Mike Profilio, senior director of the builder and multifamily channel at Daltile, talks with Green Builder Media CEO Sara Gutterman about tile innovations like antimicrobial Defend surfaces and click-together Revotile, and how Daltile and Mohawk are advancing their ESG and manufacturing sustainability goals.
00:00:04:14 - 00:00:18:12
Sara Gutterman: I'm here today with Mike, the senior director of Builder multifamily channel for Dell Tile. What are some of the innovations in the Tile and Surfaces category that you're watching and that you're most excited about?
00:00:18:13 - 00:00:45:19
Mike Profilio: You know, Dow Tile and our company brands American and Marathi. We've been industry leaders for quite some time in introducing, you know, new techniques around manufacturing processes, formats, glazes, etc. but there's really two that I'm most excited about right now. And the first one is what we're referring to as defend. And defend is powered by micro band featuring high performance porcelain, antimicrobial floor tile, wall tile and mosaics.
00:00:45:21 - 00:01:07:12
Mike Profilio: And they continuously fight growth for up to 99% of any bacteria that's going to be on a surface. So it's built in product protection that last a lifetime and a lifetime of cleanliness that really doesn't wash off, it doesn't wear away. And the end result is really a surface which is consistently protected 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
00:01:07:12 - 00:01:25:02
Mike Profilio: So we are continuing to launch more series that feature the Defend by Micro band. The the market has really been embracing those technologies. So that's something that we're really excited about, and it's got a lot of great traction for us. The other one that we could speak to really is Del Tile introduced Revo tile, which is one of a kind.
00:01:25:03 - 00:01:49:29
Mike Profilio: It's a porcelain tile on a rigid core back. It features our patented clicking system. And so there's just a lot of benefits to utilizing Rivertown with regards to time and the installation, broadening the band of who can bring talent. And, you know, we're really just trying to in a market where skilled labor and the availability of skilled labor fluctuates and or becomes a little bit more premium.
00:01:50:01 - 00:01:56:15
Mike Profilio: You know, just really provide innovative solutions to keep tile as relevant as possible within the market space.
00:01:56:15 - 00:02:31:17
Sara Gutterman: So we are working on a demonstration project with Del Tile. It's a prefab home, a series of of line of homes called transcend will bring our first demonstration home here to where our corporate campus is in Colorado, and we will be featuring the Defend by Micro band, and I believe the tile as well. Can you talk a little bit about your interest in transcend and this project in prefab, and then the particular other products that we're going to be using in that home as well?
00:02:31:20 - 00:02:57:19
Mike Profilio: Del is very excited about our opportunity with the Transcend Demo Home, and there's no doubt of focus for Del Towel around sustainability and in the emerging market of, you know, modular type construction. With regards to the Transcend Demo home, you know, we're providing some wonderful, timeless styled products for the project. And, you know, ranging from, you know, very simple, elongated subway and some marble picket mosaics.
00:02:57:19 - 00:03:22:05
Mike Profilio: But as you mentioned, one brand new launch that we're offering that we're providing for the Transcend Home is our rekindle series. And so, you know, rekindle, it's really a wonderful warm, white toned concrete visual. It comes in large formats, but it not only features the defender that I spoke to, it also features another new downtown innovation. We're calling it stepwise.
00:03:22:05 - 00:03:54:14
Mike Profilio: And stepwise is a process that we feature within the glaze. It increases the slippery distance of the surface by more than 50% of a traditional tile surface. This is a great attribute, and it's perfect for the Transcend demo home, because this is going to allow the product to be carried throughout both the interior and exterior spaces of the home, really providing an excellent surface, you know, allowing for livable space in such a wonderful environment in the Colorado mountains.
00:03:54:14 - 00:04:14:11
Mike Profilio: Right. And in really an environment that has seasons to like wet weather. And so, again, to be able to come off of, you know, your living area, come into whether it's exterior, interior and know that you have a little bit extra defense against, you know, slip resistance really creates a great attribute for the product.
00:04:14:13 - 00:04:33:26
Sara Gutterman: Let's turn to sustainability. You mentioned that sustainability is of Paramount del Toro, and certainly Mohawk and Del Tile have been leaders and sustainability for many, many years. Can you talk about the evolution of Dell Tile sustainability strategy and some of your ESG related goals and milestones?
00:04:33:27 - 00:04:58:24
Mike Profilio: You know, we're global manufacturing over 27 countries. So a very large global footprint. And so, you know, ESG and strategies have always been part of our corporate mission. But you know, I think I can provide two examples that are very relatable to folks. You know, one of them is, you know, at our newest floor tile manufacturing plant in Dixon, Tennessee, we've built and utilized what's called a kind of a combined heat and power unit.
00:04:58:27 - 00:05:25:21
Mike Profilio: It kind of thermal efficiencies that are well over 90%. And it's been so successful that we've since built and added those same unit types to three of our other plants combined. You know, these units generate enough carbon free neutral heat to eliminate the equivalent of more than 40,000 metric tons of emissions. Our courts manufacturing plant is a brand new quartz manufacturing plants about four years old.
00:05:25:25 - 00:05:49:26
Mike Profilio: And when we first opened there, we were producing our quartz counters with more than 60% of the raw materials were being imported. You know, that's not a very sustainable model. It does contribute to a large carbon footprint. And we've now got that ratio to be more than 90%. So more than 90% of what we're producing here in the US is with domestic raw materials.
00:05:49:26 - 00:06:08:29
Mike Profilio: It's really a testament to the team's efforts to work through, you know, the formulations and the process of manufacturing and, you know, make sure we're delivering the quality product that the color expectations and pattern expectations that our customers have known while converting to a much broader ratio of domestic quartz.
00:06:09:00 - 00:06:28:21
Sara Gutterman: Are you finding building professionals and consumers are asking more about the sustainable attributes of your products and the ESG strategies of your companies? At the point of sale? Is this has sustainability become a greater decision making factor?
00:06:28:24 - 00:06:55:27
Mike Profilio: 100%. You know, in Mohawk Dalzell, it's on our web page. We just launched or released our newest ESG report. But I can tell you just in its product nature, you know, ceramic and porcelain tile has already has an excellent story, you know, for consumers around maintenance and allergen free and VOCs and PVCs and even the environmental impacts with regards to what you do with the product after it's done.
00:06:55:29 - 00:07:05:04
Mike Profilio: But no doubt tile is going to continue to stay focused, and we want to continue to be a leader kind of in the manufacturing space with our ESG goals.