Daily News Archive
Brought to you by Home Furnishings Business
October 23,
2011 by in UnCategorized 
By Home Furnishings Business in Delivery on October 24, 2011
Sears has once again added markets to its business partnership with
Diakon Logistics.
The retailer has partnered with Diakon Logistics to provide dedicated home delivery services in the Cincinnati, Ohio; Columbus, Ohio; and Grand Rapids, Mich., markets. The markets will add more than 30 trucks to Diakon's overall fleet around the country.
Working with
Sears since the 1991, Diakon Logistics has been providing a range of dedicated home delivery services, including warehousing, customer service, home delivery, and installation of all types of big-ticket items, including appliances, lawn and garden equipment and bedding to Sears in numerous markets throughout the United States.
"Our corporate strategy is based on one philosophy, Its Mrs. Jones Day, a premise based on the principle that each delivery is done with the thought that it is the only delivery we are making that day ¦ making it Mrs. Jones day, said Charles Johnson. Our retailer clients are recognizing the competitive advantage of our customer service approach and it is driving the continued growth of our Company. The difference is in the details and we will continue that focus in making our retailer clients even more successful.
October 23,
2011 by in UnCategorized
By Home Furnishings Business in Special Events on October 24, 2011
Donald Belgrad, Alex Bernhadt and Gordon Segal were inducted into the American Furniture Hall of Fame at Sunday night's Hall of Fame banquet.
The sold-out event at High Point Furniture Market was hosted by Kathy Ireland, CEO and chief designer of Kathy Ireland Worldwide, and attended by leading retailers, buying group members, interior designers, manufacturers, suppliers and other foundation members.
Belgrad, former president and CEO of Schnadig International Corp., worked tirelessly for industry and philanthropic causes, spending his entire furniture career at Schnadig, where he built it into the largest U.S. family-owned upholstery producer. He pioneered the correlated approach to upholstery starting with occasional groups, and then moving to living rooms, dining rooms and bedrooms. Identifying the global manufacturing trend, he quickly established a Chinese subsidiary to ensure quality, production control and supply chain management before orchestrating the sale of Schnadig to Markor International Furniture in 2009.
Bernhardt, chairman and CEO of Bernhardt Furniture, led the company to become an award-winning design leader in residential and contract furniture. During his tenure, he quadrupled the size of the business founded by his grandfather in 1889, making it the largest high-end furniture company in the United States. Bernhardt Furniture has won nine Pinnacle awards and 32 Best of Neocon awards. The company also was one of the first American manufacturers to import parts and later fully-made furniture from Asia.
Segal, co-founder and former CEO of Crate and Barrel, built the retailer from one store in Chicago to an internationally renowned home furnishings business with more than 100 stores in the U.S. and abroad. With a focus on design and a reputation for flawless customer service and integrity, Segal was among the first to buy directly from factories in Europe. He introduced innovative and much emulated methods of visual and product merchandising, dubbed "the Crate and Barrel look." For decades, Crate and Barrel has been among the nation's top 20 furniture stores.
"This election was the first year using our new selection process, which incorporated a vote by the membership with a points-based rating system of each nominee by the Foundations Industry Fellow Selection Committee," said Kurt Darrow, president of the American Furniture Hall of Fame Foundation and CEO of La-Z-Boy. "The nomination process also was more thorough, insuring that the Hall of Fame will always represent an elite field of industry leaders. We congratulate each new member for their enduring excellence, superior accomplishments, innovation and creativity, and philanthropic generosity in their time, talents and resources."
Under the new selection system, the inductees were determined by the combination of a vote of the membership and a points-based rating system of each nominee by the Foundations Industry Fellow Selection Committee. The voting period began July 8 and ended August 5.
October 23,
2011 by in UnCategorized
By Home Furnishings Business in on October 24, 2011
The Specialized Furniture Carriers
has launched a Web site to serve both its members and their current and prospective customers.
The organization is a trade group representing more than 30 companies dedicated to the handling and transporting of furniture.
Members of the Specialized Furniture Carriers are companies with at least 50 percent of their outbound shipments devoted to furniture. They are distinguished from general commodities carriers by their furniture-specific equipment and skills. Long-term relationships with specific furniture manufacturers are common.
Members have access to several transportation-specific American Home Furnishings Alliance(http://www.ahfa.us) benefits, including a fuel card program offering significantly reduced fuel costs at over 9,000 truck stops nationwide and a fleet maintenance program providing 10 percent off service fees for roadside assistance and 8 percent off monthly fees for fleet maintenance.
Members of the Specialized Furniture Carriers also participate in AHFA's Annual Supply Chain Conference and have other networking and educational opportunities throughout the year.
The newly-developed website offers a complete directory of furniture carrier members along with the location of their corporate headquarters. An events calendar keeps members up-to-date on both carrier and AHFA events, and a news page offers the latest headlines from Transportation News, the Journal of Commerce and the U.S. business section of the online Wall Street Journal.
Carriers interested in joining the Specialized Furniture Carriers will find complete membership information on the site, and manufacturers or retailers looking for a specialized furniture carrier will have access to the carrier membership directory.
October 23,
2011 by in UnCategorized
By Home Furnishings Business in on October 24, 2011
Philip H. Kowalczyk will join
fabric vendor Robert Allen Group as president and CEO, effective Nov. 1.
Jeff Cordover, formerly CEO, will become the non-executive Chairman of the Board of Directors of the company.
Kowalczyk, who also joins the Board, has more than 25 years of business experience with an outstanding track record of growth and profitability in several industries with an accomplished background in retailing, brand management and management consulting. His most recent position was president of The Body Shop, Americas.
The Robert Allen Group is a leading designer and marketer of decorative fabrics and furnishings to the interior design trade. The company sells its products under the Beacon Hill, Robert Allen, Robert Allen Contract and Robert Allen@Home brands.
October 23,
2011 by in UnCategorized
By Home Furnishings Business in on October 24, 2011
North America's leading producer of ready-to-assemble furniture,
Sauder Woodworking, has won the
2011 Sage Award for environmental excellence.
Based in Archbold, Ohio, the 77-year-old, family-run operation reports nearly $450 million in annual sales and employs more than 2,000 workers in more than 5 million square feet of highly efficient manufacturing space. From the company's Depression-era beginning, when its frugal founder sought to make use of the "leftovers" from his small custom cabinet and church pew business, to today's high tech sustainability initiatives, Sauder has maintained environmental stewardship as a core value.
Founder Erie Sauder's commitment to stewardship of resources proved an important foundation for weathering the 1980s, when environmental regulation transformed American industry. In 1993, still well ahead of the "sustainability movement," Sauder installed the largest wood-fired, co-generation system in the industry to address the growing volume of wood dust and wood residuals. Since that time, the co-generation plant has consumed an average of 250 tons of wood waste each day to generate four megawatts of power from green, renewable wood fiber. In addition, since the system began operation, Sauder has not taken a single load of wood waste to the landfill.
Sauder has calculated its carbon footprint since 2008 and began reporting these figures to the Carbon Disclosure Project in 2009. Since the 2008 baseline, the companys domestic operating division has reduced its overall carbon footprint by nearly 32 percent.
In 2011, the company launched two large-scale process improvements to further reduce its carbon footprint: a $1.5 million effort to convert the lighting in 4 million square feet of space to energy efficient fluorescent fixtures and a $1.7 million project to install new technology on 22 dust collection systems. The new equipment automatically optimizes air flow in the dust collection system to minimize energy use. When complete, these two projects will reduce Sauders carbon footprint an additional 27 percent.
Sauder also designs its products and selects the raw component materials to build those products based on its commitment to sustainability.
Over 95 percent of the wood fiber used to produce the wood components of Sauder furniture comes from post-industrial or post-consumer recycled wood. All engineered wood components meet or exceed Californias formaldehyde emissions limits--the most stringent in the world. The composite wood panels used in Sauder furniture use up to 95 percent of the wood resource, compared to an average of 60 to 65 percent that is used when constructing solid wood furniture. Back panels are constructed using 100 percent post-consumer recycled material. All coatings and adhesives are either water based or are 100 percent solids. None are solvent based.
The Sage Awards were launched in 2008 by
the American Home Furnishings Alliance and Cargill's
BiOH polyols business to seek out and spotlight environmental innovators from whom others in the home furnishings and bedding industries can learn. The competition is open to retail, manufacturing and supplier companies in both the furniture and bedding industries.
The Sage Award winner receives $2,500 to be donated to the environmental cause or charitable organization of their choice. In addition, the winner and both finalists will be featured in a customized video that spotlights their environmental achievements. The videos will be presented Feb. 22 at the 2012 Furniture Industry Sustainability Summit in Raleigh, N.C., and also will be
featured on the Sage Award Web site for a year.