Julius Shaw
Bob HardawayAfter 40 years working at the northwest Georgia carpet manufacturing titan that bears his name, Julius Shaw, executive vice president at Shaw Industries, is punching out for the last time come the end of this year and looking forward to retirement.
Bob Hardaway has been named vice president of home center sales and marketing and is taking on Shaw’s leadership roles.
Julius Shaw – whose father and uncle, J.C. “Bud” Shaw and Bob Shaw, respectively, founded Shaw Industries – came to work at the carpet maker straight out of the University of Georgia in 1976.
“When I came to work for our company full-time in 1976, we were a $100 million company,” Shaw said on Thursday. “I could have never imagined that during the course of my career, we would grow to be the largest carpet manufacturer in the world, have sales in excess of $5 million and have over 20,000 employees.”
Shaw has seen both the evolution of carpet manufacturing and the expansion of Shaw’s product lines. He remembers when Shaw Industries manufactured 70 percent carpet products and 30 percent non-carpet floor coverings. Today, the company is still the world’s largest carpet maker, but around 50 percent of its products are carpet, while 50 percent are laminate, ceramic and luxury vinyl floor coverings.