Most Read
Most E-mailed
E-mail Article
Print Article
Transforming The Ordinary to the Extraordinary
By Dick Baynton
Despite pressures from foreign manufacturers, Vaughan-Bassett Furniture Company continues to thrive in America .
Just a few minutes' drive from the North Carolina border, Galax, Va. is a picturesque town located on the line that separates Carroll and Grayson counties in the Blue Ridge Mountains . The community is the home of the Vaughan-Bassett Furniture Company, Inc. and one of its production/warehouse facilities.
Founded in 1919 by J.D. Bassett Sr. and B.C. Vaughan, the company is a beehive of activity. The current president and CEO is John D. Bassett III . Son Wyatt is executive vice president and his brother Doug is vice president of sales. This family combination runs the company of 1,600 employees with evangelistic zeal. About 2 million square feet of space houses manufacturing, warehousing and offices at plants located in Galax and Atkins , Va. , Elkin , N.C. and Sumter , S.C.
About 95 percent of production is bedroom suites, while the balance is youth, dining room and occasional tables. Species include oak, ash, pine, poplar, maple and cherry veneer. The company is vertically integrated with dry kilns and facilities for veneer applications over substrates.
According to its most recent annual report, company sales have eroded from more than $168 million in 2000 to about $146 million in 2003, a reduction of about 13 percent. Profits have declined nearly 35 percent during the same period.
Domestic wood furniture shipments in the United States have fallen from $12.12 billion in 2000 to $10.67 billion in 2002, a 12.5 percent decline. The domestic share has dropped precipitously for the last four years. About 35,000 furniture industry workers have lost their jobs since January 2001 and dozens of factories have been shuttered. A survey of 18 typical U.S. producers with nearly $1 billion in bedroom furniture sales revealed that their shipments fell 21 percent, sales revenue shrank 20 percent and operating income took a 47 percent nose dive between 2000 and 2002.
