Beaulieu Flooring Solutions’ Vice President James Neuling (47) is building on expertise and organic growth with more investments and acquisitions to support the global flooring industry.
Beaulieu Flooring Solutions, a division of the Beaulieu International Group (B.I.G.), is a global operation of 3,300 employees that develops and manufactures an extensive range of flooring solutions from its 17 factory locations. With the June 2018 acquisitions of Beaulieu Australia and Beaulieu Canada, the division achieved a combined turnover of €1 billion in 2017. Products include cushion vinyl, vinyl planks and tiles, parquet, laminate, carpet, needle felt, artificial grass, wall panels and mats. Leading brands include the BerryAlloc laminate, parquet, vinyl tiles and planks ranges, Beauflor and Juteks cushion vinyl and Ideal residential carpets. The Peerless and Peerless Contract Brand have been added to the brand portfolio with the recent acquisition.
After ten months at the helm, James Neuling is introducing a more performance-driven approach to transform the division in the next few years. To achieve this, the senior executive will draw on his commercial experience in upgrading the performance of major companies. Previous sectors include plastics, aerospace and specialty chemicals, as well as the similar architectural finished product arena of lighting.
“Beaulieu Flooring Solutions is a fantastic design and development company with an amazing, broad range of products,” comments James Neuling, Vice President Beaulieu Flooring Solutions. “I see a highly-dedicated, focused team of employees that’s open and ready to taking this business to the next level, and I’m eager to do this with them. We grew organically by an impressive 5% in 2017. We’ve already extended our capabilities in 2018 with two new companies. And we are planning to bolster this with more acquisitions and investments in production facilities and partnerships to enhance support both for our direct customer base through our own brands, and the private label customers we serve.”
“Approximately €300 million of the €500 million invested in the Beaulieu International Group during the last 5 years was in flooring,” comments James. “That gives an indication of our commitment to growing with this industry, staying on top of global trends, and embracing the new technologies required for innovative finishes such as the emerging concrete look.”
To support the worldwide trend towards more and more solid flooring, it recently revamped its direct pressure laminate (DPL) BerryAlloc range to bring realistic and exclusive new styles to the market. There has been a positive reception from customers following the initial launch at Domotex 2018, and more of the products will be phased in over the course of this year.
Beaulieu Flooring Solutions is also committed to supporting the trend towards greater sustainability across the industry. It is already acting upon opportunities to increase recyclability of flooring, focusing for example on single material products and helping customers to recycle their products.
James concludes: “This is an inspiring time for Beaulieu Flooring Solutions and our customers. People buy flooring for a room, not a house. And we see it as our goal to refresh product trends and styles to help consumers pursue their individual tastes. Our customers rely on us to have the right products that are focused on trends. I look forward to sharing news of future investments and acquisitions to enhance what we are already achieving.”