Mohawk announced that it plans to expand its regional product introduction meetings for the end of 2003 and beginning of 2004, and has elected not to attend Surfaces in 2004.

Ed Williams, senior vice president of marketing, said that because of the concentration on regional events, Mohawk has elected to not attend the yearly show in Las Vegas.

"Hanley-Wood is an excellent organization, and Surfaces is a great show, but we feel in order to provide our dealers with the exceptional quality regional events they've asked for, Mohawk will direct its resources to (the regional meetings)," he said.

The total number of regional meetings will exceed two dozen, Williams said.

"We think this is going to allow us to show more new products and more new ideas to dealers, and work with them more closely to make better things happen at retail," Williams said of the increased number of meetings.

Williams noted that many products, such as hardwood and ceramic, have distinctive regional preferences, and the meetings will let Mohawk address some of these issues.