Sponsored
By Dianne M. Pogoda
Daltile, the nation’s largest manufacturer of ceramic, porcelain, natural stone surfaces, has built its 75+ year reputation on superior customer service and a vast array of tile, countertops and slabs at all price points.
“We consider one of our greatest strengths to be helping the consumer throughout the entire shopping journey,” said Patrick Warren, vice president of residential sales, dealer and showrooms. “So, we have put a tremendous amount of effort and expertise into providing online, in-store, and sampling tools that help our customers pick exactly the right product for their needs and personal taste. From the first online touchpoint all the way to the in-store experience, the Daltile shopping journey is filled with easy-to-use tools that provide inspiration, exploration, information, and design guidance.”
Daltile offers an expansive tile and countertop offering and tailors distribution to meet the design needs of each region of the country. Its designers ensure that their products are trend-right, incorporating the latest directions from the worlds of interior design and fashion, and that it’s available in a broad array of colors, sizes, shapes, patterns and textures to meet any design scheme.
“Tile has been, is, and always will be the preeminent waterproof product for wet areas,” Warren said. “Because of our tiles’ waterproof performance, bacteria resistance, low maintenance, versatile design options, and cost effectiveness, Daltile products are ideally suited for wet areas such as bathrooms and kitchens. The surface of our tile is unchanged by liquids, water, or moisture.”
To help create a more climate-positive — and people-positive — future, the Dallas-based company recently began its “Our Promise” initiative highlighting its sustainable manufacturing practices. Daltile made a significant commitment to manufacturing these tiles and surfaces responsibly and with minimal environmental impact. Warren said 79 percent of its production is in the U.S., with the remainder manufactured at company-owned facilities in Italy, Mexico and Brazil, which helps ensure that the level of quality and design is consistent across all product offerings.
Daltile’s “Our Promise” initiative includes responsible sourcing, ensuring a climate-positive future by implementing an aggressive decarbonization strategy, and product circularity by reducing and recycling materials required in manufacturing. Its three-pillar approach focuses on the planet, people and governance.
Among its healthy-planet solutions, it has invested in renewable energy for greater efficiency and has reduced its energy consumption by 11 percent at all sales and distribution centers, and the associated carbon footprint company-wide by 17 percent since 2018. It reclaims materials and repurposes for future use in the manufacturing process, and by developing durable, high-performance products with longevity, they require less-frequent replacement. In 2021, the company saved nearly 24,000 tons of raw material by reducing ceramic tile thickness without compromising durability. More than 99 percent of its manufactured tile collections contain recycled or reclaimed materials, and its North American facilities recover and reuse more than 300 million pounds of recycled and/or reclaimed material each year.
To help keep homes healthier, tiles are made from only natural materials — water, clay, sand, feldspar and other minerals — with no VOCs, plastics, PVCs, allergens or formaldehyde, and tiles contain antimicrobial technology to fight growth of surface bacteria.
Overall, the company recovers and reuses 84 percent of all process wastewater generated to make tile products in its manufacturing plants. They have prevented over 125 million gallons of wastewater from entering local municipal water treatment facilities.
Its focus on people and governance involves a significant investment in training; maintaining a safe, healthy and high-performance workplace with high standards of conduct, inclusive of diverse learning styles, experiences and ideas; opportunities for women; a solid hiring rate (54 percent) for interns, corporate mentorship and other development programs, and community involvement.
Additionally, the company has developed and continues to maintain product-specific Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs), and has produced product-specific Health Product Declarations (HPDs), providing full disclosure of potential chemicals of concern, for each of its core companies.
“Our commitment to having a positive impact on the world around us is one of the core pillars of our business,” Warren concluded. “Ultimately, everything we do — from planet to people — is focused on helping the end customer select a product they will be happy with for years to come.”
