Alan Blake

• Although my title was inventory coordinator, I had many roles. Inventory, Technical Support of our sales team and our contractor/dealer base of customers, Claims Manager, Facility Manager and other tasks.
• As Technical Support, our team relied on my experience in installation and history in the industry to determine the best solutions to installation questions and try to prevent failures to happen. Trouble shooting site conditions, suggesting installation methods for moisture suppression and sound impact. Making certain a manufacturer's complete system was used.
• Claims from flooring, stemmed mainly from improper subfloor preparation or mixing too many different manufacturer's products. Trying best to make each claim a coachable event for the installers. Looking for a balance between 'scolding' the installer for not using the right tools, with teaching them to use the right tools.
• In-house, I worked with contractors and dealers on finding the best solution to the installation needs. Explaining why each step of the installation was vital and why using the best products regardless of cost will be a win for them.
• Facility Manager. I made sure we were in compliance with the City of Houston and Harris County's numerous permits and licenses. Working with the operations team members to make sure we were doing the right things for safety and to keep us from being cited for any failing.
• Inventory Coordination. I counted something in our inventory every day. The inventory consisted of over 10,000 SKUs. In order to be correct, something had to be counted each day.
• As another of my tasks I coordinated working with outside vendors for training and doing ride alongs with or distributor sales people.

As product manager, my responsibilities included Hardwood Flooring, Resilient Flooring, Adhesives and Leveling Compounds, Installation Products and Samples.

• My hardwood duties included both our private label as well as branded products.
• Resilient included 9 product lines of LVT and SPC products.
• Adhesive and compounds were Taylor, Dri Tac and Ardex.
• Installation products had me in charge of the Pro Flooring Sales Room. Working and training our counter people to sell the right thing for each application and noting to them that one size doesn't fit all.
• Samples, I was in charge os all the sample making in-house. We had a part time staff that made samples for all our product lines.
• Each Monday was a team meeting with purchasing and warehouse. The time was spent going over reports to ensure we had enough product to cover all our sales avenues with dealers and builders.
• Every product has a life span. Our job as a team would be make sure products wouldn't age out, or be caught flat-footed with products slowed down.
• Just a quick aside. I loved the coordination we had together and the understanding every one on the team contributed.
• We changed the culture by not bring in new products to add without dropping a line to compensate.

Horizon Forest Products, purchased an existing distribution company, Rustic Hardwood.

I was the 3rd Branch Manager in 4 months with Rustic. In two months I became the sales manager over the Houston, Memphis and Little Rock locations. The location outside of Houston were called Forest to Floor.

The owner of Rustic and Forest to Floors didn't have the cash necessary to keep a distribution company going in a consistent manner. I started quietly contacting other distribution companies via 3rd parties that would consider a move to Texas. Horizon had a location in Dallas, It made more sense for them to purchase an existing company that open yet another distribution branch. Horizon purchased Rustic and I became the Branch Leader.

• Full P&L responsibility for the branch.
• Hiring and training of all the team members both in operations and in sales.
• Working with vendors to help move products and show our customer base we had the technical skills to help them make good decisions.
• We did demonstrations in-house and outside at customer's warehouses and on jobsites.
• Horizon had a great inside sales team, but our outside sales and salespeople were inconsistent.

Flooring Services is one of the top 5 installation companies in the US dealing with new home construction in flooring, lighting, stair casing and cabinets and countertops.

• As the wood manager in Austin, I was responsible for training 12+ wood crews. I also had responsibility for the resilient installation crews as well.
• The installation crews prior to my coming had no supervision in the field. Trained them to use the right materials for subfloor preparation and the correct manner in which to install floors.
• A lot of time was spent in the field to ensure the training worked.
• Worked with vendors to do demonstrations both in-house and in the field. The crews responded well to the vendor training and became competent at doing the right things, the first time.
• Supplier relations were critical to our success and we became partners. We relied on each other for support.
• Responsible for payroll of the installers that were not direct employees. Investigated any installation materials that went missing or too much of a product was used without a PO from the builder or approval by a field supervisor.
• Training of our design associates. Worked with all the home builders designers and neighborhood builders.
• Critical training of the neighborhood home builders about how to protect floors after they were installed from other trades.

As a consultant I worked with a variety of companies, often acting as a National Sales Manager or Technical Sales Manager. These companies included:

• STAUF USA: A German adhesive manufacturing company. I brought their products to the US to open distribution. A lot of hands and knees time. Their main product was a solvent-based adhesive.
• Spring Creek Flooring: An unfinished and prefinished flooring mill. They sold mainly to Columbia Flooring and Mohawk. They decided to go back into the unfinished market and I was responsible for opening up new distribution for them.
• Elk Corporation: Elk was mainly a shingle manufacturer. It manufactured a variety of fiberglass encapsulated including shingles. One of their scientists determined that this had possibilities in suppressing moisture in concrete for flooring. The CEO of Elk was the owner of a very large distribution company and I was his wood guru. He asked me to be part of the team to see if they had a workable product. After taking samples into the field, I determined we needed far more information and knowledge about moisture, concrete, problems with flooring and if our product, VersaShield, could be a solution. We spent nearly a year testing our product on slabs at the Construction Technology Laboratory (CTL) a division of the Portland Cement Associaltion. One slab was maintained at 95% relative humidity and the other 99% relative humidity. We applied different flooring products to the slabs and made a sled with Hill Rohm wheels and then pallet jack wheels to see if it would transfer groove marks. We even hired professional walkers to replicate a month of walking in a mall. My knowledge of moisture and concrete is very good.
• Fortane Adhesive: I was brought in to develop distribution for their products and to act as a technical advisor. We had success in several markets including Texas. I traveled extensively with distributor salespeople. Again, spending time on hands and knees to showcase the product.