Shaw History
Building a foundation...
Shaw got its start in 1946 as Star Dye Company, a small business that dyed tufted scatter rugs. The events that transformed the company into the world's largest carpet manufacturer are too numerous to write...or even fully know. But the philosophy guiding those events hasn't changed much through the years.
"Our business is about meeting customers, figuring out what they need, and supplying that need," says Robert E. (Bob) Shaw, the only CEO Shaw has ever known. "That's been our commitment from the beginning."
Clarence Shaw, father of Chairman & CEO Robert E. (Bob) Shaw and former Chairman J.C. (Bud) Shaw, bought Star Dye Company in 1946. In 1958, Bob Shaw became CEO of the company, which was now jointly owned by the two brothers. With $300,000 in sales, the company expanded dramatically and soon started finishing carpet as Star Finishing Company.
In 1967, J.C. Shaw organized a holding company to acquire Philadelphia Carpet Company, which originated in 1846. The holding company added Star Finishing to the fold one year later, marking the company's first move into carpet manufacturing.
The holding company went public as Shaw Industries, Inc. in 1971 with approximately $43 million in sales and 900 employees. In 1985, Shaw made its first appearance on the list of America's largest corporations--the Fortune 500--with more than $500 million in sales and close to 5,000 employees.
Continually differentiating its service and adding value for customers motivated every major move in the company's development, among them:
- generating its
own yarn supply with the 1972 purchase of its first yarn plant.
- seeing the potential
of newly developed continuous dyeing processes and acquiring its first
continous dye plant in 1973.
- creating its own
trucking subsidiary, dramatically improving shipments nationwide.
- significantly expanding
direct sales to retailers beginning in 1982.
- establishing regional
distribution centers across the United States.
- modernizing plants
and equipment in the early 1980s, allowing it to respond quickly to
such breakthroughs as stain resistant carpet.
- decreasing the
consumption of fuel, water, and electricity in the manufacturing process
and finding innovative recycling solutions for manufacturing waste.
- acquiring Amoco's
polypropylene fiber production facilities in 1992 and providing consumers
popular Berber styles.
- starting the rug division in 1993 and the hard surfaces division in 1998 with the launch of Shaw Ceramics.
The desire to be the industry's low-cost provider was also a determining factor in Shaw's decisions, namely the acquisitions that brought such respected names as Cabin Crafts and Sutton under the Shaw umbrella. It also played a role in one of the largest and most significant moves in the company's history: the merger of Shaw and Queen Carpets.
Queen's own legacy started when Harry and Helen Saul, parents of Shaw President Julian Saul, expanded their part time business into the full-time venture, Queen Chenilles. The year was 1946, the same year Clarence Shaw started Star Dye.
On January 4, 2001, Shaw began a new chapter in its long and varied history with the completion of its sale to Berkshire Hathaway Inc., the holding company of renowned investor Warren E. Buffett. Berkshire Hathaway is known for buying and holding businesses that have a dominant market share, have strong management teams, and are considered undervalued in the stock market. With the move, Shaw ended its tenure as a public company.
Today, Shaw is a full-service flooring company with $4 billion in annual sales and approximately 30,000 employees. The employees' daily efforts illustrate their commitment and their determination to stay on top in an ever-changing and highly competitive marketplace.
For a complete picture of Shaw's history, Shaw is pleased to announce the publication by The University of Georgia Press of:
Shaw Industries: A
History
by Randall L. Patton
To read the description from the book's jacket, click here.
