Dutailier glides to head of niche
By Jeff Linville -- Furniture Today, February 25, 2007
St-pie, Quebec — Despite growing competition from imports in recent years, Canadian glider rocker manufacturer Dutailier has carved out a niche for success.
About an hour east of Montreal, St-Pie may be a sleepy little town, but its big employer is anything but asleep at the wheel. Dutailier has 650 employees, including 550 in Quebec, where it assembles gliders, glider rockers and convertible youth furniture.
The company has close to half a million square feet of manufacturing and storage space, including 110,000 square feet at headquarters here, 100,000 square feet at a juvenile facility and 85,000 square feet at a metal frame plant.
The company began by making cabinets and armoires more than 30 years ago. A new partner, Fernand Fontaine, came on board in 1976, and the owners came up with the name Dutailier.
A couple of years later, Fontaine — who is still CEO today — bought out the founder and began making changes.
The company polled retailers about what goods they wanted and found storeowners were upset with the small-scale way gliders were manufactured. Many stores were supplied by people working out of their garages or machine shops, according to David Fontaine, the company's marketing manager
Dutailier went after the glider market hard and now does about 85% of its sales in that niche, with the other 15% in the infant and juvenile segment.
Before the recession hit, Dutailier peaked at C$70 million in 2000. Sales declined by C$10 million over the next five years before the company found what it believes is the right formula: going beyond the stereotyped glider with better looks that more closely resemble standard recliners.
Sales leveled off at about C$60 million in 2006 and are expected to grow in 2007.
The recliner market is four times bigger than the glider market, so it makes sense to cross over into that area, David Fontaine said.
Its opening gliders retail for US$299, with the high end of its Dutailier line hitting $799. Its step-up Avant Glide models feature microfiber or leather along with added functionality at prices from $1,199 to $1,999.
Starter seating has gliding action using a patent-pending mechanism that lasts up to 6 million cycles. As an add-on feature, a swivel base allows 360-degree spinning.
A step up in price point offers a multi-position locking feature that allows the glider to be frozen at multiple points in the rocking. The back and seat move together to maintain proper seating posture. A recliner function allows the backrest to drop back as the seat slides forward slightly.
Top-of-the-line products offer all the movement features, along with 15 finishes and more than 150 cover choices, among them 15 leathers and 22 microfibers, which are chosen for 70% to 80% of the upper-priced lines.
"Consumers can custom-make their own glider," Fontaine said. "On top of that, if they don't find a fabric that matches their need, they only have to ship us their own fabric and we will make cushions out of it."
Dutailier also promotes gliders as part of its juvenile line.
At the All Baby & Child Show in Las Vegas last year, it showed a glider line aimed at parents rocking their babies — with features such as a bigger seat cushion to make room for a child sitting in mom's lap.
The baby gliders are distributed to youth specialty stores. These stores also have their pick of 10 youth furniture groups from the company, including convertible cribs that transform into a daybed, a backless loveseat or a twin bed as children grow.
Also in the line are bunk beds, standard beds, dressers, drawer chests, nightstands, desks and hutches, armoires, toy chests, multiple bookcases and under-bed trundle drawers. With more than 30 wood finishes and two-tone options, the 10 collections offer hundreds of possible SKUs.
Managing the SKU count during manufacturing is made simpler by the way the factories handle their unfinished wood supplies. The plants buy components from outside firms, including steam-bent chairbacks and headboard slats. To keep inventories low, supplies are delivered frequently.
"We keep only three days of raw wood on hand," Fontaine said.
Cushions and frames are stored separately and only come together once an order has been placed, giving the plant the flexibility to use pieces interchangeably on various products.
The company stresses workplace quality and safety, he added. Dutailier was ISO-certified for five years before deciding to forgo certification because the paperwork was a burden, and Fontaine said the company still emphasizes the quality assurance ideals that ISO embodies.
Quality construction is essential in a glider, he said. The chair's center of gravity constantly shifts as the glider moves, so any structural weakness will show. And, he added, with the gliders and furniture expected to be used by infants and children, safety becomes an even greater priority.
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