Carpet Manufacturer J&J Partners With Dalton Students

Carpet Surrounds Us All by Werner Braun. Article Highlights untapped partnership between CRI member manufacturer J&J and Dalton High School Students

A project that connected area students with the process of designing and marketing new carpet styles was the topic of Carpet and Rug Institute President Werner Braun’s April 15, 2011 column for Dalton’s Daily-Citizen, titled "Carpet surrounds all of us". 

In the article, Mr. Braun describes how CRI-member manufacturer J&J Industries worked with two marketing classes from Northwest Whitfield High School.

Students were asked to name a new carpet style and develop a marketing plan based on their idea. They toured a J&J manufacturing facility and had the opportunity to ask questions of J&J executives, including company President David Jolly.

The students saw from beginning to end how carpet is made, and met with the J&J product design team who taught them about the many phases of product design. The article continues:

“When I heard about this story, I got excited because I realized that an untapped partnership between schools and the carpet industry had been born. When I think about it, how many Dalton kids have actually seen carpet being made from start to finish? And if they did, would that impact their thinking about the carpet industry?

If we, as an industry, invest in the future of our young adults through these kinds of activities then they may one day decide to invest in us. Sometimes we forget that our kids may not want to stay in Dalton because ‘it’s just carpet,’ but by showing them the job variety that Dalton can offer within the carpet industry we can provide them with possibilities they may not even have known existed.”

Thank you, Werner!

What examples have you come across of untapped partnerships between schools and the carpet industry? Let me know in the comments.

~Bethany