Daltile's Mike Profilio walks Sara Gutterman through antimicrobial and slip-resistant tile glazes, large-format porcelain panels, and domestically sourced quartz countertops featured in the VISION House Sussex project.
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Sara Gutterman: Has been busy innovating in both the tile and countertop space. So. Tell me a little bit about those innovations.
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Mike Profilio: One of them is Defend by Micro Band. We're basically infusing micro band into the glazing process. So this is something that doesn't wear off, doesn't wash off, doesn't clean off, and really creates some antimicrobial protection for a very clean surface throughout the home, whether that's for showers, for bathroom, floors, for backs, blasters, etc. another one that's really resonating with with the consumers is our stepwise, a innovative process where we're infusing basically a higher coefficient of friction into the glaze?
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Mike Profilio: This doesn't distort or disrupt the visual, the patterning within the product, but really helps elevate the slip resistance about 50 times more slip resistant than a traditional glazed product. And again, that is really resonated quite a bit with home buyers and consumers. You know, when you look at the trends now in the market of really bringing the interiors into the exterior and really creating an open flow of living space, these products really have become kind of the go to product to ensure that not only you have a very fashionable look and feel, it's all contiguous.
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Mike Profilio: You're not chopping up the flooring area, but you're creating a surface that is, you know, safe and and easy to walk on both indoors and out in wet and dry conditions. So those are a couple of the innovations there I think, on our quartz product. You know, it's worth noting. You know, we first opened our Dixon, Tennessee plant.
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Mike Profilio: You know, we were very reliant on imported raw materials. And we worked really hard in order to get those formulas and recipes converted so that we can use a lot more. And now it's almost 100% domestic raw materials for our US sports production. I think it's really important from a sustainability, from an ESG perspective, and we're really proud that we've worked through that.
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Sara Gutterman: We're also excited to learn about your porcelain product. So can you tell me a little bit more about that as well?
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Mike Profilio: Yeah. So porcelain and I think you're referring to what Del Tile calls panoramic porcelain panels. And so large format porcelain products are really infusing the market. They can be used for exterior cladding. They can be used for flooring. They could be used for vertical applications at very high heights because they're light and they're also used for countertops. The neat thing about it is you're using all the best components of a porcelain.
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Mike Profilio: So you have the high performance, the minimal zero absorption, but then you're able to use 3D visual and print these amazing, you know, natural stone or concrete, but just really, really high end, luxurious type visuals on a product that then performs tremendously and is is very easy to install comparative to the same product in the natural stone.
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Sara Gutterman: We're really excited to show Model Tiles products in the vision House Sussex. Our latest demonstration project with Temple Brian Homes in the village of Sussex, which is outside of Milwaukee. Our theme for that project is sustainable and attainable. So can you talk a little bit about how your products fit into that theme?
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Mike Profilio: It's an extraordinary project, yet it's it's kind of right in line with market rate pricing. And, you know, I don't want to say it's not special because it's very special, but it's you know, sometimes a lot of these type of projects are focused around something that's a little unique or one of a kind. And this really brings, you know, all of this messaging and, you know, goal accomplishing right to an everyday type of a consumer.
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Mike Profilio: So we're very pleased. We are featuring our quartz countertops, which are domestically made. And we're also featuring several different areas of ceramic or porcelain tile. One of them is a very nice owner's bath retreat and some really nice products. They're both rectangular products and long gated subways. We're providing a ceramic hex shaped wall tile as a backsplash in the main kitchen area.
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Mike Profilio: And so, you know, consumers and home buyers are really there liking to create some personalization. And so a hex shape really is unique. It helps personalize a pretty important area of the home where a lot of time is spent in the kitchen area. So we're really pleased to bring these products to the vision House of Sussex because, you know, comparatively, when you're looking at all the foreign categories that are out there, you know, ceramic tile really delivers a lot of, you know, excellent attributes with regards to healthy living with regards to low environmental impact.
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Mike Profilio: And so we're very pleased that Tim O'Brien and the vision House project is incorporating these products.
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Sara Gutterman: Are there any other highlights from your corporate ESG story that you'd care to share.
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Mike Profilio: At the end of 2022? Dell Tile held its first lead her campaign internally. Basically, they organized a team of corporate leaders and then other female employees throughout the organ, all different positions and capacities, both the manufacturing and sales and an admin and a really kind of gotten behind this lead her initiative. And so, again, thought it might be nice just to share that with you here today.
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Mike Profilio: You know, from a product standpoint, like I said, we are we are really geared and focused on on all the different components that ESG can help drive into our product. But corporate culturally were as equally as focused on the same type of ESG components that really round out the different components of that ESG acronym. And so Lead Her has been a great success.
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Mike Profilio: They just had the the second organized meeting, and it's really creating a lot of great buzz in the organization.