Bestar brings in Hetu as CEO
By Michael J. Knell -- Furniture Today, February 29, 2004
LAC-MEGANTIC, Quebec — Ready-to-assemble furniture producer Bestar has appointed Jacques Hetu, previously an executive at components supplier Hettich International, as president and CEO.
Paulin Tardif, who has been the publicly held company's chairman, president and CEO for the past couple of years, will continue as chairman of the board.
The position of general manager, which had been held by Michel Gamache for the past year, has been eliminated. Gamache will be retained as a manufacturing consultant as needed.
Like other RTA companies, Bestar has been struggling in recent years, its sales falling from C$76.9 million in 2000 to C$50.4 million in 2002. For the first three quarters of its 2003 fiscal year, sales were C$32.8 million.
"We've made a lot of changes in our structure over the past year," Tardif said. "But the changes aren't happening fast enough — that's why we're putting a new team in place. The first thing we want to do is re-evaluate our strategic plan and work to improve our productivity."
While Bestar still does some business with mainstream furniture stores, its focus in recent years has been on mass merchants and office superstores. It launched a new collection of home office and related RTA case goods last year.
"We haven't had a lot of feedback yet," Tardif said. "But we have a lot of hope for that collection."
Bestar skipped the Canadian Home Furnishings Market in Toronto in January, but will continue to show at High Point and at NeoCon in Chicago in June.
Before joining Bestar, Hetu was a senior executive of the Canadian subsidiary of Hettich International, a maker of furniture parts and components. He has worked for more than 25 years in corporate management, sales and product marketing in domestic and international markets.
"His in-depth knowledge of the furniture industry will help the company's growth and profitability," Tardif said.
"I am proud to be joining Bestar, where I will focus on a customer-driven and results-oriented teamwork approach," Hetu said.
His first move has been to add two members to Bestar's senior management, although he has not assigned them job titles yet.
Martin Lamontagne is an expert in finance and the implementation of integrated management systems, and Pierre-Yves Simard has almost 20 years experience in organization development and manufacturing. Both previously worked in management at Canadian printing companies.
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