Monday, August 28, 2006

La-z-Boy officials working to restore past profits


La-Z-Boy officials are trying to restore the company's previous glowing profit margin, according to an Associated Press article published today.
One of the methods used by the company, according to the article, has been to put American workers on the unemployment line and have work done in China:

Tough times have forced the company to change where and how furniture is made, CEO Kurt Darrow said.

It has closed or sold 20 of its plants that build wood products. Instead, La-Z-Boy will share designs and processes with Asian suppliers to build the furniture.

The ability of those companies to build quality furniture for cheaper costs forced La-Z-Boy and others to close their own facilities and hire foreign ones. The move saved La-Z-Boy $13 million this year.

"We've made some tough decisions and had to do some things that affected a lot of people," Darrow said.


The La-Z-Boy plant in Neosho is one of Newton County's largest employers.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...
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Anonymous said...

La-Z-Boy has long ago forgotten about "quality" and the loyal workers. What they haven't forgotten about is how to make managements pockets bigger. I wish they would move management to China!