Jasper, Superior form alliance for custom finishing
By Thomas Russell -- Furniture Today, April 8, 2007
Grand Rapids, Mich. — Accent furniture resource Jasper Cabinet here has formed an alliance with Lowell, Mich.-based Superior Furniture and will use the latter's custom finishing capabilities.
Superior will assemble and finish Japser's imported secretaries, curio cabinets and other accent chests. They will be available in 46 stain and paint finishes, in three levels of hand distressing. The pieces will be finished in the 65,000-square-foot factory where Superior finishes, packages and ships its bedroom, dining room and occasional tables.
The finish options, far more than Jasper has in Asia, will give the company an advantage, said Superior President and CEO Bill Lee, and help it compete with larger companies that can offer better prices on large orders.
The move comes about a year after Jasper cut ties with an Amish plant in southern Indiana. Jasper President Robert Cribbs said that plant did a good job making secretaries, curios, drawer chests, cedar chests and gun cabinets, but product wasn't cost competitive.
Jasper continues to make secretaries, hand-painted chests and commercial desks in a plant in Jasper, Ind., one of its original factories, offering 20 standard and custom finishes.
"I'm still a firm believer in domestic product," Cribbs said. "I still believe the opportunity is there. A lot of companies have jumped (offshore) too quickly and are too price sensitive."
Jasper Cabinet's products lean toward the high end. Curios retail as high as $2,499, while secretaries retail between $1,499 and $3,999. A hand-painted chest of drawers would typically start at $1,499. Products available in only one finish from the company's catalog are available at lower prices, Cribbs said.
The company last showed in High Point at the April 2006 market, but Cribbs plans to have samples ready in time for the fall market, where Jasper and Superior will share a space.
About 25 workers at Superior will do everything from pre-finishing inspection and light assembly to finishing and final packaging on Jasper pieces.
"We are able to take what we are good at doing and offer this to a different manufacturer with non-competing goods," Superior's Lee said, noting his company does some private-label business but no other OEM work on this scale with a single vendor.
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