Two expansion projects have earned this year’s honors, with the awards to be presented at the Food Automation & Manufacturing Symposium and Expo in October.

Construction projects, like stories, tend to follow a regular, logical progression. Delivery systems vary, but they all typically start with a client’s need, selecting a project team, site visits, design meetings, groundbreaking and so on—but in the case of Hatfield North, the project began with the smokehouses.

The plant will be featured in the April cover story, and the award will be presented at the annual Food Automation & Manufacturing Symposium and Expo.

Food Engineering's 41st annual Plant Construction Survey reveals that the ratio of the number of plant renovations and expansions versus new, greenfield projects has again risen from last year, indicating several owners and operators are trying to stay put.

Food Engineering's annual construction survey shows that tax cuts have encouraged construction and renovations, but the labor shortage is affecting those projects as well.

While we've looked at the key issues - including COVID-19 - facing food processors and A&E/Cs this year in FE's 2020 Annual Plant Construction Survey, there's a lot more to discuss.

While we've looked at the key issues - including COVID-19 - facing food processors and A&E/Cs this year in FE's 2020 Annual Plant Construction Survey, there's a lot more to discuss.

While we've looked at the key issues - including COVID-19 - facing food processors and A&E/Cs this year in FE's 2020 Annual Plant Construction Survey, there's a lot more to discuss.

Construction remains steady in the food and beverage industry, but the full effects of the COVID-19 pandemic are not yet known.

Construction of new food and beverage plants continues to see a strong upward trend despite the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

Processors are turning to automation to fill jobs where people are unavailable.

For locating facilities, operators look for geographical areas with an employable workforce and adequate logistics.

FSMA’s Intentional Adulteration rule is still a work in progress for some sites, meanwhile processors and retailers are eyeing indoor grow facilities.

This year’s plant construction survey hit the highest number of projects ever recorded.

If you’ve ever played “Whac-A-Mole” on the boardwalk or at an arcade, you can get a sense of the frustration that both food and beverage processors and architecture/engineering/construction (AEC) firms are feeling in today’s economy—fix one problem, another pops up.

Construction in the food and beverage industry is continuing, but there’s a bit of “wait and see” happening due to the presidential election occurring later this year.

Trucor Refined is a PVC-free flooring collection that combines rigid core and laminate for those who prefer an environmentally friendly, waterproof, durable and luxurious floor that is easy to install and maintain.

Retailers have a new tower display for Innovius SPC and new step displays for Encompass and Oterra laminate collections. 

Oterra features AC4 durability, painted bevel, and an emboss in register that adds to the look and feel of natural wood. 

The high-performance laminate flooring offers marble and porcelain visuals in a user-friendly, click-lock tile. 

The purchased assets include the Naturally Aged Flooring, Harris, Kraus and Heritage Mill brands in North America, as well as related inventory and associated domain names and websites.

The North American Laminate Floor Association announces its newest member, Cali. Cali is an omni-channel brand in the flooring industry. 

 Torlys Smart Laminates offer the beauty of wood, with the durability of laminate.

In this role, Johnson will lead hard surface product innovation, marketing, and strategic direction.

LF-02, created by NALFA as a benchmark in environmental responsibility for laminate floor coverings, aims to systematically document and enhance the sustainability profile of products. 

Torlys Grand View Smart Laminate collection offers extra-wide and extra-long planks, with Surface Flood Protection thanks to Aqua Protect and pressed bevel edges.

Välinge announced that Changzhou Chenglu New Materials CO., Ltd. became a 5G Dry licensee and launched a collection of laminate products with increased waterproofness using the technology.

Mohawk is refreshing its popular RevWood line to represent recent product enhancements and evolving market demands. 

Jufeng selected i4F’s drop-lock technologies for faster and easier installation as well as AquaProtect, i4F’s highly advanced water-resistant process technology for laminate as part of its strategy to launch its laminate flooring as a mass market offering.

AHF Products, a manufacturer of hard surface flooring in the U.S., announced the launch of new product lines by Bruce, Armstrong Flooring, Hartco and Crossville, the company's brands.

The National Floorcovering Alliance's 26 vendor partners came armed with new products and promotion ideas aimed to boost sales for flooring retailers in 2024. 

Karastan's updates include its BelleLuxe Waterproof and LuxeCraft hard surface lines, as well as new soft surface options across the brand’s wool, SmartStrand and XTRA collections.

Named after the legendary Northern California surf spot, known for its massive waves, this new NALFA-certified collection spans 86-5/8” long and 9-7/16” wide.

Mohawk Builder + Multifamily is building a more sustainable world with a diverse portfolio of carpet, laminated wood and resilient flooring all made in the USA to help customers create greener communities.

For the third year, the Mohawk Design Summit brought together retailers and designers to curate the 2025 and 2026 products for the Mohawk, Karastan and Godfrey Hirst brands. 

This initiative marks the first major revision of the standard since its last update in 2019, emphasizing NALFA's commitment to ensuring the highest quality standards within the industry. 

The latest white paper by the North American Laminate Flooring Association clarifies the distinctions between flooring products labeled as "waterproof" and/or "water-resistant." Additionally, it outlines four key design methods employed in the manufacture of laminate flooring to safeguard against household spills and water challenges. 

Certainly there are exceptions to the rule and we had an opportunity to visit one of those when we were in Philadelphia recently to attend the Greenbuild expo and conference.

Many called 2013 “the Year of LVT.” And with good reason: Resilient has been the fastest growing flooring category, and within this rapidly growing segment, luxury vinyl tile (LVT) is thriving (Editor’s note: For the purposes of this article, LVT refers to both luxury vinyl tile and luxury vinyl plank).

Cleaning and maintaining carpets and floors for the most part is not an everyday topic in most quarters of the floor covering industry. 

Since bamboo’s initial introduction to the U.S. flooring market in the early 1990s, it has continued to evolve into different flooring formats, which has served to increase the product’s use and demand, especially in today’s eco-conscious flooring market.

In conjunction with the 2014 InterCork II campaign being launched by APCOR, the international trade body representing cork producers from Portugal, I would like to elaborate further on their efforts while extolling the many virtues cork flooring has to offer the independent retailer.

Oils and waxes have been used to protect natural materials from the effects of the environment—light, water, cats, etc.—in buildings and building materials for as long as such things have existed.

Since its opening in 1960, Detroit’s Cobo Center has become one of the country’s most famous venues, drawing visitors to the banks of the Detroit River for the nation’s premier auto shows, concerts, political conventions and an endless variety of other events.

The World Floor Covering Association (WFCA) announced the winners of the Howard Olansky Affiliate of the Year Awards. 

Unlike the residential market, which is essentially single family housing and most often dealing with remodels, the commercial sector is a vast sea of segments, ranging anywhere from corporate offices to healthcare to education to hospitality to retail to government/military and technically anything else not handled by the typical neighborhood retailer.

Selecting the right flooring for a space not only adds to its look, but experience and overall feel. That is one of the main points designers said when Floor Trends polled them to find out just what they’re looking for when designing for commercial spaces.

Rob Menefee wants to continue to grow his business. Considering he already has three locations and $12-plus million in annual sales, that is no small task. 

Connecting with customers is vital to the success of any business. Flooring contractors are no different, but which customers and how? Who do you spend time with—architects, designers, end users or general contractors? What about product manufacturers?

In today’s digital age, the Yellow Pages have long since yellowed, permanently replaced by the Internet as the primary source to find a contractor.