Southerland Looks to Expand Workforce

June 29, 2020  by Laurie Northington in Business Strategy, Industry   

The manufacturer is looking to expand its customer service, shipping and quality control departments, as well as increase production staffing, supervisory positions and truck drivers for Southerland Transport, its wholly owned trucking division.

“The bedding industry is on the rebound as the country re-opens from the standstill brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic. We’re experiencing that activity firsthand across all of our factories, and we need more staff to keep up with demand,” said Bryan Smith, president and chief executive officer of Southerland.

Smith attributes much of the jump in business to an increased appetite for domestic-made products bolstered by supply chain disruption both in part to COVID and because of the ongoing anti-dumping investigation by the U.S. Department of Commerce concerning imports of mattress from seven countries, including China, Vietnam, Malaysia and Thailand.

“Our retail partners are making a conscious decision to pivot toward American-made sleep products in concert with demand from their consumers who are increasingly concerned with where mattresses and other household goods are manufactured,” Smith said. “There’s a sense of security and patriotism in knowing that a major purchase is crafted by American workers in an American factory.”