INDUSTRY NEWS better service,” shared Barbara Haaksma, vice president of mar- keting for Emser Tile. “Emser Tile remains dedicated to being the design leader for today’s tile and natural stone, and is committed to efficiently providing these products to customers nationwide.” Emser Tile hosted a ribbon cutting on August 15 with dig- nitaries in attendance. For the full story, visit http://tileletter. com/2017/08/11937/. Laminam by Crossville collections achieve ANSI A137.3 compliance Officials with Crossville, Inc. recently announced that its Laminam by Crossville gauged porcelain tile panels are compliant with ANSI A137.3 standards. All collections in the full Laminam by Crossville catalog exceed the prod- uct performance measures defined in the ANSI standard. According to Noah Chitty, Crossville’s director of technical services, the company sought the compliance not only to bolster the reputation of its own product lines but also support the burgeoning gauged porcelain tile panel cat- egory in the U.S. market. “Crossville pursued the cre- ation of a product standard to help ensure the stability of the gauged porcelain tile panel cat- egory. If lesser-performing products are introduced into the market- place without minimum specifica- tion standards, then there could potentially be failures that dam- age the overall product category,” Chitty states. In addition to its focus on prod- uct standards, Crossville has also joined with other industry lead- ers in the development of the ANSI installation standard (ANSI A108.19) for gauged porcelain tile panels. The installation standard provides consistency in methodol- ogy – essential as more and more installers start training with these large tile panels. The installation standard defines the practices that will produce consistent outcomes when employed correctly, result- ing in applications of the gauged porcelain tile panels that perform to expectation. For more information on Crossville’s leadership in the gauged porcelain tile panel mar- ket, read the full story at http:// tileletter.com/?s=crossville. Dal-Tile renews agreement with D.R. Horton Dal-Tile Corporation was recent- ly renewed as the “Exclusive Tile Provider” for America’s largest Satori, a Laminam by Crossville collection. 100 TileLetter | November 2017