Page 1 - March 2024 SRG Flipbook

The Beacon of the Stone Industry www.slipperyrockgazette.net
FloForm: Industry Leader with Fourteen North America Locations
April 2024 Vol. 30-04
was to the same residence to glue a differ- ent section that didn’t fail as quickly as the others in the house.”
During this time, Sherritt, a Certified CPA and Chartered Business Valuator, worked for KPMG, and was hired by FloForm to provide financial projec- tions that were used to keep the company from going bankrupt. This huge liability knocked off a significant amount of value from the company’s net worth due to sig- nificant warranty costs and growing debt.
Now in a downward spiral facing cer- tain crash and burn, Sherritt took a chance, he explained. “They were told to go bank- rupt many times, but they weren’t going to do that. They were honest business- men who sold the product, and would keep working until the customer was happy. The reputation and longevity of this com- pany is because of their commitment to the customer, and to this day is our guid- ing principal. I then said, ‘If you guys need money and a CFO, I should buy a part of your business and come work for you.’ So, my wife, Marnie, and I invested money in 1995. As for the two brothers who were still there, one retired in 1997, the other in 2000, when I then became the President and CEO.”
Mergers and Acquisitions
Sherritt, now having skin in the game, had a lot to lose, and continued to work to get the company profitable again, creat- ing a strong foundation to build on. It was now time to grow, he realized. “In 2003, we started selling natural and engineered stone, and put a factory in Saskatoon, which was in the center of our mar- ket. Then, in spring of 2008, we bought Fine Line Pacific, which had locations in Spokane and Seattle, Washington and Portland, Oregon. We used this high-ca- pacity manufacturing center in Kent (Seattle) to feed the Vancouver and British Columbia markets.”
According to Sherritt, of all the compa- ny’s 14 current locations, the original loca- tion in Winnipeg continues to be the most successful due to its history of service.
Our featured stone shop this month is a once in a blue moon opportu- nity to feature a company that’s
built to huge proportions through vision, ambition and motivation. FloForm is one of those companies, and as you’ll see, it is dynamism at its best, but not without a mixture of fortitude and ethics.
The original FloForm, located in Winnipeg, Manitoba Canada, was founded in 1961 by three brothers. The company manufactured post-formed laminate coun- tertops (Plastic laminate sheets are bound to a particle board substrate using heat and
by Peter J. Marcucci
Photos Courtesy FloForm and Lauren Butler
pressure). Supplying this style of coun- tertops, to a sparsely populated market throughout the Canadian prairie within the Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba prov- inces, the company flourished for decades. That is, until the late 1980s, when unan- nounced to the brothers the glue manu- facturer switched the components used in the glue from natural rubber to more environmentally friendly synthetic rub- ber. However, over time, this glue would
prematurely break down and release curved areas of laminate that retained tension, such as rolled edges and backsplashes, basically de-laminating the countertop.
One Man’s Problem = Another Man’s Opportunity
The brothers, now overwhelmed with warranty issues, did make a valiant effort to correct the situation, but were now tee- tering on bankruptcy, recalled Ted Sherritt. “The company’s service techs, between the late ‘80s and early ‘90s, knocked on 30,000 doors to repair or replace these countertops. That’s a large number, and quite often it
FloForm classic white residential kitchen designed with Hanstone Strato.
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