Broyhill to consolidate N.C. upholstery plants
By Heath E. Combs -- Furniture Today, September 14, 2008
LENOIR, N.C. — Broyhill said last week it will consolidate all five of its upholstery manufacturing and warehousing sites in North Carolina into its idled Pacemaker plant, a former case goods production facility here.
Some employees are expected to be laid off in the initial move, but the company said it also could add some 400 jobs at the plant over the next several years as its upholstery business grows.
The 522,000-square-foot Pacemaker plant is next to Broyhill's central warehouse. The consolidation will improve efficiencies in moving product, said Ralph Scozzafava, chairman and CEO of Broyhill parent Furniture Brands International.
“The new plan for the Pacemaker facility represents our blueprint for successful high-volume domestic upholstery manufacturing and delivers on Furniture Brands' goal of delivering operational excellence,” Scozzafava said.
The move will consolidate five facilities with a total of some 614,000 square feet — four in the Lenoir area and one in Taylorsville, N.C.
The consolidation is expected to cost about $3 million and should be completed in the first quarter of 2009, the company said. The plant will make leather and fabric stationery upholstery, said John Hastings, vice president of communications for Furniture Brands.
About 10% of the workers from the five consolidated facilities may be laid off or offered some other form of severance, Hastings said. The consolidating facilities currently employ about 750.
Caldwell County and the City of Lenior offered Broyhill $2 million in incentives to retain existing employees here, said Alan Wood, senior development manager for the county.
The state of North Carolina will give the company another $2 million if it creates 430 additional jobs over five years starting in 2010, he added.
The Pacemaker facility, built in 1971, was closed in 2006. The upholstery operations will move there in December, Hastings said.
“The real benefit comes from the ability to increase production rapidly as our upholstery business grows,” said Jeff Cook, president of Broyhill, in a press release.
This year, Furniture Brands announced it will close a Lane facility in Pontotoc, Miss., and a Henredon and Drexel Heritage plant in High Point. The company also said it had acquired property to expand the capacity of its Semarang, Indonesia plant, which makes high-end case goods.
In early August, another FBI company, Thomasville Furniture, announced it would hire more 100 employees for its only remaining U.S. case goods plant in Lenoir, bringing its employment there to more than 800 workers.
Furniture Brands also acted this year to consolidate its headquarters operations in St. Louis, receiving another $4 million in government incentives for that move.
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Broyhill to consolidate N.C. upholstery plants
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