STI's 'swarm intelligence'
By Furniture Today Staff -- Furniture Today, April 12, 2004
KINGS MOUNTAIN, N.C. — Fabric mill STI has done the improbable, going head to head with low-cost imports while keeping its production domestic.
It has accomplished this with a management model that is anything but traditional.
A visitor to the company's plant here is likely to find members of the management team answering calls at the receptionist's desk, changing a light bulb in the weaving room or packing samples and hitting the road to call on customers.
This odds-defying entrepreneurial company is operated by a "pancake" management team — a structure that's flat, not hierarchical.
Most are principals in the business. They work so closely together every day that decisions seem to occur by means of "swarm intelligence." If something needs doing or a change is called for in the plant or in product development or in sales, all the decision-makers are close at hand rather than offsite or in an office with the door closed.
Top executives include Jim Brown, president; Sean Gibbons, vice president of sales and marketing; John Kay, vice president of product development and marketing; Greg Sellers, chief financial officer; Mark Hovis, vice president of operations, and Rick Hahn, vice president of manufacturing.
Senior designers Laura Allred and Charlotte Harbison work on product development. Other department heads include Moses Nueman, vice president of information systems; Candace Nichols, human resource manager; and Bob Hovis, purchasing manager.
