by Recently completed project increases its custom capabilities and also sharpens lead times on wood furniture and upholstery
THOMASVILLE, N.C. — Accent and occasional seating and wood furniture specialist Woodbridge Furniture has nearly doubled its footprint here with an expansion that it expects to boost capacity and facilitate future growth.
The company recently added about 50,000 square feet to a building it originally occupied around early 2018, bringing the total to 114,000 square feet.
The project added on to its warehouse and distribution space, thus increasing the amount of room for finished goods. In addition to offering more capacity, this also allowed it to consolidate its shipping into one facility from two locations previously including a third-party-operated offsite location in Asheboro, North Carolina.
“We are expanding our product portfolio and that led to the need for more space,” said Watts Humphrey, who is president and a partner in the business.
Woodbridge is known for its upper-end line of wood furniture and seating. On the wood side, its mix includes occasional and accent tables, writing desks, beds, dining tables, plus cabinets and bookcases, consoles, buffets and vanities. On the seating side, it offers a wide range of dining and accent chairs, plus ottomans and bar stools.
It also has an outdoor line that includes sofas, chairs and chaises as well as tables and chairs and ottomans.
Finished and unfinished wood frames of indoor and outdoor cases, tables and seating are imported from overseas, primarily Vietnam and Indonesia.
While much of the line comes in a standard wood finish for pieces that are available in stock, the company also offers painted finishes that are applied in-house on most pieces in the line.
On the upholstery side, it stocks many pieces in a neutral performance-type fabric, while applying COM fabrics in-house, supporting a robust custom seating business.
The expansion aims to help fuel growth in the custom area of its business, including another spray booth for its custom finishing area and doubling the amount of space in its COM upholstery area. The project also doubled its office footprint which handles customer service and other administrative support.
Altogether, the increased footprint supports a company that employs more than 30, up from about 21 in 2018.
And with the expansion, the company has been able to sharpen its custom upholstery lead times to eight weeks, from 12-14 weeks at the start of the year. Humphrey said this reduction occurred as the company was able to improve the efficiency of the production floor footprint while also bringing in additional upholsterers for example.
“And from a finishing standpoint, it was the same thing,” Humphrey added, noting that lead times here have decreased from about 12 weeks to about eight. “We have a second spray booth, and we are at least able to double our output with our custom finishing.”
While helping position the company for future growth, the expansion also aims to support its customers more with the type of custom product they desire. It also helps get the product to them more quickly through its consolidation of warehouse operations.
“We made this investment for our customers,” Humphrey said. “Obviously we wouldn’t be in business without them. What it means is that we now have a growth-oriented infrastructure.”
The people at Woodbridge have always been a pleasure to deal with.
The quality of their goods and even their packaging have always been exceptional.
Success couldn’t come to a better company.