by Expansion of core case goods manufacturing facilities has allowed the company to offer occasional and home office as part of its product mix
DUNDEE, Ohio — Since a rebranding of the former Palettes by Winesburg as Mavin two years ago this past spring, the company has emerged even stronger with an expanded manufacturing footprint, additional capacity and new product lines.
The company’s overall footprint, including trucking, lumber storage, pallet, flooring and furniture production along with administrative offices, has since grown by about 75,000 square feet, bringing the total to about 240,000 square feet.
It also has added about 15-20 workers with the expansion, bringing the total workforce to about 260 across the entire vertical operation, ranging from its timber crews and sawmill to its furniture manufacturing operations and administrative offices.
The timing of these and other developments has occurred as the company has lowered lead times from a high of 24 weeks during the height of Covid to about six to eight weeks as of earlier this fall.
The developments also have allowed the company to add two new categories beyond its core bedroom and dining categories. In 2023, it launched occasional furniture and this past spring it launched home office.
Both categories are made with similar solid wood species as its signature bedroom and dining lines, including oak, rustic oak, cherry, maple, wormy maple, walnut and quarter-sawn oak. They also are available in more than 40 stains and painted finishes, allowing further customization within the line.
A half-dozen occasional groupings include round and rectangular cocktail tables and end tables with and without storage as well as consoles with or without storage. Cocktails are targeted to retail between $1,000 and around $1,200. The mix also includes a new group called Toulon that the company launched at the October market featuring cocktails retailing just under $1,000.
This past market it also expanded its home office mix with three new groups that offer executive desks and writing desks. The 66-inch executive desks are targeted to retail from $2,795 to $2,995, and writing desks are around $1,295. In addition, the groups offer a mix of standard file and lateral file units along with several companion bookcases with shelf and drawer storage.
Thus, while bedroom and dining represent the vast majority of sales in the line, the company has seen interest in the new categories which is expected to fuel solid top-line growth now and in the future.
“It’s working really well for us,” said David Wallace, sales manager. “We see an opportunity to add to these categories which are fully customizable.”
With the expansion of both its capacity and product lines, the company also has brought on several more reps in territories that include Mississippi, Louisiana and California, bringing its total number of reps to about two dozen. While most of the company’s business is east of the Mississippi, this allows it to expand farther west.
A new gallery program the company launched in January also will help dealers showcase the expanded product mix in a way that makes the most sense for their floors, thus highlighting the core bedroom or dining categories along with the home office and occasional that’s available to further diversify the mix of solid wood product.
