La-Z-Boy plant welcomes Gov. Beebe
Posted on Sunday, June 29, 2008
Norma Dennis has firsthand experience with a philosophy that's rejiggered the assembly of La-Z-Boy sofas and chairs at the popular recliner brand's plant in Siloam Springs and at five others in the United States.
Sitting in front of her sewing machine, Dennis, a 35-year La-Z-Boy manufacturing worker, said dividing furniture assembly into "cells"has created a noticeable difference in the flow of work.
"Before, people used to be in lines," she explained. "There'd be a line of back makers, a line of seat makers, and there might be a whole bunch of rails"that weren't being attached to anything else.
But not anymore.
Dennis, 61, of Siloam Springs, said there aren't a lot of things sitting around without parts to them.
La-Z-Boy bigwigs from Monroe, Mich., and state and local officials gathered Wednesday morning to celebrate efforts to save money through "cellular"manufacturing.
Another 100 jobs are expected to come online over the next six months, the result of closing a plant in Utah. Kevin Harmon, general manager at the Siloam Springs plant, said the new way of doing things means workers assemble specific pieces of furniture in teams of five to seven employees, instead of working individually on a certain production line.
"The cellular conversion across the company is what's being celebrated, '' Harmon said after a formal presentation that had dignitaries in recliners lined up on a podium outside the plant's administrative entrance.
Siloam Springs was the first to adopt the money-saving methodology in 2004, he said.
"It's basically about the elimination of waste - the waste of motion, movement, inventory and time, '' he said.
Harmon said La-Z-Boy's only Arkansas location has saved about $ 1 million since introducing the alternative process. The plant ships out $ 70 million worth of merchandise a year, he said.
La-Z-Boy employs about 380 people in Siloam Springs and 9, 600 companywide.
Michael Cooper, La-Z-Boy's human resources manager, said six jobs will be created in July, the result of a shift in manufacturing from La-Z-Boy's Tremonton, Utah, plant.
Teams of six employees will then be added every two weeks, he said.
The jobs, which can start out paying $ 9 per hour and average about $ 13 an hour, will be on the second shift that runs from 4: 30 p.m. to 3 a.m.
The announcement follows a June 4 announcement that 80 positions are being cut from DaySpring, a Christian greeting card company in Siloam Springs owned by Hallmark Cards Inc.
"We're extremely fortunate to have a diversity of industry in Siloam Springs, '' said M. L. "Moose"Van Poucke, the mayor of the town that's next to the Oklahoma border.
The proposed second shift will almost be like having a new industry, said Van Poucke, noting the number of positions.
Founded in 1927, La-Z-Boy founders Edwin Shoemaker and Edward Knabusch introduced the reclining chair to America in 1929.
The chair was the cousins' best-known product in a whole line of furniture.
As the Floral City Furniture business continued to expand, it acquired more manufacturing locations. La-Z-Boy became the official company name in 1996, according to a U. S. Securities and Exchange Commission filing. By 1973, the company purchased the old Pet Milk plant in Siloam Springs.
And in 1995, a new plant was built that doubled the size of the existing one, according to The Legend of La-Z-Boy by Jeffrey Rodengen and Richard Hubbard.
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