Ashley Furniture Industries, Inc. is an American furniture manufacturer and retailer, headquartered in Arcadia, Wisconsin. The company is owned by father and son teams Ron and Todd Wanek. Ashley Furniture manufactures and distributes home furniture products worldwide.
Ashley Furniture Industries sells home furnishings and accessories available through two distribution channels: an independent furniture dealer and more than 700 Ashley Home Store furniture stores, owned and operated independently by licensees in the United States, Canada, Mexico, Central America, and Japan. It has manufacturing and distribution facilities in Wisconsin, Mississippi, California (closed 2016), Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Florida, China, and Vietnam.
Video Ashley Furniture Industries
Histori
Carlyle Weinberger founded Ashley Furniture in Chicago in 1945 as a sales operation. Specializing in occasional wood furniture, Ashley markets goods made by local companies. Then the company opened a branch in Goshen, Indiana. In 1970, Ashley invested in Arcadia Furniture based in Wisconsin, founded by Ronald G. Wanek. When Wanek moved to Arcadia to open his own factory, he brought along the son of Eugene Vogel, Chuck. The two started doing production work for Ashley Furniture. Although Arcadia started as a small production plant for the Ashley line in 1976, Wanek and the group of investors bought Weinberger, taking over Ashley Furniture. At first the two companies retained their separate identities, with Arcadia focusing on production and Ashley on sale.
In 1982, the company's combined annual sales reached $ 12 million and had moved its corporate headquarters from Chicago to Arcadia. In the mid-1980s, Ashley offered a line of approximately 350 different furniture products, and has transformed its design and manufacture away from "heritage pieces" toward products targeted to middle-income buyers. The company's growing network includes wholesalers such as Levitz Furniture and wholesalers like Sears, Kmart, and Montgomery Ward, in addition to smaller retailers. Sales have increased to more than $ 44 million in 1985.
In 1994, Ashley purchased the Sklar-Peppler coating factory, and in the late 1990s it operated assembly and distribution plants in Seattle, Washington; Pomona, California; New Brunswick, New Jersey; and Orlando, Florida. Gambling that moving furniture is a strong growth area, Ashley acquired Gentry Furniture, from Ripley, Mississippi in 1999. In the same year the company also branched out into retail, licensing Ashley Furniture HomeStores to an independent dealer. The chain grew in its first year to about 40 stores.
In 2000, Ashley Furniture Industries hired more people in Arcadia than city dwellers. The plant in Arcadia has grown from 35,000 square feet (3,300m 2 ) in 1970 to 1,500,000 square feet (140,000 m 2 ). In 2015, the US Occupational Safety and Health Administration was fined $ 1.7 million for Ashley because of unsafe working conditions at the Arcadia plant causing more than a thousand worker injuries.
The company currently maintains factories throughout the United States and also operates several factories (including the largest) in Pacific Rim countries such as Vietnam and China. They also have offices in India, Vietnam, South China, Muar (Malaysia furniture center), and Taiwan. Ron Wanek currently serves as Chairman of the Board and Todd Wanek is currently the President and CEO.
Maps Ashley Furniture Industries
Retail presence
The Ashley Furniture HomeStore chain furniture store consists of privately-owned stores and independently owned stores with a license to sell Ashley Furniture products exclusively, including mattresses and accessories. There are more than 800 Ashley Furniture HomeStore retail furniture stores operating throughout the world. Ashley Furniture HomeStore is a retail brand that sells furniture and home accessories. Ashley Furniture HomeStore CEO is Todd Wanek, who replaces CEO Mark Dufresne in 2017.
Memorial Park
Ron Wanek designed and built the Memorial Park in Arcadia, Wisconsin, with donations from Ashley Furniture. This park is dedicated to the soldiers who have served in war throughout the history of the United States. The footpaths in the park serve as timelines, beginning with the founding of the United States and continuing into the future. A monument is located for every war in its place on time.
References
External links
- ashleyfurnitureindustriesinc.com
Source of the article : Wikipedia
0 Comments