Tuft enough: carpet manufacturer comes back from the brink.

When Anthony Minite became president of Bentley Prince Street three years ago, his mission was straightforward enough: stop the City of Industry-based carpet maker from unraveling.

The commercial carpeting business had been slammed both by the rising popularity of hardwood and tile flooring and fewer corporate customers, who were whacked by the recession. On top of that, Bentley was being managed from the distant Atlanta headquarters of its parent, Interface Inc.

The Bentley and Prince Street names were well known in the industry, but "we had lost our way for a while," said Minite. "It was important for us to re-energize the business."

To do so, Bentley would have to find new customers in health care, government and education--and build residential sales. Bentley would also have to emphasize new designs and collaborate with hard-surface companies to package products so that the carpet matched tile or wood.

On those fronts, Bentley has made progress. Since 2003, sales have increased 14 percent, to about $150 million this year. In a few years, Minite foresees the company reaching $200 million.

But John Baugh, an analyst with Stifel Nicolaus & Co. Inc., said there are still plenty of challenges. Bentley's profit margin, running below 2 percent, remains low for the carpet industry, and the company has to generate more sales to match its position prior to the recession of a few years back, when it racked up around $180 million.

"If they held the volume or grew the volume, you would begin to see the margin recover," said Baugh. "The overall commercial market is improving. That should help."

Back to basics

Bentley's core product is broadloom carpet rolls, but the trend in recent years is toward carpet tile that gives companies access to sub-floor wiring. Also, designers and architects are increasingly demanding that carpets be made with recycled and other environmentally sensitive materials.

In the midst of these changing times is a slew of competitors, including Santa Fe Springs-based Designweave, Kennesaw, Ga.-based Lees Carpet and City of Commerce-based Atlas Carpet Mills.

Bentley Mills Inc. was founded in 1979 by members of the Mishkin family, who catered to the design and architecture community. In the 1980s, the company flourished as law and finance firms spent lavishly to decorate their offices with high-style carpet. But by the early 1990s, as office budgets were cut back, the company was eventually taken over by First Chicago, which sold it in 1993 to Interface, a carpet tile specialist that wanted to expand its broadloom operations and acquire a West Coast manufacturing base. Interface then bought Georgia-based Prince Street and later merged the two companies.

Interface tried to run the operation in Atlanta, with little success. Minite, who had been a senior vice president at Interface, was the first on-site president Bentley Prince Street had seen in at least two years. "We had gotten so big as a corporation, you lose your identity," he said. "The big thing was to get back to basics."

Minite had started at Bentley in 1991 as a salesman, and he came back with a salesman's attitude. Above all the office doors is painted the sales mantra, "Think of yourself as a customer."

To do that, Bentley has introduced less expensive products (average prices are $20 per square yard, but there are lines in the $14-to-$16 per-square-foot range). The cheaper products are also essential to attract different classes of customers, such as government and educational institutions, which often demand lower cost options than cash-rich law firms.

To reduce customer complaints, Minite began working to improve the manufacturing process. The company told managers in each of its departments--tufting, dyeing and finishing-to communicate about problems so they would be identified quickly.

"We were managing in silos where the finishing was over here, and they worried about finishing. Dying was over here, and they worried about dying, and tufting was over here and they worried about tufting," said Minite. Now he said, "We look at it as a team approach."

Bentley gives incentives to employees who suggest ways to reduce waste or improve manufacturing. One example: Straight-line lasers to help guide carpet cutters were installed after an employee suggestion. That helps because the company loses $2.25 for every inch of carpet cut incorrectly.

As part of the shift, corporate-sector sales have been reduced to 50 percent from a high of 80 percent. Bentley also brought back its original designer, Jack Mishkin, to craft its high-style look, and it has sought deals with other companies, such as tile manufacturer Crossville Inc., to pair its carpet with hard-surface flooring. There also are environmental initiatives that include making 30 of its more than 100 products with high levels of recycled nylon.

"We had to diversify our product line to help support all our segments," said Catherine Minervini, Bentley's director of marketing. "in corporate, a lot of times it is about the aesthetic. In health care, it is more about performance."