Henredon consolidating upholstery plants
By Furniture Today Staff -- Furniture Today, August 29, 2005
High Point — Henredon's Brevard Road upholstery plant here will close this year, and most of its operations will be transferred to a Drexel Heritage factory also in High Point, parent company Furniture Brands International said.
About 45 jobs will be eliminated by the end of this year, said Jeff Young, president and CEO of HDM Furniture Inds., the Furniture Brands unit that oversees Henredon, Drexel Heritage and Maitland-Smith.
Drexel Heritage Plant 37 will be reconfigured to make both Henredon and Drexel upholstery, the company said. More than 185 employees in the Henredon plant will be transferred to the Drexel facility.
In addition, some of the Henredon production will be shifted to a Henredon upholstery plant in Mount Airy, N.C.
"The consolidation of these two manufacturing operations is directly related to capacity issues," said Young. "This will allow us to use our larger Drexel Heritage facility more efficiently, reduce our redundant costs, and enable HDM to continue to provide our customer base with premium upholstered product."
Plant 37's products will include mainly the company's high-end seating lines, such as Heritage and Henredon upholstery, Drexel Heritage's licensed Lillian August and Vera Bradley upholstery, and Henredon's licensed Ralph Lauren, Lauren and Barbara Barry lines.
