Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, June 11, 1995 TAG: 9506300099
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV3 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: PAUL DELLINGER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: PULASKI LENGTH: Medium
"First of all, it represents a $12 million to $13 million investment in the town of Pulaski," said Ira "Pete" Crawford, vice president of administration. Before construction started in August 1993, it was projected as a $10 million expansion.
Company officials projected employment at 110, but the miniplant now has about 150 employees. They come not only from Pulaski County, but also Giles, Wythe, and Carroll counties and even Bluefield, W.Va.
They all had to take special training at New River Community College and elsewhere to bring them into the computer age and teach them to work the specialized equipment.
Pulaski Furniture spent the past year perfecting the processes originated at its new Plant 12, built at the site of the company's Pulaski facility. Eventually, those processes will spill over into the company's other plants such as those at Dublin, Christiansburg, Martinsville and Ridgeway.
Tom Barkley, manager at the company's newest plant, said its genesis started when B.C. Wampler, chairman of the board, and John Wampler, company president, decided they wanted to make curios at less cost than any other furniture plant anywhere.
Computerization of labor-saving machinery seemed to be the way to do it, but what kind of computer technology would it be? Jim Stout, manager at Pulaski Furniture's Plant 1, traveled literally all over the world to find the answer.
He studied machinery in America, Italy, Germany and Japan but did not recommend copying any one system from any one country. Instead, he found ways to improve production by combining technology from various places.
"That's where Jim really came in good, was getting all this working together," Barkley said. Now the operation is indeed less expensive than any competitor, even in countries with the cheapest labor.
"Basically, what we do here is we build frames," he said. "Curios are made up of frames. We've gotten a very good finish with very few people, and that's another thing that makes us competitive ... Which means we're going to be in business when a lot of these other furniture plants aren't. They're going to be out of business, and we're going to still have jobs."
Company officials guard their new processes so competitors cannot rip them off - even to the point of not allowing newspaper photographs in the plant. A reporter was allowed to see the plant in action, however, during a recent tour by officials from the town of Pulaski and Pulaski County.
At one point in the operation, wood is lined up by computer and the machines decide where to rip the board to get the best yield. It once took six people for a job like that, Barkley said. "Jim has hooked all these machines together where two people can do it."
Naturally, it is quicker and easier to change a computer program than to reconfigure a machine.
"We program it for each different item," Barkley said. "It'll do just about anything you want it to do ... Now, in this plant, we've gotten to where we can start a piece off in the rough mill on Monday. It'll be going out the door on Wednesday."
"We are probably the world's largest manufacturer of curio pieces," Crawford said. "We are distributing furniture all over the world."
The town helped by closing 40 feet of an alley behind the lot before construction started on the miniplant, allowing only company trucks to come and go. That gave the company the minimum space it needed for the project.
Pulaski also approved construction of a bridge over town right of way connecting the new plant to the boiler room and allowing connections between the two for steam, compressed air, condensate return and dust pipes.
One-fourth of the top floor of the blue five-story main building is now administrative office space. The other corporate headquarters offices are located in what had been a warehouse building, and the main building is now used mostly for warehousing.
"We're unusual designers," Crawford said. "I like to say that we're the leading edge. We're coming out with things before other people pick up on them."
Products range from curio cabinets and hall trees to clocks, consoles and entertainment centers. "We make a little bit of everything," Crawford said.
by CNB