Latex International riding a wave
By David Perry -- Furniture Today, April 3, 2005
Shelton, Conn. — Latex International, riding a soaring sales curve, is adding key staff, opening new facilities, enhancing its marketing programs and dramatically expanding capacity.
Under the direction of veteran consumer products marketer Mike Lorelli, who joined Latex International as president and CEO last summer, the company is moving fast to strengthen its rapidly growing niche in the high-end bedding market.
Capital expansions last year and this year will cost $10 million and will boost overall capacity by 40%
"Our investors are very comfortable investing in capacity to continue this growth rocket," Lorelli said in an interview at his office here.
That rocket is fueled with Talalay latex mattress cores, toppers and pillows. Early next year, the company plans to further expand its latex pouring line with the addition of Dunlop process mattress toppers, which can go into the mattress quilt. That product will virtually eliminate body impressions, according to the company.
The Talalay and Dunlop processes are the two main ways to produce latex foam. Each has its advantages.
Latex International is North America's only producer of Talalay latex. The new Dunlop latex production line will be the first in the United States.
The company is referring to the Dunlop expansion as the "Bigfoot" project. Lorelli has a picture in his office of an apelike beast purported to be a bigfoot striding through the woods, to remind everyone that this Bigfoot will soon be a reality.
Bigfoot is only part of the growth story being written in latex, a material whose use in the high-end bedding market has grown by more than 30% a year in the past three years.
Latex International formerly was known as Latex Foam International but has dropped the "foam" from its name because its customers now simply refer to its flagship product as "latex." That is part of a branding campaign for the company that includes a new logo, a revamped and upgraded Web site, and a marketing theme: "Your best bedside manner."
"That talks to the way we work with our constituents," said Kevin Stein, director of marketing. "It talks to a partnership that is based on integrity and trust and is consultative."
The bedside manner is backed by everything from new equipment and new fabrication plants to key new employees.
New queen-sized bedding molds are going into the factory here, enabling Latex International to produce that popular mattress size without seams and thus improve its time to market.
To improve customer service by reducing lead times, the company is adding fabrication plants in Georgia, Illinois and Texas, which are scheduled to come on line this June, in 2006 and in 2007, respectively.
Those plants, where various foams are glued together to create a number of different mattress cores for customers' differing needs, are a key to reducing lead times. The company will be able to offer three-day customer service to almost 70% of the nation in early 2006 and 90% by mid-2007.
"Latex is growing so fast, our customers are asking us if we can get our lead times down," Lorelli said. "We said yes. So we need more fabrication facilities."
To spur product development, Latex International has hired John T. Lean, who has a doctorate in chemistry, as manager of research and development.
"John is passionate about our vision," Lorelli said. "Kevin can walk down the hall to his lab and get immediate feedback on his ideas for new products. And John can come back to Kevin and say, 'I might be able to do this. Would there be a market for that?'"
The company also has added a product manager, Ryan Blair, who was formerly with Timex. He will help grow the mattress and pillow product lines.
"We have a first-class team here," Lorelli said. "We are having fun and getting it done."
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