Laticrete’s West Palm Beach plant was up and running two days after Hurricane Irma hit Florida. Many of its customers, however, were not as fortunate.
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Laticrete's West Palm Beach plant was up and running two days after Hurricane Irma hit Florida. Many of its customers, however, were not as fortunate.
“We told our customers to hold the bills for Laticrete products until they sort things out,” said Chairman and CEO David A. Rothberg. Customers affected by Hurricane Harvey are holding their bills as well.
Laticrete has always had a collaborative relationship with its customers. The Bethany-based company's flooring, facade and waterproofing products are so advanced they allow for the design of architectural features that have never been seen before. Laticrete staff work with construction industry professionals in the planning stages of projects and are consulted for their technical expertise.
Singapore's Marina Bay Sands resort is the world's most expensive standalone casino property with the world's highest and longest infinity pool. It tops three separate 55-story buildings and spanning the gaps between the towers posed unique challenges.
“Skyscrapers move,” Rothberg said. “The pool manufacturer, the architects and engineers all worked with Laticrete. We provided the waterproofing and the tile adhesives.”
On the ground, Laticrete supports the people under pressure on the job site such as contractors and installers. The company launched the industry's first toll-free technical support line in the early 1970s followed by the first electronic billboard and website. This year, the company added a live chat function.
“If there's a crisis where a floor is being redone, the room is cold and they're trying to figure out how to get the product to cure, they can just tap their phone to reach a highly trained technical person,” said Rothberg.
The combination of groundbreaking products and quality customer service has led to rapid growth.
“In the last 10 years, our business has doubled every five years,” said Edward D. Metcalf, Laticrete's North American division president and chief operating officer. In addition to increasing U.S. market share, the company has been acquiring overseas licenses and leveraging its distribution to offer a broader array of products.
“We've become more than just a tile company, we're now a flooring installation company,” Rothberg said.
The company's “supercap ready-mix delivery service” provides concrete capping for installing perfectly flat floors. Mobile pump trucks arrive at the job site with pre-blended supersacks of material that are fed into the truck and pumped as high as 70 floors.
“It pumps 30,000 pounds an hour,” said Metcalf. “It radically transforms the cost and speed of construction.”
The supercap process is much safer than traditional methods where sacks of dry product are transported into the building and mixed.
“You're not using a dusty, cement-based product,” Metcalf said. Curing times are fast. “You can open the floor to construction traffic the next morning and roll a forklift over it.”
Company founder Henry M. Rothberg was supporting his chemical engineering studies by working in his family's floor covering installation business when he came up with the idea of replacing sand and cement mortar.
“He went through several hundred formulas of liquid rubber and cement,” said Rothberg. His thinset mortar changed the way tile was installed and the lighter, more durable formula yielded significant construction cost savings.
“Thinner, faster, greener, easier — that's what drives the evolution of our products,” said Rothberg.
Laticrete was established in 1956 and as it grew, the whole family pitched in. Rothberg's time card from when he was 14 is still in his Connecticut office.
“All the Rothbergs worked, way before we were legal age, either sweeping or packing product or mailing literature,” he said. The company rented space in New Haven before establishing a base in Bethany, which was renovated in 2008 to add close to 100,000 square feet of manufacturing and warehouse space and a company headquarters building.
In addition to eight U.S. plants, the company has facilities in China, India, Singapore, Malaysia, Philippines, Australia, Norway, Italy, United Arab Emirates, Mexico, Costa Rica and Honduras. Over 1,600 team members work in 100 countries on seven continents.
“We've always had a strong international presence,” said Rothberg. “My father went overseas from day one of the company.”
In an increasingly fractious world, Rothberg talks about cohesion and views business exchanges as cultural exchanges.
“Our international customers send their kids to intern here and people from Laticrete send their kids overseas,” he said. “Part of our culture is to make the world a better place.”
