Furniture maker cuts back local management
By Russ Oechslin Journal correspondent | Posted: Friday, February 15, 2008
MILFORD, Iowa -- Changes in the furniture market and the closing of one of its largest customers led to cutbacks of management staff at one of Dickinson County's largest employers, J.B. Davis, president and CEO of Klaussner Home Furnishings said in a letter published in an industry trade magazine.
"Change is never easy," Davis' letter in "Furniture Today" magazine begins. But "sub-prime mortgage foreclosures, rising transportation costs and widespread uncertainty about our industry's economic future, alongside the ever-changing demands of today's consumer, have required that we adjust the way we conduct business or see the bottom line dwindle for clinging in vain to outdated business practices that simply no longer get the job done."
"As demonstrated by the recent closing of one of Klaussner's largest customers, Sofa Express and More! due to a declining housing market and other economic challenges, change can indeed be very difficult," the 27-year veteran CEO continued. "The closing of the SEM chain, like many we've heard about during the last year, will undoubtedly continue to have reverberating effects on Klaussner's customers and employees.
"However, while Klaussner is sure to take a hit for the close of SEM and Levitz in the short term, we have in place plans for best business practices and implementation that will ensure Klaussner will remain a thriving business for many years to come.
"Take my word: Klaussner is not going anywhere," he said. "Klaussner remains a strong, trusted leader in the home furnishings industry, and we maintain a solid and loyal customer base that will continue to enjoy the innovative and reliable customer service they have become accustomed to in our nearly 30-year history.
Klaussner recently laid off local Klaussner president Randy Eakin, a 30-year veteran of the company, who started his career at the Milford plant when it was locally-owned and known as StyleCraft Furniture.
Partly due to the economy and automation within the plant, employment at the Milford plant is now about 300, after peaking at about 1,200 just a few years ago, says Klaussner's local Human Resources Manager George Wigens.
The lay off of Eakin and several other office and management-level employees "was purely a business decision and does not reflect on the management," says Wigens, who has been with the company for 20 years.
"Randy was a great leader for us. He started on the floor and worked his way up," Wigens said this week.
The structural moves will make the company stronger "for the long haul," says Wigens. "I suspect many other manufacturers will not be able to say that a year or so down the road."
Recent figures from the Iowa Lakes Corridor Development Corp. show that Spirit Lake's Pure Fishing continues to be the largest employer in Dickinson County, with 550 co-workers, followed by Polaris Industries, with 550, and Rosenboom Manufacturing with 280.
Lakes Regional Hospital lists 250 on staff. The Spirit Lake Community Schools has 225 employees. And Northern Iowa Die Casting, in Lake Park lists 150.
Klaussner Home Furnishings is one of the largest U.S. furniture companies. Owned by Hans Klaussner since 1979, it is the only independently-owned foreign independent major furniture manufacturing company in the U.S.
Based in Asheboro, N.C., with 16 manufacturing and distribution facilities and about 3,000 employees, Klaussner is best-known its value priced home furnishings.
The fourth-largest furniture company in the U.S,. Klaussner announced in January that is was laying off about 130 people in Asheboro as a result of the sluggish retail furniture market, citing the recent bankruptcies of two of its largest customers, Levitz and Sofa Express. Klaussner had a major ownership stake in the Sofa Express chain.
"Change is never easy," Davis' letter in "Furniture Today" magazine begins. But "sub-prime mortgage foreclosures, rising transportation costs and widespread uncertainty about our industry's economic future, alongside the ever-changing demands of today's consumer, have required that we adjust the way we conduct business or see the bottom line dwindle for clinging in vain to outdated business practices that simply no longer get the job done."
"As demonstrated by the recent closing of one of Klaussner's largest customers, Sofa Express and More! due to a declining housing market and other economic challenges, change can indeed be very difficult," the 27-year veteran CEO continued. "The closing of the SEM chain, like many we've heard about during the last year, will undoubtedly continue to have reverberating effects on Klaussner's customers and employees.
"However, while Klaussner is sure to take a hit for the close of SEM and Levitz in the short term, we have in place plans for best business practices and implementation that will ensure Klaussner will remain a thriving business for many years to come.
"Take my word: Klaussner is not going anywhere," he said. "Klaussner remains a strong, trusted leader in the home furnishings industry, and we maintain a solid and loyal customer base that will continue to enjoy the innovative and reliable customer service they have become accustomed to in our nearly 30-year history.
Klaussner recently laid off local Klaussner president Randy Eakin, a 30-year veteran of the company, who started his career at the Milford plant when it was locally-owned and known as StyleCraft Furniture.
Partly due to the economy and automation within the plant, employment at the Milford plant is now about 300, after peaking at about 1,200 just a few years ago, says Klaussner's local Human Resources Manager George Wigens.
The lay off of Eakin and several other office and management-level employees "was purely a business decision and does not reflect on the management," says Wigens, who has been with the company for 20 years.
"Randy was a great leader for us. He started on the floor and worked his way up," Wigens said this week.
The structural moves will make the company stronger "for the long haul," says Wigens. "I suspect many other manufacturers will not be able to say that a year or so down the road."
Recent figures from the Iowa Lakes Corridor Development Corp. show that Spirit Lake's Pure Fishing continues to be the largest employer in Dickinson County, with 550 co-workers, followed by Polaris Industries, with 550, and Rosenboom Manufacturing with 280.
Lakes Regional Hospital lists 250 on staff. The Spirit Lake Community Schools has 225 employees. And Northern Iowa Die Casting, in Lake Park lists 150.
Klaussner Home Furnishings is one of the largest U.S. furniture companies. Owned by Hans Klaussner since 1979, it is the only independently-owned foreign independent major furniture manufacturing company in the U.S.
Based in Asheboro, N.C., with 16 manufacturing and distribution facilities and about 3,000 employees, Klaussner is best-known its value priced home furnishings.
The fourth-largest furniture company in the U.S,. Klaussner announced in January that is was laying off about 130 people in Asheboro as a result of the sluggish retail furniture market, citing the recent bankruptcies of two of its largest customers, Levitz and Sofa Express. Klaussner had a major ownership stake in the Sofa Express chain.
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