PRESIDENT’S LETTER Martin Howard I hope many of you were able to attend Total Solutions Plus the last week of October in Dallas, Texas. It is always very rewarding to gather with industry profes- sionals and learn from them how they are overcoming the chal- lenges and changes we are all experiencing. Are you wondering what’s com- ing to a tile distributor near you? The answer is probably not surprising to many of you. I’ve just returned from attending the Cersaie Tile Fair in Bologna, Italy, for the second consecutive year. What I learned is that tile manu- facturers are heavily investing in the technology to produce pan- els/slabs of porcelain tile larger than 1.5m x 3m and in thickness- es ranging from 3.5mm to 30mm. The push to sell much larger pan- els/slabs is just around the corner for the U.S. market. This is positive news for those of us who take the professional installation of our products seri- ously. The training, education, tools, equipment, warehousing and transportation required to properly install these products will separate those who invest in their craft from those who don’t. Once again, the role of profes- sional tile setter will be associ- ated with skill and craftsmanship and the value of all installations will increase. When all tile was installed using mud-bed or wet- set methods, trained and skilled craftspeople were a must. The value they brought was respect- ed, rather than seen as a com- modity that just about anyone could do. Unfortunately, in the last 20 years, that is exactly what tile installation has become: a commodity with declining value and stagnant wages. This change will open the door for tile manufacturers, mortar manufacturers and labor asso- ciations to work together as never before. With many of the properly trained installers beginning to age out of the workforce, we must create a pipeline that recruits, trains and certifies a new genera- tion of professionals. Wages must provide a viable career and keep pace with the skill and train- If big is good, bigger is better, right? 18 TileLetter | November 2018