With outside insight, touchpoints across all Mannington disciplines and the right people in place, Zehner assumes Chairman role
[Salem, N.J.] Late last year, Mannington announced the retirement of Chairman of the Board Keith Campbell and that the family’s fifth generation of leadership, Zack Zehner, would succeed him. It’s a role that Zehner has prepared for most of his life.
Zehner started his career at Mannington while in college working summers in the company’s VCT plant here in Salem. Family members are required to have an advanced degree in a field that is needed by the company and then spend 10 years outside of the industry. “I joined full time in 2003 and since then I’ve worked, managed or directly touched almost every function in the company,” shared Zehner.
Zack Zehner addresses attendees at Mannington’s national sales meeting.
And that, he said, included departments from sales and operations to product and customer service as well as sourcing. “It was a great experience getting under the hood and learning how the business truly works, also how the organization works together as a team to succeed.”
He added that the journey also prepared him for a larger understanding of running the business. “You also see the challenges these different functions face in executing goals and business plans and what it takes to adapt and change.”
PEOPLE AT ITS CORE
Mannington is known for its tenured associates that positively impact each area of its business both internally and customer facing.
“People are the key to success,” Zehner said. “It comes down to people — getting the right people in the right spot in an organization is essential. It’s critical to how you execute a plan and to have people happy, productive and functioning as a team. It’s essential to being successful, and driving that culture is so important at Mannington.”
During his time practicing law, Zehner reflected, he learned how important culture is to a business. “It’s been really valuable getting perspective and experience out of industry. I received legal training and the skills have been helpful — learning how to strategically negotiate work with supply agreements; also being very process oriented for continued improvement in running the business.”
But, asserted Zehner, “The most valuable goes back to culture. We have a lot of pride in our culture and by working outside and seeing and living in other organizations that had a different approach to culture allowed me to see ours is truly unique,” he said. “It’s something you cannot not take for granted and something to be invested in and valued.”
Mannington also has a retirement policy — retirement at the age of 65 — for its executives. This, Zehner said, allows the company to successfully succession plan for the future seamlessly.
Work hard, play hard is one of Mannington’s core values. Here, outgoing Chairman Keith Campbell hands Zack Zehner the “Chairman’s gavel” joking it was something he received when he was named Chairman and that it made sense to carry on the tradition.
“Succession planning is really important for all companies and something we take seriously at Mannington and have set a plan for,” he emphasized. “We have retirement ages that allow us to plan ahead for senior management changes,” he said, pointing to the retirement of Russell Grizzle two years ago and Tom Pendley’s promotion to CEO.
Zehner noted other significant leadership changes with Jimmy Tuley as president of residential, Dave Sheehan as senior vice president, residential product and marketing, Al Boulogne as senior vice president of residential sales and Whitney LeGate as senior vice president of commercial product.
“It’s extremely exciting to be able to promote from within,” he said. “By planning ahead, when it gets close to the date of handoff, you can make those transitions really seamless and keep the organization humming. This new leadership has been long-term leaders and officers — we know they get the culture, will drive the team and are longstanding members of the industry and very knowledgeable.”
CHANGE AGENT
Mannington has also been tactical in growing its business organically and through acquisition. That will continue, Zehner said.
“You really cannot grow complacent in any aspect of the business and stay engaged — whether logistics, operations of plants, marketing teams, supply chain management. You have to continue to invest. I’ve seen that,” explained Zehner. “You have to look at ways to change and adapt and challenge yourself and the organization to drive value to the customer.”
Adura, Mannington’s flagship product line, will present opportunities to gain market share in 2024.
Another of Mannington’s core values is controlling its own destiny and Zehner said this helped the company navigate the crazy dynamics of the industry. “Controlling our own destiny has proven extremely important over the last couple of years,” he said. “One element beyond being a private company is you can take a patient view — whether acquisition or strategic investment. We are driving for the next generation not the next quarter.”
Controlling its destiny is also a commitment to domestic manufacturing. “We have been committed to doing that throughout our history. Frankly, we are patriots and it’s important to drive manufacturing in the communities where we are located,” he said, noting, “You can’t only do it for that, it has to have value for customer. And that ability to quickly respond to trends in the marketplace and get out quickly is critical to flat out service the business.”
Of course, the supply chain issues of the pandemic followed by UFLPA made clear the benefits of domestic manufacturing, he said. “We saw firsthand in 2023 the benefit of having WPC domestic manufacturing. We were the only WPC made in the U.S. at the time. The Adura Max product is such an important part of our portfolio and when the international supply chain was challenged, we were able to flex up capability, triple output and service customers and service orders. That’s going to continue to be relevant. The need for diversity of supply chain is not going to go away and we are committed to making product here.”
TAKING ON 2024
“I expect the market to remain tough certainly for the first half of year,” reported Zehner. But, he said, the residential housing market will slowly recover as the Federal Reserve changes interest rates. “The long-term prospects of the residential housing market in the U.S. remain strong,” he said. “The numbers show that. It will be a tough market for the first couple of quarters here but we are confident and plan to grow in both residential and commercial.”
A peek inside the Calhoun, Ga. facility where Mannington makes its U.S.-made Adura Max.
Future focus for Mannington, shared Zehner, is “to continue to drive improvement and leadership in all aspects of customer experience. All those touchpoints in 2023 will continue. You have to drive differentiated product to market and challenge ourselves to be easier to do business with — how we remove friction and allow us to service the customer and be more valuable to them.”
Zehner also identified areas of opportunity. “A specific opportunity is residential LVT with Adura, our flagship product line,” he said. “And while we were able to pivot and adjust and service that product, we were challenged. We have a unique approach to LVT in this selling solution and by being able to service that line with manufacturing innovation that the consumer can touch, see and feel drives growth even in a tough market,” he said, adding that on the commercial side, there is opportunity in the healthcare and education segments. “We are driving the residential product line back and have a laser focus on healthcare and education.”