About La-Z-Boy
› What: Manufactures and distributes upholstery furniture products. Company is the leading global producer of reclining chairs and the second largest manufacturer/distributor of residential furniture in the United States.› How: The La-Z-Boy Furniture Galleries stores retail network is the third largest retailer of single-branded furniture in the U.S. It has a network of 331 La-Z-Boy Furniture Galleries stores and 573 La-Z-Boy Comfort Studio locations to market La-Z-Boy branded products.› Facilities: Seven major North American manufacturing locations and six regional distribution centers in the U.S.› Other operations: Company’s Kincaid and England operating units have their own dedicated proprietary in-store programs with over 530 outlets and over 1.6 million square feet of floor space.› Future: La-Z-Boy is expanding its branded distribution channels by executing its 4-4-5 store growth initiative. That effort aims to expand its La-Z-Boy Furniture Galleries stores network to 400 stores averaging $4 million in sales per store over the five-year period that began with fiscal 2014.Source: La-Z-Boy
DAYTON, Tenn. - La-Z-Boy Chief Executive Kurt Darrow has watched over the years as about half of America's furniture industry shifted production overseas.
Darrow insists La-Z-Boy is different from other furniture makers and has kept production of its famous recliners in the United States.
"We stuck the flag in the ground," Darrow recently told employees at La-Z-Boy's plant in Dayton. "'Made in America' still means something."
Since coming to Dayton and opening a 300,000-square-foot plant in Rhea County some 40 years ago, La-Z-Boy has expanded to 1.2 million square feet, and the Monroe, Mich.-based company isn't finished.
"We'll continue to invest," Darrow told some of the 1,375 employees at the plant, saying there are plans to plow more money into the factory in the next couple of years.
The CEO and other top La-Z-Boy officials came to Dayton to mark 7 million work hours without a lost work day at the factory, a United States record for the industry, company officials said.
That's nearly three years of work time at the plant that is Dayton's biggest employer, where workers make about 4,000 pieces of furniture a day.
Darrow said the new safety milestone beat a record previously set by the Dayton facility, and that the workforce isn't done yet.
"I don't think 7 million is the ceiling," he said.
Another La-Z-Boy plant is at 6.5 million work hours, Darrow said, adding there is "a culture of safety" within the manufacturer.
"It's something engineered in our DNA," he said.
Don Mather, the factory's vice president, said it's often quoted that it takes a village to raise a child. He said that also holds true when it comes to the plant's employees and safety.
"It takes each employee saying, 'I've got your back,'" Mather said. "The most important result is our teammates go home, hold their children."
Dennis Poland, the plant's safety manager, said the company has a safety commitment and the factory engages employees on a daily basis.
"It's looking for hazards in the workplace," he said. "We live and breathe safety."
The Dayton facility is La-Z-Boy's largest plant and accounts for about 40 percent of the company's business, Darrow said. Employees make recliners, sofas, ottomans and other furniture.
The company's bottom line is up as housing starts and the national economy continue to grow, according to La-Z-Boy. Third quarter net income was $21.9 million, up from $17.95 million a year earlier, the company reported. Third quarter sales were $384 million, up 7.3 percent, it said.
"Business is pretty good," Darrow said. "We had another strong year."
U.S. Rep. Scott DesJarlais, R-Tenn., said he has toured about 50 different businesses while serving in Congress and he's impressed by the Dayton operation.
"I saw production and salaries going up the harder you work," he said. "I saw people hustling and sweating, working together as a team."
Darrow wouldn't say what kind of future investments La-Z-Boy plans to make in Dayton, but the company over the past year or so has introduced a new robot. It also recently introduced an automated production process for metal implements which hold recliner seatbacks into place.
Poland said the new robot puts wooden bases together and does a job in which there are injury risks to workers. Those workers are freed up to handle other tasks in the factory, he said.
State Rep. Ron Travis, who represents Rhea County and formerly worked at the plant, said Tennessee's economic development website notes that "to make the best product, you need the best people."
"Today, that shows," he said. "La-Z-Boy has been a great asset. People have been a great asset to La-Z-Boy."
DesJarlais quipped that Father's Day was upcoming and he'd like nothing more than to receive as a gift from his children a chair made at the factory.
Darrow joked that the congressman ought to get "the whole room."
Contact Mike Pare at mpare@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6318.