On this episode of the What the Floor Podcast, we went international! We talked to Lauren Delee and Floris Koopmans of Unilin Technologies, straight outta Belgium, to learn everything we thought we already knew about the Unilin locking systems, the story behind how Unilin started and how they are single-handedly saving the planet by looking forward and creating solutions for the entire flooring industry.
wat de vloer!
https://www.unilintechnologies.com/en
What the Floor is a T&A Supply Company Inc original production. You can find out more about us at tasupply.com or tasflooring.com. This show is produced by Jose Morales with help from Toni Collier and Jessica Riser. Tell us what you think of the show at wtfpodcast@tasupply.com or #whatthefloorpodcast on social media to let us know what you think.
On this episode of the What the Floor Podcast, we went international! We talked to Lauren Delee and Floris Koopmans of Unilin Technologies, straight outta Belgium, to learn everything we thought we already knew about the Unilin locking systems, the story behind how Unilin started and how they are single-handedly saving the planet by looking forward and creating solutions for the entire flooring industry.
wat de vloer!
https://www.unilintechnologies.com/en
What the Floor is a T&A Supply Company Inc original production. You can find out more about us at tasupply.com or tasflooring.com. This show is produced by Jose Morales with help from Toni Collier and Jessica Riser. Tell us what you think of the show at wtfpodcast@tasupply.com or #whatthefloorpodcast on social media to let us know what you think.
This is what the floor from T&A Supply Company Inc, a podcast for the flooring industry. I'm Holiday Van Erem.
Michael Goria:And I'm Michael Goria. We'll be exploring the hot topics of the flooring industry with a little humor and a new set of eyes.
Holiday Van Erem:Hello, Michael.
Michael Goria:Good morning Holiday. How are you?
Holiday Van Erem:I'm doing pretty good.
Michael Goria:Yeah, we've got a new one today. We've got an international interview.
Holiday Van Erem:Yes. It's very exciting. So I met these folks back in November at a trade show. We talked about trade shows in the last episode, one of my favorite ones NAFCD. We met got a lot of great information and talked about how we can maybe turn it into a podcast episode. So now we're doing that now this will be our April episode. We'll put it at the end of March.
Michael Goria:Yeah, looking forward to getting some new information on clicking systems, and specifically the Unilin clicking system.
Holiday Van Erem:Alright
Michael Goria:So many products use, you know, that specific system and so to get some real down and dirty information from these folks will be great
Holiday Van Erem:Uh huh, the inside view right from the source.
Michael Goria:Absolutely.
Holiday Van Erem:Yeah. So with us today is now Lauren, you'll have to help me pronounce your last name properly. Is it Lauren Delee?
Lauren Delee:Yeah, you can say it like that. It's a very Dutch name. So it's difficult for Americans to say otherwise. So Delee is fine.
Holiday Van Erem:Delee is fine. It's not accurate, but it's good enough for you Americans. And we also have Floris Koopmans with us.
Floris Koopmans:Yeah that's correct. Hi, Michael. Hi, Holiday. Good morning to you guys.
Holiday Van Erem:And we say good morning but it is the evening time for you because you are with us out of Belgium right now.
Floris Koopmans:Correct, Yeah.
Holiday Van Erem:So welcome to what the floor. And we would love for you to both introduce yourselves to us name, title, and just a little background on you.
Lauren Delee:Okay, so first of all, hi, everyone. My name is Lauren Delee. I'm part of the commercial team at Unilin Technologies. So we are based as Holliday already mentioned in Belgium. And my responsibility within the team is to be really the direct point of contact for the buyer and distributor network both in in Europe as in North America. So actually, I'm point of contact for all companies that are involved in importing and distributing flooring products.
Holiday Van Erem:Wonderful
Michael Goria:Great.
Floris Koopmans:And I'm Floris Koopmans sales and marketing director at human technologies, together with the rest of the sales team, which Lauren is a part. I focus on commercializing our patented technologies throughout the flooring industry. So our main focus is on the in on Europe and North America. And we also have a sales team in Shanghai that focuses on the Southeast Asian market.
Holiday Van Erem:Wonderful. Well, we really appreciate you being on the show today. One of the first things that I want you guys to tell us about is kind of who Unilin is and the history of it. But I also want to ask too, why all of a sudden, do you guys feel it's really important for you to be advertising more and talking more about who Unilin is and what you have to offer?
Floris Koopmans:I'll start with the second question first. So the reason we were doing podcasts like this and more awareness at the trade shows and stuff like that is because there's so many companies and consumers using our locking systems, we are the market leader in the in terms of locking system, so is the most used locking system throughout the world. And we have the feeling in the past that a lot of companies and consumers, they don't know that they can reach out to us about locking, we have so much expertise, so much knowledge. And we feel that there is a lot of information that that does not pass through to the end consumers, the distributors, the importers. So in the past, we were always we have very tight relationships with the manufacturers or direct clients, the people who are making these locking systems on their flooring who have a license from us. But we really want to reach out to their customers as well to tell them, Look, you're a fan of our technology, you can also reach out to us, there are ways that we can help you and your company and make sure that the quality and the level of innovation within your company is up to par.
Holiday Van Erem:Yes. And that's exactly why Lauren reached out I think, and I really appreciate that she did and we were able to meet at NAFCD and meet with Floris and to hear more about your products. And I thought it's one of those things that we don't really talk a lot about. But everybody knows the locking systems, you know them you're very familiar with them, you know how to install them based on Oh, it's a Unilin. And so whatever, here's how you do it. But we don't really stop and think too much about what it is and, and how we can learn more about it. So I'm really excited about our interview today.
Floris Koopmans:And it's also a very essential part of the product. A locking system is important because if if we're looking for system fails, basically the product is unusable. So for us quality of locking systems is so important for our whole industry and sometimes for categories altogether. So we also want to keep that level of quality at a decent level, let's say so, yeah, that's why we're doing this.
Michael Goria:Yeah. So to get back to Holiday's, kind of for First question, can you give us the backstory, history on Unilin? How long have you guys been around?
Floris Koopmans:That's a pretty interesting history. So Unilin I love those kinds of stories because nobody ever really talks was founded in 1960. By several families or farmers, they were about it. And you just, it's just a name that you heard and farming, flex plant with the long fibers. And they decided to start making flex boards. So we start making boards out of their, their crop. And that became really popular. And that's basically how our Unilin started. So it's really a couple of families from the west of Flanders at that time, really, like middle of nowhere, basically, that started this company. And really quickly, the company expanded in different types of boards. And then later on, we expanded to laminate you know, you think you know what it is. And it's just so floor and roofing elements. And then in 1990, so 30 years after the start of the company, the Quickstart brand was introduced. And this is really a reflection brands of Unilin. In Europe, it's it's very well known partly because of the very successful cycling team that we sponsor, they compete in the Tour de France, sometimes even win some some episodes there, the name, interesting to hear the backstory of farmers creating a Quickstep really rings a bell, even with end consumers all over Europe. So this is a really important step. But then seven years later, in 1997, something really amazing happened in our company, somebody invented basically the very first clueless, one piece locking system. And to indicate the relevance of this invention. At that time, laminate flooring was company and to what it's turned into today. not so popular at all, people had to install laminate floors by gluing it down to the floor. It was it was not user friendly at all, you had real wood and you had laminate, of course, SPC didn't exist yet. LVT didn't exist yet. So it was a whole different time. And when we first came out, with a lock over the floor with a locking system, most people thought we were crazy. It's never gonna work. This is a we have installed flooring with glue for like, forever. Why would we change this? But there was a couple of companies that really saw the relevance of this of this innovation and they asked us, guys, can we share this? Can we make use of that. And that's basically where our division was born. Because that's when we realized, okay, this innovation can really do something for the industry as a whole, maybe it's a good thing that we don't keep it for ourselves. Okay, we have patented it. So let's give licenses to other companies. And really, what resulted from that, by the time of 2000 to 2003, almost all laminate flooring was installed with the locking system. So it really revolutionized the whole market. And which is great, of course, because it made laminate way more popular. And that was really the rise of laminates is kind of started at that one invention that happened here in the west of Flanders. So that's a really, really funny history of our how things grew here at you know
Michael Goria:It reminds me similar to the cares story out of Sweden, it's it's very, it grew out of a family and has been around for a long, long time, you just wouldn't necessarily know it.
Holiday Van Erem:So Unilin today compared to what it was when the invention of the glueless locking system, How much larger is the company today? How many different facilities do you have? What is the amount of people that you're employing at this point in time?
Floris Koopmans:After the invention of the glueless locking system, of course, something really important also happened and it's 2005 we were acquired by by Mohawk. So then suddenly, of course, our reach exploded. We already had factories in different areas outside of outside of Europe. But of course, the acquisition of Mohawk really launched us into a whole whole different level. If we look at Newland alone, right now, we consist out of four divisions. So we distribute flooring, a manufacturer and distributor flooring panels, so the panels both for flooring, but also for wall panels, furniture panels, installation, and then the fourth division is the technologies division. And that's what we work for. And the great thing about this acquisition is that Unilin we can conduct our business quite individually for Mohawk as well. So that's, that's also a great thing
Holiday Van Erem:When I hear the name, Unilin, I think of the locking system, that's primarily what I think of, but I honestly couldn't tell you the differences between different versions of the Unilin locking system now there's some different variations of it. Can you kind of explain to us the different variations and can how it's evolved over time.
Floris Koopmans:So Laura will explain the technologies in specific but I think what's interesting here is we if we take a step back a little bit okay, what is our background so going back to our history, so we are a large manufacturer of laminate flooring, the the inventors of the locking systems are still walking around in our company. So we have a A lot of manufacturing backgrounds, the firsthand experience in how a locking system should work, what doesn't work a lot of trials and error, many years of R&D. So that's basically our backstory here. And we really tried to design our locking systems for performance. Like, like we said, If a locking system doesn't work on the flooring, the product is trashed, basically. So you cannot do much with a great flooring product that looks great has had everything that you want to but the locking system fails, then you have a have a huge problem. And that's also one of the sustainability topics that we're trying to promote. Like, we really want good locking systems out there. So that's why we really focus on performance. And that's also why the designs are made the way that we did to make sure that products last longer. And we try to give people a worry proof experience with flooring basically. And we do that with with with several technologies, which which Lauren can can explain a little bit more about
Lauren Delee:The two main locking systems that we have in our portfolio on the one hand is of course, our uniclic locking system. So this is really the most used locking system in the market, most well known and also most reliable. So it also offers, as Floris mentioned, the locking performances of a click System, they are very important. And uniclic really offers the top performing locking performances.
Floris Koopmans:This is also the click System where it all started with basically it's still a it has been adapted over time. But this is the locking system that was invented in 1997. has been used on laminate for over 20 years now. And it's now also predominantly the most used system in SPC.
Lauren Delee:Yeah, correct. And this is what you maybe also known as the angle angle system. Well, we call it we call it the basic locking system. But I mean, the industry have always has a way of naming locking systems and everything, the way they want to test several names in the industry. But uniclic is really the locking system that is also most loved by professional installers. For example, if you would request professional installers, what they want to have to install the floor, everybody will want to have the uniclic locking system.
Floris Koopmans:And of course, the history here helps people have been using this system for for a long time. They know it's from the time that they were installing laminate, they see now that the same click System is being used on SPC, and they have trust in it. And that's I think one of the great things about our uniclic system is the amount of trust that that we can count on from the industry from installers. So you know.
Lauren Delee:Going further. So of course, after the uniclic, there came more demand in the market to have a locking system, which would be even more easy to install, but more for DIY purposes for people that really want to install their flooring themselves. But what we saw in the markets that the existing one peaceful down locking systems, as we call them, they did have the issue of having certain claims when people want to install it themselves, it's important to know that the installation of the locking system is also easy to do so because it's just normal, especially for DIY purposes that people can make mistakes during installations. So when they make a mistake, they need to have the possibility to easily Deinstall the panel and then just do it over again. But what the existing fold down locking systems had at that point, you needed to Deinstall them by shifting them horizontally out of each other.
Michael Goria:Right
Lauren Delee:And that's really not an intuitive way of installing and people were more intuitively going to angle up the panel having as a consequence that you would break the profile and you will not be able to use the plank anymore. So that's really something that we also wanted to solve, we wanted to find a solution to that issue. And that's why we introduced our unit drop locking system. So this is our one peaceful down locking system unit drop. And it has the easy installation. So you simply install it with a full down movement, but it has the big plus that we made it possible to deinstall this locking system by simply angling it up very intuitively, without it impacting the locking performances. So the locking performances as well, which is also of course most important. They remain also very strong.
Floris Koopmans:We did not promote our uni drop as our full down technology. A question that we often get from people in the industry is what about uni push. It's also a locking system that people talk about. This is basically this kind of the same locking system as uni drop but generation one where the easy deinstallation was not yet possible. So we have unit push as our fold down technology which is still the most used in our fold on technologies, let's say so uniclic is basic angle angle, the most used on markets. Uni push is our most used fold down system and unit drop is let's say a version two of that where you have the easy deinstallations, as well as easy installation. Are you guys still following?
Holiday Van Erem:Yeah we're following
Michael Goria:Yeah so I think I saw on your website. So is it for both of these products is it 3.2 millimeters and thicker?
Floris Koopmans:It really depends, what we always try to do is to design a locking system based also on the material that we received from the manufacturer. So depending on their mixture, the amount of filler that they have insights, the SPC, then we decide what type of locking system would be applicable or even best on their materials.
Michael Goria:Okay
Holiday Van Erem:So that's an interesting point that I hadn't thought of how often do you work with a manufacturer as they're developing products? Are you always working with them to verify that they're using the right system? Or do they just come when they have problems or questions,
Floris Koopmans:It really depends. It differs from client to client, of course. But we are always open to help or licensees with developing the right leg system for their products. But some of our customers already have the experience, if they, for example, want to bring out a new product that's thicker or thinner, they can already do some adaptations to the locking system themselves. And we only have to check if they did it correctly, or do some basic testing on that. But no, we're always open to help our licensees and even also buyers or importers of flooring, or distributors, if they have a new product that they would like to see tested or wondering if the locking system that they have currently is there is the right one, we're always open to, to inform them about the technologies that we have and the possibilities that are out there.
Michael Goria:What separates Unilin from the other locking systems in the industry. I mean, we know they're some of your major competitors. But then there's also seems to be locking systems that individual companies are coming out with their own proprietary locking system. So what what separates Unilin?
Floris Koopmans:Good question. Basically, in the locking system area, you have three big competitors, basically, three license sores that have patents were one of them. And it's important to understand that if you get a license from one of these companies, you also get protection on the patents of the two others. So the individual lock existence, what you see there is most often locking systems that are launched under it is, for example uniclic, but they launch it under a different brand name, to just hide it a little bit, that's that it's one of the famous systems that say, and they branded under their own name to just to give it a little edge, or they want to give it to certain branding of their own or something. But basically, either it's always one of the three systems. And how we differ basically is we have our manufacturing backgrounds, we really strive for the highest quality looking like like explained before, it's really important that the locking system works properly, we want people to have a good installation experience as well, not only for installers but also for homeowners, if you have to install that floor was a horrible experience, you're gonna love it less. Than when it was a nice experience. So that's what we really focus on. And of course, with our competitors, I can understand from afar that all locking systems kind of look equal. But if you look very closely, there are a lot of differences. And these differences are sometimes very small, small angles that need to be changed a little bit longer or shorter locking system and but this can really make a world of difference on terms of performance. For example, what we really tried to focus on is, we realized that it's not that difficult to make a locking system that works well in the lab, however, you need to take into account that companies all over the world are going to make this in factories. And a factory environment is very often very different from what we see in a lab, you have tolerances, you have people at the line that are sometimes not as well educated on how to make a locking system than in the lab. So what we really tried to do is make sure that in real life production environments, these locking systems are easy to make, that it's difficult to make mistakes, help our licensees as much as possible, with guidelines and with visits from our engineers to make these locking systems. And I think that really makes a difference. So not only the design of our locking systems, the history that we went through, that we are a big manufacturer ourselves and have so much experience in how to optimize and use locking systems in the right way. But also the service that we tried to provide to our licensees.
Holiday Van Erem:I'm hearing quality performance worry free and partnerships that they want to have with their manufacturers and the users of the product is what should we should remember about who Unilin is
Floris Koopmans:Exactly.
Michael Goria:I mean it's something that we at T&A really strive for with our products, we highly vet, the manufacturers that we use, we do extensive testing, and I'll call it a background check. But we don't do business with just any manufacturer because their price is lower. We make sure and vet the process of the quality of the material because we don't want issues for ourselves for our customers for homeowners. So it's very similar to how you guys operate.
Floris Koopmans:And that's the right mentality, you don't want to save a few cents on production costs when quality is not what it's, what you want it to be, or the locking system doesn't work properly, then you have a bad product and people will not be happy with that experience at all.
Holiday Van Erem:Yeah, so we definitely know that.
Michael Goria:We've gone that road,
Holiday Van Erem:We made that fatal mistake a few years back where we thought we were working with a partner that was going to go with a different locking system, we were going to try it out, it was you know, slightly cheaper, and we thought, that you know, we might have an advantage. But we found out very quickly that the quality was not behind it and went right back to that angle angle system. And I, you learn your lesson. And you don't want to mess with that quality. Because at the end of the day, as beautiful as that floor is if like you said they have a bad experience installing it. And the integrity of that lock isn't there, it doesn't matter how beautiful it was.
Floris Koopmans:We hear similar stories, more and more often that people kind of took a little trip with their locking systems, tried out what's there and then realized, Okay, well, the uniclic system that's been on the market for so long, and we trusted them before, it's really good option. So I'm happy to hear that you guys also made that same decision.
Holiday Van Erem:Is there anything else about the Unilin technologies division that you guys are working on or that you deal with, we should know more about?
Floris Koopmans:As a technology division, of course, our first focus is still flooring, but over the years, we're also expanding to the other industries that Mohawk is active in. So of course, flooring is still our biggest industry. But now we start also introducing new technologies in the ceramics industry, or in the panel of furniture industry. So we're also trying to push new technologies there. And the reason is, we are convinced that using our business models and the licensing model can really help not only one company in particular, but can really help an industry as a whole or whole product category, it gives manufacturers a chance to Quick Start with an innovation really to to jump ahead and to without having to do all theR&D efforts themselves sign up for a license and basically create an edge against their competitors. And like we seen in the laminates story that I told in the beginning of the podcast, it can help a whole category of products to grow. So that's our reasoning. And that's why we really want to develop the model that we have developed in flooring and also to other industries.
Holiday Van Erem:I want to know about what's new and exciting. What kind of new fun technologies are you guys working on that we should be excited to see at maybe you know, things that you showed it surfaces this year or things that you're working on that we'll see next year?
Lauren Delee:What we really try to do when introducing new technologies is we are really going to look what's trendy on the market, what is really becoming more and more popular. And one thing that we also focused on a lot during surfaces for example, is our Flint style technology. So what we noticed in the market style designs for SPC flooring, specifically they are becoming more and more popular as an alternative for ceramic tiles. Of course, what we do see with these style designs for SPC flooring, for example, they don't fully resemble an authentic ceramic tile, the bevel or the grout doesn't really feel very natural, very authentic. And also it's an SPC with a dial design, it doesn't have extra water resistant properties compared to other SPC flooring, it's entirely the same. And if you want to install it in your bathroom or in your kitchen, it's the same as other SPC flooring. So that's really why we wanted to find a solution there as well. And we went to look okay if someone is going to store and they want to have a ceramic floor for their kitchen for their bathroom, but they don't want to have the downsides of a ceramic tile, for example, that the installation is super difficult. You need to have professional installers to be able to install such a floor and we all know that professional installers are going to be less and less available in the market now and for the upcoming future. And so it's very difficult to install, it's heavy, you need to wait several days before it's finished, it has a lot of dust. So those are a few downsides specifically for ceramic tiles. And these are all solved with our Flit style technology. So this is really what you can see as a perfect alternative to ceramic tiles. It's an SPC floor with a locking system so you can easily install it. You have perfectly aligned joins. And after you click them together, you grout them with real grout.
Holiday Van Erem:Hmmm
Michael Goria:Okay
Lauren Delee:So it's very DIY friendly, because you can all do it yourself and you have a 100% Waterproof floor 100% Waterproof because of the grout in less than a day.
Floris Koopmans:We sometimes get the question from people we show this technology to the compared to an SPC floor and they say well Will people want to grout the floor after they click it together? That seems like an extraction. But then our answer is always like don't compare it with with SPC compared with the ceramic tile, if you can install it in less than a day and it dries in less than a day, it's huge. From the top, basically, you cannot see the difference with a real ceramic tile, even the grout is real, it's 100% waterproof. So Why will people not choose for it, really the there are people out there that want to go for that real ceramic tile design. So for those people, this is a great technology, I believe.
Holiday Van Erem:Are there any limitations on the type of grout that they can use?
Floris Koopmans:It's especially in design type of grout, we have a couple of producers that we work with to promote it. But we looked for a long time for a grout that is flexible enough to withstand the movement of an SPC floor, because an SPC floor when temperature changes, moves a little bit, but it needs to be strong enough to hold and not crack. And it needs to be really easy to clean because you just grout it in. And you don't want the grout to leave marks on the SPC design, for example. So was a difficult combination to find. But I think we found a couple of options that were really good.
Holiday Van Erem:That's very exciting. Do you have a lot of companies who are starting to license that technology from you?
Floris Koopmans:We have a couple some of our longtime licensees in China that are experimenting with this technology, because it is still something pretty new when people are also figuring out okay, where do we need to sell this type of flooring? Because in an SPC shop, for example, people might not be that attracted. But for example, maybe at a ceramic store, people might be interested. So it's a whole different model to think about. But yeah, we already have some people figuring it out.
Michael Goria:We saw that you guys have a sustainability story on your website. And it seems like Unilin is pushing that we know Europe is always ahead of the US with sustainability green products. Where's that push come from? For you guys?
Floris Koopmans:Sustainability is really been a part of our DNA at Unilin. We have at Unilin flooring, manufacturing company and panels divisions, we have really big initiatives. We call it one home initiatives that protect our working environment, homes, the people that work at our company, the planets, etc. So for example, we have we use wind energy, we have our own windmills, a biomass plant. This is also something very exciting. We are one of the first pioneers really to start recycling of HDF boards. HDF boards are really difficult to recycle because they're basically glued together. Until recently, it was really difficult to take apart the fibers without the glue. So the glue was preventing recyclability. But now we found a way to do that. We're scaling that up for our own company now, and have great plans for that. And I think our licensing strategy, our business can can also help with spreading these sustainable technologies to others and can really help the world basically, by making it easily accessible and make people have a head start in taking on sustainable technologies.
Holiday Van Erem:Thank goodness, thank goodness that there are companies in Europe who are actually trying to figure these things out.
Floris Koopmans:Yeah, it's always funny when we talk with customers in the US, because here in Europe, sustainability and our planet, and like, let's say the green topic is really priority number one, it seems like if we don't do anything tomorrow, we're all gonna die. But then in the US, there's a more relaxed mentality about it and more of the feeling like oh, we'll figure this out. We don't know when yet but we'll figure this out. So we are happy that we can innovate in this domain. And hopefully, we can introduce it as well in the, in the US,
Holiday Van Erem:is there anything else that you want to talk about or explain regarding sustainable technologies that you guys are utilizing?
Lauren Delee:First and foremost, you have the clicker systems, which we already talked about, but it's a very important story there. I mean, on the one hand, a click System, it makes it possible to install a floor without a need for glue or nails or any adhesive so you do not contaminate your panels, which is of course very important. And also it's make sure what floor is already mentioned. A good locking system is also important for a long durability of your floor. So sustainability wise, that's a very big plus and a very important story there. Secondly, another technology which is also important for the sustainability aspect of our technologies is what we call our Unicode. So this is our actual coating to make wood based flooring products like for example laminate or wood flooring, to make them truly waterproof, which is of course also very important to make sure that you have a worry free floor that you still get have a very beautiful floor after you spill water on top of it that it doesn't damage your floors much. This is also a very important aspect there, and we know that coatings in the industry in the history of the whole industry that it has a bit of a negative image to it, because of the certain chemicals that are in the coatings and so on. But this is also something given the fact that sustainability is really in the true core of unilins DNA. And that we are also strongly investing in the r&R&D on these coatings as well on our unicoats to make sure that these chemicals are replaced by a sustainable product. So that's also an important part there.
Floris Koopmans:So what we try to do is not only make the products last longer with the click System and with our coating, but also we're trying to make the products themselves more sustainable, for example, taking away harmful or less good materials for the environment out of the coating and stuff like that.
Lauren Delee:And then lastly, another exciting technology that we're also promoting is our magnetic flooring. So this is really also to give an alternative to adhesives that you need to use to glue that you need to use for installing products. And magnetic flooring makes it possible when you have the magnetically receptive underlay that you roll out. Or you can simply install all types of flooring, so wood flooring, laminate, carpet tiles, for example, you can simply install them on the magnetic underlay. It's also very easy to use, for example, for raised access floors, that's also something that's very, very good combination there. And it's very easy if you want to change your floor from time to time, or you need to take away one panel because there's damage on there, you can just easily pull it up and replace it and reuse the tile if you want it. So sustainability wise, it's also very exciting.
Holiday Van Erem:I've heard people talking about this technology for several years now do you see it actually starting to get some traction anywhere?
Floris Koopmans:in very specific niches is becoming popular. For example, in big franchises where they want to change the look of their store every three to four years, when you have this magnetic underlay on the ground, you can take that floor out, reuse it somewhere else and really quickly put it on the floor in because for these businesses Time is of the issue, right?
Michael Goria:Right
Floris Koopmans:So they wanted to be able to install that flooring overnight. And that's really easy, but with the magnetic so in those niches you you kind of see it sometimes in stores, I have an example of a store that has a ceramic tile every now and then a tile would break and they wanted to the store clerk to be able to replace that tile. And with magnetic that's really easy, you can just pull it out and put another one in. While if you have a real ceramic floor. That's that's that's a whole other type of work
Michael Goria:In regards to the uniclic and the unit drop locking system. How much does that play into the waterproof story maybe more in the laminate side of things. But you know, we want everything to be waterproof these days are water resistant. How much does your click systems contribute to the water resistant or waterproof story
Floris Koopmans:Our click systems make use of what we call pre tension is a term that shows that planks are being pulled towards each other when the when the locking system is engaged. So the locking system definitely helps by closing any gaps between the planks and that's of course already very big part of stopping the water to go underneath your floor or to go inside the locking system and, and cause damage. However, after many many years of research, believe me we look for the locking system that could will hold any type of water. But we never found it. And we what we see is that's the reason why it's important to combine a good locking system that takes away unwanted gaps with the coating that really repels the water away from your products. For example, in the laminate floor HDF will absorb water. So if the water will get into your locking system, and of course this will not happen very easily. But when it happens, you really want that coating to protect that wood fiber not to absorb the water and not costs, upstanding edges
Michael Goria:That's helpful
Floris Koopmans:There are some out of the box technologies that we're also launching. So what we see after COVID Is that the home has also become an office for many people, people work from home, people spent more time at home. So what we're also trying to do is to improve the living environment. We recently launched an out of the box technology that we call comfort core. And that integrates a soft layer inside of an LVT buildup. And it makes sure that the SPC is way more silent than before. It's the most quiet type of flooring after carpets who everybody knows when you have carpet in the room. It's It sounds amazing, right? I really tried to get to that same level of quietness also with SPC.
Holiday Van Erem:Everybody's moving to taking the carpet. It's a lot louder.
Michael Goria:Yeah, we've seen some other technologies similar to that but it seems like the market is trying to solve sound with flooring. It always seems like nobody thinks about sound reduction until the flooring goes in and the So we're trying to solve that issue with just flooring alone.
Floris Koopmans:I really like all these new ideas. And I think we definitely haven't reached the top yet of what we can attain with flooring. I think there's so many still crazy ideas out there. And that's also something that we tried to do like we want to work with external partners have crazy ideas that maybe already have filed a patent or don't know how to file a patent on a crazy idea. They're always welcome to come talk with with our team. And since we have the experience and all these know how about flooring and patterns, we can see if we if we can cooperate on on certain inventions.
Holiday Van Erem:So if we have any installers or customers out there who have an idea, we know how to get them.
Lauren Delee:It's really a call to action.
Holiday Van Erem:Yes, if you were out there thinking "God I have this amazing idea how to improve this product." We know the people that you need to talk to, just reach out.
Michael Goria:We'll help with the introduction.
Holiday Van Erem:you just reach out to. Michael, do you have any other questions?
Michael Goria:No. I just can't thank you both enough. It's such a pleasure to meet you. And glad we could have this conversation.
Holiday Van Erem:Thank you so much for doing this with us. I think this has been a really interesting conversation. I have learned a lot about you and Lynn, who I thought and I knew what Unilin is and what it does. But there's a lot more to it. I love that. I think our listeners are going to feel like they definitely learned a lot today. And that's great.
Michael Goria:Absolutely. Floris and Lauren, we can't thank you enough. Again, we appreciate your time.
Lauren Delee:Thank you so much for inviting us.
Floris Koopmans:It's a real pleasure to be here and an amazing experience for our first ever podcast. Thank you guys.
Holiday Van Erem:I can't wait for the Floris and Lauren show to come out. We have Inspired you
Lauren Delee:You have. Unilin technologies both guests.
Michael Goria:There we go. You must invite us to be a part of it someday.
Floris Koopmans:You just created the competitors
Michael Goria:we're happy to have you
Holiday Van Erem:Yes, partners partner. Michael, I feel very cultured.
Michael Goria:Yeah, that was a fun one. Kind of outside of our realm. But as we talked about during the podcast. Where you and I talk about a lot is hopefully this opens up the world to our customers, our employees of the bigger flooring industry.
Holiday Van Erem:There's so much out there to learn.
Michael Goria:Yeah, there really is. I mean, these people, they're in Belgium, the locking systems have been around for so long. And there is really only a big three. So how do we you know, we got to engage with them and learn more and, and and grow from that.
Holiday Van Erem:I feel like I could go install it for myself, but not 100% Sure would go well, but I'm learning. I am learning.
Michael Goria:Yeah
Holiday Van Erem:Maybe we need to do it in person a hands on podcasts episode.
Michael Goria:It could be a YouTube episode.
Holiday Van Erem:Ideas, topic ideas. We're willing to go outside of the box we happen just meet these people at a trade show. So if you've got an idea of something that you think you'd like to know more about, get a hold of us and let us know what that is.
Michael Goria:Yeah, even if you think it's something that's going to be hard or challenging. We would love to track that person down or investigate or research these topics ourselves. We really want you guys to learn along with us. Hopefully you found a small tidbit in there that you can take put in your tool belt and use at a later date. And that this was valuable to you.
Holiday Van Erem:I'm really excited about people listening to this episode. I'm excited to see how many people download it. Awesome. All right, so what the floor is a T&A Supply Company Inc original production. You can find out more about us at tasupply.com or TASflooring.com.
Michael Goria:This show was produced by Jose Morales with help from Tony Collier and Paul Van Erem hosted by Holiday Van Erem and Michael Goria.
Holiday Van Erem:Tell us what you think of the show don't hesitate to email us at wtfpodcast@tasupply.com or on social media#whatthefloorpodcast and we'll see it pop up
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