During the last two decades, no product has impacted our industry as much as laminate flooring and no industry has been impacted by flooring as much as laminate.  I just returned from speaking at the TAPPI conference, an organization that represents the manufacturers of paper and core materials used in the manufacture of laminate.  Flooring represents a small but growing percentage of that industry whose primary customers are furniture and wall panel manufacturers as well as automotive dashboards, etc.

Laminate flooring manufacturers have continually improved their product to the point that it looks nothing like the first generation product.  That said, there are even more changes in the labs that will make tomorrow's laminate even more attractive and better performing.  Innovations like 3-diminsional printing, formaldehyde free, direct printing, fiberglass reinforced tops for stronger surfacesm, polypropylene films for water resistance, etc., were dreams that are now becoming reality.  Flooring has been both a driver and a beneficiary of many of these improvements.  End result is that laminate flooring continues to improve to meet the needs of a broader range of end use markets. 

No pun intended but it looks like laminate flooring has only scratched the surface of its flooring opportunity.