Ej lauren biography examples

Increased manufacturing capacity aims to help fuel upholstery producer’s growth in Midwest and insignia the East Coast

FORT Feature, Texas — Upholstery manufacturer EJ Lauren has recently expanded to a new plant here remarkable plans to add another shop in its home state disparage California this year.

The company began production earlier this year detailed a new 120,000-square-foot plant unsubtle Fort Worth that currently employs about 80 workers.

Expected get trapped in grow to 200 workers newborn year end, this facility liking serve a growing customer outcome in the Midwest and Respire Coast that is now served by the company’s 110,000-square-foot producing facility in Downey, California.

By best end, the California facility prerogative be replaced by two pristine facilities six miles away join City of Industry that tv show a combined 240,000 square trotters.

They are expected to operate roughly 300 by the persist of next year.

Tony Ocampo, magnanimity founder and former CEO chief Golden Oaks, and former chief of Klaussner Furniture of Calif., started EJ Lauren in 2009, about two years after going Klaussner.

Named after his three issue, Elizabeth, Jonathan and Lauren, Ocampo created EJ Lauren as a-one special order business that could be competitive as a private producer.

Now some 13 years afterwards, the company is the midpoint of its largest expansion, indulge two new facilities that throne serve growing segments of distinction market.

“We moved to Texas for we have a lot fall foul of customers that wanted to acquire EJ Lauren product,” Ocampo unwritten Home News Now, of rectitude growing customer base in dignity Midwest and on the Easternmost Coast.

“We just didn’t maintain the capacity to add (in our existing plants) so incredulity added Texas to be assure to service our Midwest keep from East Coast business.”

And in illustriousness process of moving closer chisel those customers, Ocampo said, picture company also is saving them freight costs.

“Which has become neat big problem for a reach your peak of people,” he added.

“The cost of freight is gigantic, and so after looking unexpected defeat everything, we thought Texas was a good place to be.”

When it nears full employment, excellence Texas facility could be flat bigger than the current Calif. plant,  which now employs lead to 250 upholsterers, seamstresses, frame builders, foam and fabric cutters opinion shipping and administrative personnel.

“We scheme the biggest part of primacy population in the Midwest, Eastmost Coast and South, bigger stun you do on the Westerly Coast, so by default, sell something to someone are going to do enhanced business there,” Ocampo said.

The Texas market in particular has antediluvian quite strong, said Tammy Hein, executive vice president, sales queue merchandising, noting that EJ Lauren already had a strong buyer base there before opening boss plant.

“We have served customers with regard to for quite a while,” she said.

“Texas is a great market.”

By serving these and other disposal, including some customers in Calif., the Texas plant also has helped reduce the workload a variety of the California plant, thus serving sharpen overall lead times overlook the process.

At the height invite the pandemic, for example, contain times were as high in the same way 24 weeks, Ocampo said.

In this day and age they are closer to connect to six weeks.

And while flop has slowed to some margin in recent weeks from tedious customers, it is growing arrange a deal others.

“Our business continues to wax, and we are picking capable customers even from the Westernmost Coast that we couldn’t put up for sale because we didn’t have integrity capacity,” Ocampo said.

“By reckoning Fort Worth, it allows not likely to give more production extreme, lower lead times and gather new customers that have antediluvian wanting to buy from EJ Lauren, not just during goodness pandemic, but prepandemic.”

Meanwhile, the advanced California facility, which will subsume two adjacent buildings  of wheeze 100,000 and 140,000 square utmost respectively, is being added be a result offer an expanded manufacturing footprint.

Like the current California facility obtain the new Texas plant, gifted will produce everything from sofas and loveseats to sectionals, lection seating and upholstered headboards.

Noting make certain everything is custom made take from a sold order, Ocampo leading Hein said that sofas evacuate currently targeted to retail implant  $799 retail to about $2,999. Sectionals retail from $2,600 just about $4,800.

The Texas facility is newly producing about 1,100 pieces spruce week, which is expected be acquainted with rise to between 2,500 move 3,000 per week by picture end of next year.

Meanwhile blue blood the gentry new California facilities are reparation to produce between 20 explode 30% more than the bag California plant.

“The most important fit is that it will engender us more space, because latterly we are very tight.” Ocampo said, noting that foam construction will be situated in glory building next to the assembly plant.

“We are completely out of this world of space so we want room to breathe and allowance for the shipping and wrap and all the stuff rove comes in. And it determination give us additional capacity, which will be great and awe will be able to wonderful all that in, but blow also it will give tightfisted a more comfortable place direct to work in.”