SEC basketball teams, like University of Kentucky, count on the durability of a Robbins Inc. sports floor.
Robbins Inc. Creates Spaces Where Champions Come To Play
By Bridget McCrea
Cincinnati, OH–In basketball, every move counts as players like LeBron James, Kobe Bryant and Kevin Durant dribble the ball up and down the court and shoot in hopes that their teams come out on top when those final seconds count down to zero. What many of those players – and the fans that watch them – don’t realize is that 120-year-old, family-run Robbins Inc., which has made a name for itself in the high-performance Maple and synthetic sports flooring system market, constructed the surface under their feet.
According to Ken Thomas, vice president of marketing at Robbins, 80 percent of the NBA teams currently compete and/or train on the company’s courts, more than all other competitors combined. In fact, 21 of the past 25 NBA champions played their home games on a Robbins’ court; 13 of the 16 NBA playoff teams competed and/or trained on a Robbins’ court in 2012. And it doesn’t stop there – in the past three years almost half of the teams in the men’s NCAA tournament played their home games on the company’s courts, including the past five tournament champions (Louisville, Kentucky, Connecticut, Duke, and North Carolina).
“Our motto is, ‘Where champions are made,’” said Thomas, who is part of president & CEO James H. (Jay) Stoehr’s management lead team, along with Beth Smith, vice president of sales administration; John Williams, vice president of operations; Mike Niese, vice president of sales and R&D; Jonathan Turner, vice president of procurement; and CFO Pat Folz. A fourth-generation family-owned business, Robbins makes courts that are used in more than 65 nations and on six continents.
The Orlando Magic practice court, installed by Robbins Inc.
“Athletes compete and practice on millions of square meters of our sports surfaces,” said Thomas. “Professionals and amateurs alike know that when they play on our high-performance systems, they’ll be able to play at peak levels, safely and comfortably.”
Founded in 1894, Robbins Inc. encompasses both Robbins Sports Surfaces and Stoehr Flooring, the latter of which serves the residential market. The two entities purchase millions of board feet of Northern Hardwoods annually – primarily Maple, Red Oak, Walnut, and Hickory. The lumber hails mainly from sawmills, concentration yards, and lumber distributors in Michigan, Wisconsin and Indiana. Most of the procured lumber is kiln-dried in-house, but Robbins also purchases kiln-dried lumber from a number of sources.
“Jonathan and his team are on the road sourcing materials and making sure we have everything we need to make and ship product around the world,” said Thomas. The firm has two manufacturing facilities in White Lake, WI, and Ishpeming, MI, and 200 full-time employees – a number that swells and shrinks with seasonal demand. “We’re in a business that has a high degree of seasonality, especially for sports flooring,” Thomas said. “On the education side, for example, sports flooring goes in while school is out for the summer.”
Four-inch Maple provides rich color to this home’s floor, installed by Robbins.
One of Robbins’ biggest competitive advantages are the more than 25 patents issued for its unique processes and products. Robbins’ most recently patented sports flooring system, The MVP™, is a top choice for professional and elite collegiate and high school programs due to its game play uniformity and response. “Our full-time R&D staff and subsequent product innovations really distinguish us in our competitive marketplace,” said Thomas. “Innovation is in our DNA and we strive to improve the quality, performance, and aesthetics of our products every day.”
Robbins’ ability to carve out a niche for itself in a highly competitive marketplace can be traced back 120 years to the firm’s original founders. Over time, Thomas said the Stoehr family has been involved with virtually every aspect of the Hardwood flooring business, beginning with parquet designs and authentic reproductions of English royalty and French chalet creations. In the 1930s, for example, the family-run business installed 8.5 acres of Herringbone Teak flooring at the Henry Ford Museum in Edison, MI. “That floor is still in place today,” Thomas said.
A charter member of the Maple Flooring Manufacturers Association (MFMA) and a member of the National Wood Flooring Association, U.S. Green Building Council, North American Association of Floor Covering Distributors, International Basketball Federation, and the National Intramural-Recreational Sports Association, Robbins is perhaps best known for its registered trademarks and patented invention, Continuous Strip® XL. The original finger-jointed MFMA Maple is a solid Hardwood flooring product that provides enhanced strength and timeless beauty.
Robbins Inc. President and CEO James H. (Jay) Stoehr
“Our one-of-a-kind design is manufactured to produce a floor with improved stability and greater structural integrity,” said Thomas. “With these advanced technical features, XL is the premier choice when longevity and quality are among the highest considerations.”
Tightly focused on developing long-term customer relationships that are solidified through its channel partners, Robbins expects to introduce several new products this year and add even more innovation to its lineup. “We believe in providing a full-line portfolio on the sports side so that our customers can buy at any price point,” said Thomas. “To continue to meet those needs, we know that we have to be good at both high-performance and entry level systems. That’s the niche we’ll continue to explore and expand on going forward.”
