U.S. - Ashley Furniture Industries, Inc. (Ashley), one of the largest manufacturer of home furnishings in the world, announced the acquisition of Homestar North America LLC’s facility in Statesville, North Carolina to launch the company’s latest initiative of Ready-To-Assemble (RTA) furniture.
Through its new RTA furniture offering, the Ashley brand is expanding its diverse offering with an additional lower price-point and packaging system geared around a timelier customer delivery process.
“This is a major investment by our company, and one we feel will allow us to better serve our customers worldwide,” said Todd Wanek, President and CEO of Ashley. “As an industry, we’re starting to see more people live in urban spaces. The production of RTA furniture allows the product to be easily navigated into these spaces and assembled at the point of use.”
The 29,000 m2 Homestar facility will provide the capacity to produce over 500 SKUs, which include the production of bedroom, entertainment, upholstered beds, occasional tables, and home office furniture. Homestar generates over USD 50 million in annual sales and provides excellent expansion capability to produce additional RTA products and grow the facility’s revenue significantly.
“We are excited to grow the RTA assortment and provide proven products to our customers,” said Wanek. “By December, we will expand the RTA product to all of our U.S. distribution centers and will be well-positioned to supply the products to our customers, with key focus on our GMROI.”
Located less than 40 miles away from Ashley’s Mid-Atlantic Advanced Manufacturing and Distribution facility in Advance, North Carolina, the Statesville location will add to the company’s regional economic-impact. The Statesville facility has approximately 180 workers with opportunity for expansion of the workforce as production increases.
“When we considered commencing RTA operations, one of the major attractions was the workforce at this facility in Statesville,” said Travis Wagner, Senior Vice President of Global Manufacturing for Ashley. “We’re excited to welcome the employees to the new team, and look forward to making this site a world-class RTA operation.”
