It took an act as drastic as the Great Recession to happen for many Americans to realize one of the country’s greatest strengths—manufacturing, which leads to innovation and progress—had eroded away over the previous 30 or so years as companies went to far off places to produce their goods for lower costs and, in many cases, lower quality.
While flooring manufacturers, in some ways, were just as guilty a perpetrator in moving production overseas, by and large the industry has remained a solid—and viable—U.S. entity. And, in recent years even more so as many of the operations are being brought back thanks to higher energy/transportation and foreign labor costs nullifying the original cost advantages. Plus, numerous manufacturers are building facilities here instead of relying on their foreign-run plants or trying to source product from different companies in other parts of the world.