Welcome To Tile World

The Tile Widget Set is a next-generation re-implementation of many of the core Tk widgets, along with the addition of several new widgets.

A tile is a manufactured piece of hard-wearing material such as ceramic, stone, metal, or even glass. Tiles are generally used for covering roofs, floors.

Walstad Tile Smiles as they go High-Tech... A-propos Delivers TileMaster™ Remote Job Management System

By Anonymous

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

MINNEAPOLIS, MN, March 18, 2003—A-propos, a software and systems development company that delivers applications on-time and on-budget, today announced the completion of a remote job management system for MN-based Walstad Tile. The application was developed in order to streamline management of more than 30 field tile installers.

Prior to development and installation of the TileMaster™ solution, Walstad tile installers worked unmanaged in the field, 8 hours each day, which made managing productivity a challenge. Now with the TileMaster™ solution, developed by MN-based A-propos, field tile installers punch in and out via cell phone as they start and complete each job.

"Now, our tile installers log the time it takes to lay tile in each room and then we upload their timesheet data to our corporate database." said Mike Walstad, president of Walstad Tile. “After implementing the system we definitely saw that our labor to percentage of sales had improved. I don’t know anybody else in the trade that is doing this."

Walstad tile installers are also more encouraged now to document change-orders in the field. For example, if a job called for 8 hours to lay tile on a straight pattern and the job was changed in the field to a diagonal pattern, the installer now calls the corporate office in order to be allocated more time via their “cell-phone timeclock”. Prior to the development and installation of TileMaster™ these types of field changes would be easily missed and never billed.

“Due to the A-propos development process, dubbed OnTarget (SM), we were able to complete the entire TileMaster™ application within a 2 month timeframe.” said Olivier Meyer, president of A-Propos. “By implementing the Walstad Tile corporate database and integrating with AirHours, through Nextel, Walstad Tile can now estimate jobs more accurately, monitor productivity more closely and conduct billing more precisely.”

Walstad Tile and A-propos are now planning the next phase of the TileMaster solution – a PDA based solution designed to completely eliminate paper work orders.

The TileMaster™ remote job management system was built with industry standard technologies and platforms including WML/WAP, Microsoft Visual Basic, SQL and Microsoft Access.

About A-propos, Inc.
A-propos is a software and systems development company committed to delivering solutions on-time and on-budget through its unique development process-- OnTarget(SM). With a tenured team of applications and development professionals, A-propos brings a unique mix of development and product management skills to its clients who include Gelco Expense Management, AIR-Serv Group, Sprint and General Mills. Contact A-propos at 612-435-2120 or at www.a-propo.com.

About Walstad Tile
For Nearly 10 years, Walstad Tile & Stone has been recognized as one of the Twin Cities’ leading tile, stone and hard surface provider. In addition to completing more than 150 Parade of Homes installations, Walstad Tile & Stone is the hard surface flooring provider of choice for the area’s top builders. They provide high quality flooring solutions for any home price level. Contact Walstad Tile & Stone at 763-519-1444.

http://www.public--relations.com/clients/Walstad_Tile_A-propos_031803.htm



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Pro Acoustics Announces New SoundPlaneTM Lay-In Ceiling Tile Speaker for hearing impaired, education, government, retail, military facilities and many other applications.

By Anonymous

Harker Heights,Texas September 23 2004 SoundPlaneTM Ceiling Speakers integrate the latest loudspeaker technology into panels that are easily installed into standard drop-ceilings in commercial and residential buildings. The SoundPlaneTM Ceiling Speaker blends into the ceiling plane where interior design aesthetics are a must. The 8" Poly/Carbon woofer is mounted to a massive magnet structure that produces very deep and rich bass response. The 1" titanium super tweeter is center-mounted in woofer and provides frequencies beyond audible range. Both the tweeter and midrange speakers have adjustment controls to tailor the sound to the listening environment. SoundPlaneTM Speakers Panels deliver extremely high-quality music, speech reproduction, paging, and sound masking. With capabilities for a single room, whole building or an entire complex for distributed 70 volt sound systems. Excellent for Classroom Sound and Assistive Listening; In settings where good sound quality and excellent speech intelligibility are critical to learning and communications.

About Pro Acoustics: Pro Acoustics manufactures and sells hundreds of audio system products and engineering “widgets” to help customers facilitate the needs of any location. Our product lineup includes speakers, audio mixers, amplifiers, microphones, assisted listening devices and related audio accessories for excellence in a wide range of audio system applications for home audio, retail stores, house of worship, restaurant, hotels, classroom, sports facility, auditorium, boardroom, and conference rooms.

All trademarks are the property of their respective owners. For more information on Pro Acoustics’ and its products, visit the Company's website at www.proacousticsUSA.com




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Many Homeowners See Benefit of Using Tile Inspectors

By Anonymous

Although we are considered to be a nation of do-it-yourselfers, many projects are outside our ability. In this case, we hire these jobs out for other people to do. Tiling a kitchen floor or a shower are just two examples.

"Our typical customer is one who has had work done in their home recently and the tilework has failed or they simply aren't satisfied with the results," says David Taylor, a tile inspector and director of Tile-experts.com. "Most often, they have sufficient reason to believe it wasn't done well. Technology has given our industry new materials and methods to use, but we see few installers taking the training that's needed to install tile correctly. Even though the tile industry has seen large increases in market share, the amount of skilled people to install tile properly has not kept pace."

That's where Taylor steps in and looks at items ranging from subfloor preparation to the tile itself. "Tilesetting is one of the few forensically perfect trades. There's nothing an installer can do to hide their mistakes." If there are faults in the installation, Taylor prepares a report for the client and if need be, appears in court for them. He and other inspectors are considered expert witnesses.

How does a homeowner prevent a faulty job? The answer is simple, Taylor says. "First and foremost, check and verify your prospective installers' credentials. In some jurisdictions in the U.S. and Canada, we are required by law to produce them before we walk on a jobsite. Few people know that tilesetters take as much training as an electrician or a gasfitter." The second way is to ask for a list of the installers' recent and long-term projects. Lastly, Taylor offers pre-project inspections, well before the first tile is laid. "Prevention is key. You have to know what you're doing because the costs of fixing a poor tile installation are greater than having to change a piece of baseboard or to re-paint a wall."


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