Flexsteel, Hooker Furniture complete environmental compliance program

AHFA program aims to save energy, reduce waste

Heath Combs -- Furniture Today, September 21, 2009

HIGH POINT — Flexsteel Inds., its subsidiary DMI Furniture and Hooker Furniture recently completed the American Home Furnishings Alliance's Enhancing Furniture's Environmental Culture program.

The program aims to improve management of resources and raw materials; reduce energy and water consumption; reduce waste disposal and costs; and improve operational performance.

Flexsteel implemented the program at its Starkville, Miss., commercial seating division, and also has been phasing in the program at its Dubuque, Iowa, and Riverside, Calif., plants and headquarters, and its Dublin, Ga., and Harrison, Ark. plants.

The company also has implemented the program at DMI's corporate office in Louisville, Ky., and its plant and warehouse in Huntingburg, Ind.

It is the largest number of separate facilities to complete the EFEC program simultaneously, the AHFA reported.

"The benefits of the (EFEC) program have been visible from the beginning, and we expect them to continue moving forward. I'm proud of what our employees have accomplished during this time and excited to see what they can do in the future," said Ron Klosterman, president and CEO of Flexsteel.

Among its accomplishments, Flexsteel reduced landfill waste by 51%; reduced electrical usage by 3.8% a month; and reduced its water consumption by 17.2% a month.

Because the teams implementing the EFEC were in seven different states stretching from California to Georgia, the AHFA used Web-based training to help implement the program.

The AHFA also announced that Hooker and its Bradington-Young and Sam Moore subsidiaries have implemented the EFEC program across 11 facilities. The effort took 18 months, the AHFA reported.

Hooker's EFEC-registered facilities include four manufacturing plants, a distribution center and the offices of Cherryville, N.C.-based Bradington-Young; one manufacturing plant and office for Bedford, Va.-based Sam Moore; and the corporate office, central distribution center, secondary distribution center and customer support center for Martinsville, Va.-based Hooker.

Each facility was audited in September and granted EFEC registration.

"We look forward to building on these initial accomplishments and becoming better educated on how we can preserve the earth's resources for future generations. We plan to put more measurements in place and involve even more employees and business partners in this critically important endeavor," said Paul B. Toms Jr., chairman, CEO and president of Hooker.

On a corporate-wide basis, the company achieved a 5 to 10% reduction in kilowatt hour usage over the implementation period, reduced water usage by 5%, and diverted 3.3 million pounds of waste from landfills, saving the company $95,000.

Bradington-Young was able to generate additional recycling revenue of $428,471 over the 18-month implementation period. Leather scraps were sold to vendors who used them to create key chains, belts, purses and jackets.

"The Hooker registration demonstrates a commitment to ‘doing the right thing' while addressing the challenges of sustainable growth with common sense solutions," said Bill Perdue, the AHFA's vice president of environmental affairs.

The recently registered EFEC companies join La-Z-Boy Residential; American Drew, Lea Inds., Kincaid Furniture and Hammary, all part of La-Z-Boy's case goods division; Bernhardt Furniture; C.R. Laine; Fairfield Chair; Hickory Chair; and Vaughan-Bassett in sharing the classification.