La-Z-Boy becomes largest EFEC user

Adoption results in savings, added revenue

Furniture Today Staff -- Furniture Today, July 27, 2009

HIGH POINT — With 3 million square feet of domestic manufacturing, La-Z-Boy Residential has become the largest American Home Furnishings Alliance member to implement the organization's environmental management program, Enhancing Furniture's Environmental Culture.

AHFA created EFEC more than 10 years ago, but says the program has gained momentum in the past two years as the industry has taken a greater interest in environmentalism, and in savings that usually arise from efforts to conserve energy and recycle.

"La-Z-Boy Inc. has always placed a high level of importance on the environment and, over the years, has adopted numerous practices and principles throughout its facilities to help preserve it," said Kurt Darrow, CEO. "The AHFA's EFEC program has helped us gain momentum in our environmental stewardship, and we are continuing to instill a culture throughout our organization to be an environmentally-responsible citizen."

La-Z-Boy's largest upholstery plant is its 1.2 million-square-foot facility in Dayton, Tenn. From 2007 to 2008, the EFEC team in Dayton reduced energy usage by 12%, and trimmed electrical costs by 1.3%, even with a 23% rate hike. Natural gas consumption dropped by 50% and water consumption decreased by 23%.

But the most dramatic numbers in Dayton's report were dollars earned rather than dollars saved. Improving efforts to sort and segregate recyclable materials from the solid waste stream - and to identify sales opportunities for those recyclable materials - resulted in $1.9 million in recycling revenue in 2008. Landfill waste was reduced by 214,000 pounds (8.7%), while 9.5 million pounds of recycled materials were used as a fuel source for on-site boilers.

In addition to the Dayton facility, La-Z-Boy operates upholstery factories in Newton, Miss.; Redlands, Calif.; Neosho, Mo.; and Siloam Springs, Ark. Aggregated results for the entire division included:

• Reduced electrical use by more than 9%;

• Decreased natural gas consumption by nearly 25%;

• Reduced water consumption at three plants totaling 6.68 million gallons;

• More than 2 million additional pounds of waste diverted from landfills (14.7 % reduction); and,

• More than 50 million pounds of material recycled or reused.

"We allowed the EFEC teams within each plant the flexibility to create their own programs tailored to their site-specific needs," said Rod Miller, La-Z-Boy's director of environmental affairs.

La-Z-Boy Residential joins a growing list of furniture manufacturers that have EFEC-registered facilities, including Sam Moore, a division of Hooker Furniture; American Drew, Lea Inds., Kincaid Furniture and Hammary, all part of La-Z-Boy's Casegoods Division; Bernhardt Furniture; C.R. Laine; Fairfield Chair; Hickory Chair; and Vaughan-Bassett.