Swanstone Targets Commercial Sales
Although
Swanstone won’t abandon the residential market, 2008 marks a new era in which
the company will more actively pursue commercial markets and provide expanded
services to its customers.
Stephen P. Anderson, president/CEO, and Jonathan Fore, director of marketing, shared the company’s new vision in an interview with Supply House Times.
When the Swan Corp. was founded in 1963, it focused primarily on the residential market with its “Shell shower.” In 2002 the Swan Corp. announced its intention to market the company and all of its products under the name, Swanstone.
The commercial market has been a steadily growing portion of its business in recent years, with increased sales to colleges and universities, military bases, healthcare facilities and public housing.
Anderson joined the company as its new president last September and has studied the market, Swanstone’s products and its strengths, which historically resided in baths and remodels. The commercial arena offers resilient markets, he noted.
“Hospitals are still being built and dorms continue to undergo remodeling,” he said.
Now the company is developing an end-to-end solution that encompasses everything the customer needs to complete a project.
“Most people are pretty time-starved,” Anderson said. “They don’t want to have to find an installer. So how do we stitch everything together for them, from envisioning the initial project design to completing the finished installation?”
In an effort to create tighter links with wholesaler distributors, the company is creating a suite of Swanstone bath products designed to be ordered, packaged and shipped more easily.
“We want to continue to build a portfolio of products around high performance solid surface,” Anderson said.
Compression molded in massive heated presses, Swanstone has glass strand fiber inside for tensile strength. Different shapes of tooling dies are used for specific products.
“This type of solid surface product can be trusted in high traffic areas in commercial housing ranging from university to military to healthcare,” Fore noted.
Meanwhile, Swanstone’s Focus 20/10 plan is “transforming” the company into a new kind of manufacturer that offers total solutions, he said.
“With Focus 20/10, we can add value to the supply house by offering them solutions for customization and installation,” Fore said. “Rather than being pretty good at all things, we want to be best at a couple of things.”
Stephen P. Anderson, president/CEO, and Jonathan Fore, director of marketing, shared the company’s new vision in an interview with Supply House Times.
When the Swan Corp. was founded in 1963, it focused primarily on the residential market with its “Shell shower.” In 2002 the Swan Corp. announced its intention to market the company and all of its products under the name, Swanstone.
The commercial market has been a steadily growing portion of its business in recent years, with increased sales to colleges and universities, military bases, healthcare facilities and public housing.
Anderson joined the company as its new president last September and has studied the market, Swanstone’s products and its strengths, which historically resided in baths and remodels. The commercial arena offers resilient markets, he noted.
“Hospitals are still being built and dorms continue to undergo remodeling,” he said.
Now the company is developing an end-to-end solution that encompasses everything the customer needs to complete a project.
“Most people are pretty time-starved,” Anderson said. “They don’t want to have to find an installer. So how do we stitch everything together for them, from envisioning the initial project design to completing the finished installation?”
In an effort to create tighter links with wholesaler distributors, the company is creating a suite of Swanstone bath products designed to be ordered, packaged and shipped more easily.
“We want to continue to build a portfolio of products around high performance solid surface,” Anderson said.
Compression molded in massive heated presses, Swanstone has glass strand fiber inside for tensile strength. Different shapes of tooling dies are used for specific products.
“This type of solid surface product can be trusted in high traffic areas in commercial housing ranging from university to military to healthcare,” Fore noted.
Meanwhile, Swanstone’s Focus 20/10 plan is “transforming” the company into a new kind of manufacturer that offers total solutions, he said.
“With Focus 20/10, we can add value to the supply house by offering them solutions for customization and installation,” Fore said. “Rather than being pretty good at all things, we want to be best at a couple of things.”
Looking for a reprint of this article?
From high-res PDFs to custom plaques, order your copy today!
