by Rick Ludolph r.ludolph@productivesol.com
plant facts
Longview, N.C.
Product: Residential upholstery
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.
References:
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