Amtico International

Celebrating 60 years of Amtico

Amtico International — 23/10/2024

We’re proud to be commemorating our 60th anniversary this year, and at the heart of our celebration are the people who have made it all possible.

Since our establishment in 1964, our family of dedicated individuals, united by their commitment to delivering innovative and beautiful flooring solutions has been instrumental in our success and position as a leader in the LVT sector.

Across six decades, we’ve remained committed to designing and crafting truly exquisite floors from our prestigious UK headquarters and factory in Coventry, providing our customers with exceptional flooring solutions for superior interior spaces, for both residential and commercial settings worldwide.

Our people are the driving force behind our vision. Their dedication to crafting designer flooring marrying function with form, durability, low maintenance, and quality, has cemented our position as a market leader in LVT.

Beyond the realm of flooring, we remain committed to the local community. In 2023 alone, we fundraised for and provided volunteers to support over 20 local organisations, including Birmingham Children's Hospital, Heart of England Forest, Myton Hospice, and the 'Make Good Grow' foundation.

We take immense pride in our five unique collections: Signature, Décor, Form, Spacia, and Click Smart. These collections showcase an extensive portfolio of stone, wood, and abstract flooring options, each crafted by the creativity and expertise of our people. Additionally, we have been at the forefront of sustainability in LVT production, recently introducing our Bio collection. Thanks to PVC resin made from renewable biomass, this eco-conscious range features bio-attributed LVT, offering environmentally conscious customers the option of lower carbon flooring. Finally, in the spirit of collaboration, our Décor collection saw a partnership with Europe's largest conservation charity, the National Trust.

As we look ahead to a future filled with innovation, sustainability, and continued collaboration with its remarkable people and customers, we remain firm in our gratitude for the extraordinary individuals who have shaped our journey.

Midlands Networking at Amtico HQ

Amtico International — 18/11/2024

We recently opened our doors at our Coventry factory to Made in the Midland’s members. This was a fantastic event to network and discuss key topics in British manufacturing, such as sustainability, health and safety, innovation and operational efficiency.

As proud British manufacturer celebrating our 60th year, it was an absolute pleasure to be able to host this networking event and share our best practices whilst championing the British industry.

Welcoming 48 members from various organisations across British manufacturing to our Kingfield Road site we provided a full factory tour to give insight into 60 years of innovation and had members of the team on hand to talk about our facilities, processes and culture.

It was a pleasure to host a passionate community of people working to support our incredible industry.

Passionate about Sustainability: Amtico’s Take Back Scheme

Amtico International — 17/07/2025

On World Environment Day, 5th June 2025, we officially launched our Take Back Scheme across the UK. We're thrilled to share that in the first three weeks we had 76 new customers sign-up to take part.

Our Take Back Scheme has been trialled since 2022 and has seen increasing success year on year. Between 2022 and 2024 we collected and recycled 58,392 KG of LVT.

Our scheme enables customers to recycle both clean Amtico LVT offcuts during installation, as well as contaminated LVT waste from end-of-life, including uplifted LVT flooring from other manufacturers.

Watch the video below to discover more.

When Machines Change, the Gold Is Trust: Ian Lloyd and the emergence of a new factory mindset

Amtico International — 06/02/2026

By Ilona Pitt, Made in the Midlands

Many factories today hum with intelligence.
Screens glow with live data. Machines move with quiet precision. Automation has taken over the heavy lifting that once defined the job – faster, cleaner, more exact. For those who began their careers before screens and sensors, the contrast is stark.

It looks like progress. It is progress.

Ian Lloyd now sits at the centre of this world. As Operations Director at Amtico, a British manufacturer of luxury vinyl flooring used in commercial and residential spaces, he carries responsibility for complex manufacturing systems, automation, people, and performance – the kind of role where margins are tight and decisions ripple far beyond the shop floor.

But the first factory he ever walked into, at sixteen, looked nothing like this.

In the 1980s, manufacturing was a place of endurance. Oil-stained floors. Clipboards instead of screens. The constant thud of work that never paused to explain itself. Managers stayed behind closed doors. The shop floor worked. Management decided.

Authority ran one way, and experience counted more than potential. And if you didn’t have the right qualifications, you learned quickly not to ask why.

They called it the old factory mentality.

Technology has rewritten almost everything about the factory floor. But not everything that matters moves at the speed of machines.

Ilona Pitt: Take me back to that early period. What did the factory feel like when you were starting out – long before Amtico, before the automation, before the titles?

Ian Lloyd: It was a complete culture shock. You finished school on a Friday and by Monday you were in a factory – that was normal then.

I had no qualifications and no experience of manufacturing at all. I just wanted to work. So I went round the industrial estate knocking on doors. One place said yes – and that was it. By Tuesday, I was on the shop floor.

There was no induction. No easing you in. Just noise, movement, and the feeling that you’d stepped into a completely different world overnight.

IP: What kind of place had you walked into?

IL: Big. Heavy engineering. Welding, painting, cut-and-sew. Seats being made for Volvo, JCB, Caterpillar – proper industrial work. One minute you’re a kid in a classroom. The next, you’re surrounded by machinery. Health and safety was… different. My first job was projection welding. Then someone said, “Jump on the forklift.”

I told them I’d never driven one.
They said, “Put your foot there, pull that lever – you’ll be fine.”

That was the training.

We used to go to the pub at lunchtime. Forty-minute break, three pints, straight back to work. You could smoke on the shop floor. No one questioned it. It sounds mad now – and it was – but that was factory life. You did what you were told.

IP: And when people talk about the “old factory mentality”, is that what they mean?

IL: Exactly. Authority ran one way. Management decided. If you didn’t have qualifications, you didn’t talk about progression. I realised quite early on that while I enjoyed the work, I didn’t want to stand in the same place for the rest of my life.

But I stayed. Because I could sense things could be better – even if I didn’t yet have the words or backing to change them.

IP: You’ve said there was one conversation that changed everything – but it came many years into your working career. What happened?

IL: I still remember the day I met Mick Morrisroe. He was my training manager at the time. By then, I was frustrated and stuck.

I was putting the effort in, doing everything asked of me, but I didn’t feel heard. I kept being overlooked because I didn’t have the right qualifications, and it was wearing me down.

Then one day Mick came over and started talking. It wasn’t formal – just a conversation on the shop floor. He asked what I enjoyed, what I wanted to achieve, where I saw myself going.

No one had ever asked me that before.

It wasn’t just a conversation – it marked the space between where I was and where I could go. Mick didn’t focus on what I lacked. He focused on what I could become. He believed in me.

IP: What changed after that?

IL: Everything – but not overnight.

I started working towards the qualifications I needed while still working full-time. Evenings. Weekends. College first, then further study.

It was hard. I had a young family. I missed moments you don’t get back – swimming lessons, school events. That’s the cost.

But slowly, alongside the experience I already had, I built confidence. The barriers didn’t disappear – they changed shape. They became stepping stones.

That’s when my mindset shifted. From feeling stuck, to believing there was a path forward.

Ian Lloyd, Operations Director at Amtico, named a Great100 Industry Advocate – recognition earned through trust, people and long-term leadership.

IP: Looking back, when did leadership stop feeling like progression and start feeling like responsibility?

IL: When the decisions stopped being just about me.

Once you’re responsible for a team, the weight changes. Not everyone agrees with every decision. That’s when leadership becomes real.

It would’ve been easy to rely on authority. But I kept thinking about how Mick treated me – with honesty, patience, respect.

IP: And how did that influence how you led?

IL: Instead of proving I was right, I listened. I explained my decisions. I tried to keep trust intact, even when it would’ve been easier not to.

Listening isn’t easy. It takes time. It means sitting with disagreement.

But it taught me what leadership really demands.

IP: Which is?

IL: It’s not titles or authority. It’s trust. Giving people a voice. Helping them grow. That’s shaped how I lead ever since.

IP: Take me back to your first day at Amtico. What did you walk into?

IL: April 1st – April Fool’s Day. I remember sitting in the 8:30 operations meeting listening to health and safety, planning, quality, warehouse.

Everyone knew their numbers. Their people. Their challenges. There was no theatre.

I remember thinking, I’m going to be exposed here.

But as time goes on, you start scratching the surface. You see gaps. Silos. People performing well – but independently. And you see culture. People who’ve been there decades. You have to win hearts and minds first.

IP: What do those pockets look like in a modern factory?

IL: They’re real. You roll something out and most people embrace it – but some don’t. Factory digitalisation and the introduction of Redzone is a good example. People had been using notebooks for years. Suddenly there are screens everywhere. iPads. Live data.

For some, the fear isn’t the system. It’s confidence. They don’t want to be exposed.

So you slow down. Take people out of the environment. Listen. Train properly.

And you see breakthroughs. The very people who resisted start embracing it.

Some people do leave. They don’t want to change. That can be the right outcome for both sides.

IP: How did you help people feel part of something bigger?

IL: By giving them a voice – and sometimes by making a statement.

We took shop-floor employees to black-tie awards events. That was unheard of. But they’re part of the achievement.

Seeing someone who’s never been invited anywhere like that, sitting at a table with directors, realising they belong – that changes how people see themselves.

IP: Once resistance eased, what did meaningful change look like?

IL: Making work worth staying for.

Automation should take strain out of work – not people out of the picture. Robots took on repetitive tasks, but people’s roles evolved. Upskilling became critical.

IP: How did people respond?

IL: With disbelief at first.

You’d say, “We want to train you to programme robots,” and they’d think you were joking.

But you don’t rush it. You support people. Build confidence, alongside competence.

Then something shifts. People take ownership. They’re proud of what they do.
Automation didn’t remove people from the factory. It revealed what they were capable of.

IP: How do you know it’s working?

IL: You can feel it.

People collaborate more. They’re open to change because they trust it’s happening with them. That trust has to be earned continuously. You listen. You adapt. You invest again – and slowly, it becomes culture.

The factory Ian Lloyd leads today would be unrecognisable to the sixteen-year-old who first walked onto a manufacturing shop floor. The machines are smarter. The data is live. Automation has reshaped the work itself.

Yet the most important exchanges still don’t appear on screens.

They happen in conversations. In moments of listening. In the decision to bring people with you, rather than leave them behind.

The manufacturing industry began to recognise what had been quietly shaping its best leaders all along – a new factory mindset taking hold.

When machines change, the gold is trust – passed from one person to the next, and growing in value every time it’s honoured.

Amtico celebrates grand opening of new building in Coventry

Amtico International — 20/03/2018

Flooring firm Amtico has celebrated the grand opening of its new, showpiece building at Pilot Business Park.

Amtico, which employs more than 400 staff at its head office to the north of Coventry, marked the occasion with a ribbon-cutting ceremony on March 15.

It was attended by Amtico Group directors, management and long standing staff member Mo Farooq, who has worked for the company for more than 44 years.

Amtico is a forward thinking company with ambitious growth plans over the next few years," said Jonathan Duck, Amtico CEO and Regional Chairman of the West Midlands CBI.

"We're incredibly proud to have our roots in Coventry and play our part in the UKs export-led economy, so securing this site for all of our logistics, warehousing and training is incredibly important. It is sure to have a positive impact on Amtico's future.

The team has worked incredibly hard to create a fully functional, state-of-the-art facility in such a short space of time, so Id also like to take this opportunity to thank them for their amazing dedication and effort.

The 73,000 sq ft Pilot Park facility is the central international distribution hub for Amticos extensive range of vinyl tile flooring and commercial carpet, as well as home to the companys new training academy.

Attendees were given a guided tour of the facility, which detailed how the building has been specifically developed to house and distribute 15,000 pallets to more than 47 different countries. On average, 214 pallets will leave Pilot Parks doors every day, using Amtico's dedicated delivery service vehicles.

The new showpiece building has also been constructed with the environment in mind, featuring solar panelling on the roof, cyclonic water irrigation system, bio digester and electric charge points for employee cars.

During the transitional process of moving to Pilot Park, Amtico has invested in more than 1,133 hours of staff training and awarded 83 fork lift driver licenses.

The position of Pilot Park is in close proximity to Amtico's existing Coventry Factory, allowing the company to retain staff and continue to support the local community. By moving to Pilot Park, Amtico has successfully reduced the average product journey from 95 miles to 4.5 miles.

Amtico Apprentice Triumphs with Award

Amtico International — 28/05/2025

We’re proud to share that our very own apprentice, Sean, has been named the winner of the Rising Apprentice Award, following a unanimous vote from the judging panel.

This award recognises the rising stars and future leaders of the commercial interiors industry, and Sean stood out for his dedication, professionalism, and the incredible potential he brings to the sector. His win is a reflection of the hard work he has put in and the values we champion here at Amtico.

At Amtico, we are committed to developing talent and supporting the next generation of industry professionals. Sean’s achievement marks an exciting milestone in his career, and we firmly believe it’s just the beginning of a bright future.

We would also like to congratulate Michael White, who was shortlisted for the Production Leader Award. It’s fantastic to see two members of the Amtico team recognised for their contribution and excellence.

Congratulations to all the winners and nominees—your achievements highlight the strength and innovation thriving across Midlands manufacturing.