST
Radiant Floor Warming Webinar
Sponsored by BNP Media
Contact: Webinars@bnpmedia.com




See our complete calendar online

Product Development

Technical Concepts said it has joined forces with several Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) with its Radius technology, which makes faucets, soap dispensers and toilets "touch-free." For automated faucets, the mechanical and electrical components are included in a central unit which can be added to most faucets. The central unit is battery operated.
Danze has added the 23-inch tall Parma Single Handle Pre-Rinse Faucet for rinsing large pots and pans. The heavy gauge stainless steel spring suspends an ergonomic spray head that can be toggled to provide an aerated stream or a powerful rinsing spray. A sturdy arm houses the spray in position permitting operation as a normally configured kitchen faucet. It is available in chrome or stainless steel finishes.
DECOLAV introduced the sleek new 2550 console lavatory featuring clean, simple lines for a minimalist feel. Finished in a warm maple, it has a square white vitreous china sink, glass accessory shelf, integrated polished stainless steel towel bar and coordinating mirror. A solid wood storage shelf completes the unit, which measures 24 inches wide by 20 inches deep by 34 inches high.
BLANCO describes its 22 models of STEELART stainless steel sinks as featuring "modern geometry." The BLANCOPRECISION 10 has rounded 10 mm seams, while the BLANCOPRECISION has crisp, zero radius seams. The sinks complement professional-style appliances and stone, quartz or solid surface countertops.
InSinkErator has added five new disposers with MultiGrind™ and SoundSeal™ technology to its Evolution PRO Series™ line of disposers. MultiGrind features two stages of grinding, while MultiGrind Plus offers a third stage. SoundSeal reduces noise by at least 40% vs. a standard disposer and SoundSeal Plus reduces noise by at least 60%.
ShowHouse™ by Moen unveiled the Vivid powder room faucet, a standard widespread two-handle faucet with a matching chrome faucet base that channels water into a bell-shaped water fountain and serves as a podium for the specially coated tempered lime glass waterway.
Delta Faucet Co. offers the Urban Collection™ of kitchen, bath and shower faucets, designed for city spaces. Pictured is the widespread version of Rhythm, here in chrome as a lavatory faucet. The design brings an Asian influence and a lyrical quality to the bath, the company said.

Neoperl's  counter display deals include the Perlator® Deal 22P with OEM quality faucet aerators in standard flow; Deal 15P with low-flow faucet aerators for water conservation; and Deal 36W or 36C which includes the Vario® kitchen swivel spray aerator in chrome or white, with a sleeker, compact design. For more information, e-mail: info@neoperl.com.

THE "COLLEGE OF PRODUCT KNOWLEDGE" RETURNS!
The best-read, most highly acclaimed product training series ever published in the plumbing industry has been updated and made available to fill the gaping hole in the plumbing industry's product knowledge training.

Supply House Times' "College of Product Knowledge" (CPK) was originally launched in 1979 and ran for 30 issues, culminating in a 300+ page reprint manual that became the industry's most widely used product education resource. CPK was justly acclaimed for its completeness, technical accuracy, clarity and readability.

Authored by plumbing product guru Don Arnold, who worked as a product design engineer with several leading plumbing manufacturers, thousands of copies of the CPK manual were purchased by industry companies and individuals until it finally went out of print many years ago. Yet, requests for it continued to pour in.

For the last several years, Don Arnold has authored periodic updates to address changes in various plumbing products since the original series ran. The new CPK includes these updates as well as the original articles.

Not only had many plumbing products changed over the preceding years, so has communications technology. The College of Product Knowledge has been republished in a CD format -- a 2-ounce disk being a more convenient medium than a 5-pound book. Moreover, it makes it easy to issue subsequent updates.

All information is contained in high-resolution PDF files. This collection contains no advertising, just 300 pages of solid information. Each product section is accompanied with detailed illustrations, as well as a quiz at the end.
The CD version of "College of Product Knowledge" can be obtained for only $127. Quantity discounts are available.

To order, contact Candace Roulo at 248-244-1275 or via e-mail at rouloc@bnpmedia.com
.

BNP Media
2401 W. Big Beaver Rd
Troy, MI, 48084
USA

For comments, feedback, or to provide information for this newsletter, contact:
Pat Lenius, Editor
leniusp@bnpmedia.com

To find out about advertising in this newsletter, contact:
Scott Franz, Publisher, Supply House Times
franzs@bnpmedia.com


This e-mail was sent to you on behalf of Supply House Times magazine.

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