Production efficiency
Changing to meet
consumer demand
A new home for Drexel Heritage’s Plant #7 enables
the company to increase the speed of upholstery
production.
by Rick Ludolph
r.ludolph@productivesol.com
plant facts
Drexel Heritage, Plant #7
Longview, N.C.
Product: Residential upholstery
Employees: 350
Plant size: 319,000 square feet
Web site: www.drexelheritage.com
Rick Ludolph is president of Productive
Solutions LLC, an Atlanta-based consulting
services firm providing business strategy,
enterprise consulting and technology
guidance. He can be reached via e-mail at
r.ludolph@productivesol.com.
Since Furniture Brands
International announced last
year that it would combine
the operations of Henredon, Drexel
Heritage and Maitland-Smith into
HDM Furniture Industries (HDM),
their North Carolina upholstery
manufacturing operations have
undergone considerable change.
Consolidation of some Henredon
and Drexel Heritage upholstery
operations, for example, has helped the
company better leverage the combined
resources and best practices of the
independently successful companies.
While each company continues to
develop and drive its own products
and brands, the HDM management
team, led by Jeff Young, president and
CEO, has been strengthened by some
of the most talented and experienced
people in the industry.
“Every member of our management
team — including Thad Monroe,
senior vice president of upholstery
— has deep experience in the
furniture business,” says David Lewis,
HDM’s vice president of upholstery
manufacturing. “This gives us a
tremendous advantage as we know
what can be done, and together can
find the best way to achieve it.”
The elegant Ophelia sofa features decorative show wood and a stunning
assortment of fabrics.
Successful change
Change can present
challenges, but
it also can yield
positive results.
An example is
Drexel Heritage’s recently
relocated Upholstery Plant
#7. Housed for many
years in a three-story,
150,000-square-foot
building in Morganton,
N.C., the company is now
in final stages of moving
the operation to a much
larger facility in Longview,
near the Hickory Regional
Airport.
