Mannington Mills, Inc. and Tarkett Commercial said they have entered into a new joint venture to manufacture resilient tile at an existing Tarkett Commercial manufacturing facility in Houston. The two floor covering companies said the new venture, Texas Tile Manufacturing LLC, will replace a current joint venture between the two companies, making the Houston facility one of the largest VCT plants in North America.

According to Tarkett, the relationship is "purely a manufacturing joint venture that is run by its own board of directors." As such, both companies will maintain separate product lines, sales and marketing organizations, and will continue to compete in the marketplace. Proprietary information, such as pricing, technology and product development will remain distinct, segregated and protected, Tarkett said.

"Over the last few years, investments made in the Houston manufacturing facility have improved manufacturing efficiencies and increased capacity by utilizing the latest technology in the industry," said Gilles de Beaumont, president of Tarkett Commercial North America. "Now that our Houston facility has the largest production of VCT in North America, we feel confident the joint venture will further strengthen the two industry leaders, and help solidify Tarkett's influence in the market today, and in the future."

Tom Davis, president and CEO of Mannington Mills added, "The VCT business remains a very important part of our long term Commercial strategy. While we have experienced good growth, the profitability of this business has been challenging due to soaring raw materials and freight costs, and this initiative makes us more competitive by reducing those freight costs to many of our customers."

Mannington noted that it will also continue to manufacture VCT at its Salem, N.J. facility.