“…hailed as a pioneer, a teacher, a visionary, and praised for her courage, determination and caring nature, but most of all she was called a friend to everyone throughout the supply chain…

…That was Sonna Calandrino, and industry leaders from near and far came to Trevitt Hall and the Wink Theatre here to pay tribute to the late industry advocate who passed away May 23 after an extended battle with cancer. Dalton mayor David Pennington, said it is people like Sonna and the work she did that made the city “a better place…”

A very nice piece.

The 2nd Annual Mr. David’s Bike Challenge is a 50k bike race/ride benefitting Elmhurst Memorial Hospital Foundation.

The schedule for this very worthy event is:

8:00am Registration at Pavilion

9:00am Race start time (rain or shine!)

11:00am All riders and volunteers welcome to join us for a cookout

12:00pm Awards ceremony

The $50 registration fee includes:

• Professional racing jersey
• Awards for all participants
• Aluminum water bottle
• Lunch

The Facebook group, where you may RSVP, is here.

Each tree was planted by Heritage staff members, with help from students at the following six schools: PS 82 Early Childhood Center, PS 301 Burgard High School, PS 80 Highgate Heights, PS 32 Bennett Park Montessori, PS 192 Buffalo Academy for Visual and Performing Arts, and PS 74 Hamlin Park School.

“The Buffalo Public Schools are well into an unprecedented program to reconstruct all of our buildings,” said Paul McDonnell, Associate Architect at Buffalo Public Schools. “This has resulted in schools that provide the best 21st century learning environments, while invigorating surrounding neighborhoods and preserving cultural icons in the buildings themselves. In addition, the reuse of our buildings and the effort to provide sustainable facilities makes this the largest green initiative Buffalo has ever seen. In this spirit, we are appreciative of Heritage Flooring’s contribution of newly planted trees at each school.”

“We’re excited to be a part of the Earth Day initiative with Heritage Contract Flooring,” said Tracy Jordan-Cardwell, LPCiminelli’s Community Relations Specialist. “To date, we’ve renovated over 30 Buffalo Public Schools and turned them into state-of-the-art educational facilities, and so it’s only fitting that the surrounding areas of these schools are equally beautiful.”

Heritage Contract Flooring was responsible for installing floors at each of the 30 Buffalo Public Schools starting in 2004.

For more information on the tree planting initiative, please visit their dedicated page here.

Lovely work, and thank you for the charming photos!

Date: Tuesday, June 29th

Time: 1:00 – 2:00pm Eastern; Noon – 1:00pm Central; 11:00 – Noon Mountain; 10:00 – 11:00am Pacific

Focus: Sales/Technical

Presenters: John Felker, Seth Pervarnick, and an Ardex Architectural Specialist to be named

Hot Topic #2: New Ardex Moisture Control Products with a general overview of the moisture control family of products

Date: Thursday, July 15th

Time: 1:00 – 2:00pm Eastern; Noon – 1:00pm Central; 11:00 – Noon Mountain; 10:00 – 11:00am Pacific

Focus: Sales/Technical

Presenters: John Felker, Seth Pervarnick, and an Ardex Architectural Specialist to be named

To register, log onto S-Net under “Starnet Education”. Click on “Training Calendar” and scroll down to find the subject webinar. Click on the title and hit the register button. The day before the webinar, I will email you the link and the teleconference number. Don’t hesitate to contact me with questions about how to participate in a Starnet web conference. Please contact Pam Herrlinger at pamela@starnetflooring.com if you need a user name and password.

Thank you to our friends at Ardex for presenting these learning opportunities.

Universal Flooring worked with J Price Architecture and manufacturers Armstrong, Ardex, and Daltile.

A serene, clean interior!

Mannington Commercial announces the launch of Choices that Work, the floorcovering industry’s first mobile application designed to serve designers’ process. Using a smart phone’s integrated camera and scanning technology, the app integrates with Mannington sample books to show coordinating collections and enable sample orders.

Sampling is a core service of the industry, serving the design process and driving sales for manufacturers. With an increasing number of designers using smart phones driven by applications, the industry should flex to use new technologies to serve established processes.

By simply scanning the bar code printed on a Mannington sample book, a designer can immediately see coordinating patterns and colors across Mannington carpet collections and hard surface products.

It also scans individual products to order samples immediately, without a designer having to write down product information or take the sample book back to her desk to call or email a sales representative. Notification is immediately sent to the appropriate sales representative, for follow up with the designer to ensure the highest levels of customer service.

“Mobile apps have potential to add real value beyond simply promoting brands,” said Angie Carter, Manager, Commercial Marketing. “Today’s users understand the value of brand building, but are much more interested in tools that serve their own processes – and so create more meaningful interactions.”

Mannington recognized that there is an enormous opportunity to create an app that is relevant to the design process and bring designers tools that they want. Rather than trying to be first out with an app, we wanted to create an app that is connected to real needs, and real products, in the real world.

The program performs two valuable functions. Aiding the sampling process through simple scanning of the bar code printed on a Mannington sample book, the program allows designers to see coordinating patterns and colors across Mannington carpet collections and hard surface products. It also allows designers to scan individual products to order samples immediately, without having to write down product information or directly contact a sales representative.

Showing coordinating products and ordering samples – and so enhancing sample books in design firms’ product libraries, the App uses existing technology that is already owned by designers (iPhone, Android and Blackberry smart mobile phones). It will be available before NeoCon 2010, for download and use.

Mannington Commercial offers a wide range of flooring solutions – all from a single point of contact – so its customers need never compromise between styling, performance, sustainability and customer service. The company’s range of choices that work in carpet and hard surface categories is unparalleled, and its sustainability platform is built upon innovative measures to close the recycling loop, reduce waste streams, reuse waste materials and continue its leadership position in energy efficiency.