When Couches Fly
Rowe Furniture Inc. vows not to fall to imports. All it needs is a faster way to make sofas and chairs.
From: Issue 84 | July 2004 | Page 80 | By: Chuck Salter
For Bruce Birnbach, the dining room may be the scariest part of the house. It's not that he's insecure about his table manners. It's just that for Birnbach, the president and COO of Rowe Furniture Inc., the dining room represents a vision of a future he's struggling desperately to avoid. Since January 2001, at least 49 U.S. plants specializing in wood furniture -- think dining tables and bedroom sets -- have closed. Imports have seized 52% of the market.
Fortunately, Rowe makes upholstered furniture -- sofas, ottomans, and such. Because these can come in so many styles and fabrics, they've proven tougher for exporters like China to reproduce in bulk. Still, trouble is looming: Imports have snagged about 16% of this market, compared with 9% five years ago. Birnbach is determined not to cede the living room to foreign producers. He's determined not to close 58-year-old Rowe's factories, and he's determined to keep its 1,464 production jobs here in the United States. The only way to do that, Birnbach believes, is to offer more styles and fabrics, and better quality. But above all, Rowe desperately needs a 10-day sofa.
If you've ever ordered furniture, you know that interplanetary missions have been planned and launched in less time than it takes to produce a made-to-order armchair or sofa. Before 1983, Rowe could take up to six weeks to produce and deliver a sofa. By 1987, Rowe had trimmed that to 30 days, increasing revenue from $60 million to $90 million. Now Rowe, which generates $176 million in annual sales, aims to slash turnaround by two-thirds over the next year, becoming as e ...