Mohawk Chief Lorberbaum Emerges as Billionaire With Tiles

Jeffrey Lorberbaum, the chief executive officer of Mohawk Industries Inc., the world’s largest maker of flooring products, is obsessed with details.

Strolling through one of his Calhoun, Georgia-based company’s five manufacturing facilities, the 58-year-old is quick to point out why a tile or flooring surface shouldn’t be in Mohawk’s product line, or how its operations could be more efficient. When trade magazines release surveys of how flooring companies are viewed by buyers, he has had executives call to find out specifics of the publication’s methodology.