When Mannington Resilient Floors introduced its Mannington Gold line of vinyl flooring last fall, the timing, it appeared, couldn't have been worse. The Salem, New Jersey based unit of Mannington Mills pumped an unprecedented $50 million into rolling out a new product in an industry feeling the full effect of a national recession. But with competitors Armstrong and Congoleum facing financial troubles, Mannington knew that the time was right, says Santo Torcivia, vice president for business analysis and planning, Mannington Resilient Floors.

"The timing of the introduction in terms of the economic environment was purposeful. We knew what we were doing. We picked the exact time of the year we wanted to do it. Everything was designed to be most fortuitous for Mannington."

And fortuitous it was. The stylish and durable Mannington Gold flooring has been a smash hit with consumers and improved Mannington's reputation with the trade. "Our research and development staff did a tremendous job in translating the research into a product within the time frame that they were given to do it. The product has been a success beyond all expectations and it's done tremendous things not only for Mannington with the trade but with its market share as well. It has driven a whole revitalization of the Mannington line," Torcivia says.

The introduction of Mannington Gold was the culmination of years of consumer research and the product of Mannington's decision to shift from being a manufacturing driven firm to a more market driven one. That process began with the hiring of Tom McAndrews as president of Mannington Resilient Floors in 1989. McAndrews had been with Dupont, where he orchestrated the introduction of the highly successful Stainmaster carpet line, which gave a much needed boost to a slumping industry. Mannington hoped to score the same kind of hit by creating a new flooring product that offered consumers featu...