AICO, Ferguson Copeland value quality, control of dedicated plants
By Thomas Russell -- Furniture Today, March 19, 2006
High Point — When it comes to making quality furniture, most producers and importers guard their designs as they would any other closely held trade secret.
But some take that exclusivity a step further by devoting an entire plant to their product line.
Two key examples of this approach are middle- to upper-end case goods importers AICO and Ferguson Copeland. In recent years, both companies have established dedicated factories in Asia to achieve a level of quality and product innovation that enable them to get their proprietary designs to market before anyone else steals their ideas.
AICO
While mum on details, including plant size and number of employees, AICO is expanding its dedicated plant network in China. By year's end, it will have total of four dedicated plants, including three in the Xiamen area of southern China and one in Huangzhou, near Shanghai, said President Larry Rinaldi.
The Xiamen area plants will produce case goods, including bedroom, dining room, home entertainment and home office, as well as bars and fireplaces. They also will make contract office furnishings, an emerging division for the company.
The Huangzhou area plant will produce upholstery, another relatively new category for the company.
Rinaldi declined to provide details such as square footage and capacity, other than to say some of the building projects represent huge expansions of existing facilities that collectively will employ thousands of people.
At a press conference at the January Las Vegas furniture market, CEO Michael Amini said the new plants coming on line will expand AICO's production capacity by about 2,000 containers per month.
The company also has dedicated production in Vietnam. Again, Rinaldi declined to disclose details other than to say that these facilities are operated by some of its same manufacturing partners with plants in China.
For AICO, having dedicated plants helps the company provide consistent quality and service. They also are heavily secured and guarded operations that help protect the integrity of AICO's product design process.
"We are able to come up with innovative procedures or processes not only in style or design, but also in areas of function or hidden extras, the things that customers can fully utilize as something worthwhile," Rinaldi said.
"Time, energy and money goes into product development, and that is why the factories are key to it," Rinaldi added.
As part of this process, AICO has staff on the ground to work with factory personnel in areas such as finishing and quality control. In those same plants, it also has dedicated showroom space and labs where it can work with different aspects of product development.
Likewise, factory owners and staff often travel to AICO's headquarters in Pico Rivera, Calif., to learn about its approach to product development, Rinaldi said. During those visits, it's not uncommon for that team to contact the factory that same evening to notify staff there of any necessary product changes.
Rinaldi indicated that some might consider having a dedicated plant structure a risk, particularly given the commitment involved in producing a certain amount of product in those facilities. But despite any downturns in business or a change in style preferences among consumers, AICO chooses to keeps those plants as close to full capacity as possible.
"If we make an agreement to produce X amount of goods ... we'll keep bringing (the business) in because we have made the commitment to turn the goods and, quite frankly, they want to be paid," he said.
"We recognize that commitment and deliver on that promise."
AICO's sourcing also is not limited to the dedicated plants. It has a network of other non-dedicated source factories it works with in China that fulfill needs for various components and upholstery products.
Ferguson Copeland
Ferguson Copeland has two dedicated source factories in Vietnam. One of these is a chair plant the company has been working with for about two years run by Tan Tanh. Located in Ho Chi Minh City, Tan Tanh produces about 1,000 chairs per month for Ferguson Copeland.
The other is a 150,000-square-foot plant run by AA Corp. Also located in Ho Chi Minh City, this factory has been providing product to Ferguson Copeland for just over a year. It makes about 15 containers a month of bedroom, dining room and occasional furniture.
Both facilities are part of larger factory complexes that produce for other customers. The AA Corp. plant started out largely producing whitewood products that were in turn shipped to Ferguson Copeland's Morganton, N.C., factory, which produces about 300 custom finishes.
But the AA Corp facility has begun to hone its own finishing process, said Darrell Ferguson, president and CEO of Ferguson Copeland. Today, the plant produces goods in more than 50 custom finishes. Ferguson also estimated that 60% of the goods AA Corp. produces for his company are finished vs. whitewood, a number that could soon grow to 80%.
To help further this process, Ferguson Copeland sends its head finishing and quality control officials to Vietnam for a few months out of the year. It also has a Philippines-based group of quality control and design staff on the ground working with the plants. This group has been working with Ferguson Cope-land since its inception in 1996.
"For all practical purposes, it has worked out nicely for us," Ferguson said. "At our price point, what is extraordinarily important for us is finish and execution of the finish. With the help of Akzo (Nobel) and people we know from the Philippines, we have created a custom finish line that in some ways compares to our custom finish line in Morganton."
The additional capacity has made "that part of our business grow very nicely," Ferguson added. "It has taken some time, but the quality of what we have coming in now is very, very good and we are able to ship it with confidence."
The Vietnamese chair plant produces all whitewood frames. In the future, Ferguson estimates that 20% of the line could be finished and upholstered on site.
These are not the only facilities that Ferguson Copeland works with in Vietnam. The company also gets large case pieces from a non-dedicated facility north of Ho Chi Minh City and also receives some product out of China.
Still, Ferguson likes the dedicated plant relationship, noting it helps a high-end company like his control its own destiny in terms of quality, customization and delivery.
He said there are challenges with such an arrangement, including the process of communicating with factories based halfway around the world.
But with a well-trained team and quality control personnel on the ground, he said that issue is diminishing and that the overall advantages of dedicated plants far outweigh the disadvantages.
-
World Imports buys Hamilton Spill assets
Apr 6, 2011 -
Picket & Rail heads to America
Jan 11, 2010 -
Asian mfrs. step up U.S. presence
Apr 9, 2006 -
Fresh product being shown at Vegas market
Jul 20, 2008
Featured Company
-
Wright Labels
Bill and Tom Wright founded Wright of Thomasville in 1961 on the idea that printing was a creative medium and the belief that "a promise made is a promise kept." The Wright brothers focused their attention on providing exceptional printing for the... more
VIEW ALL GALLERIES
