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Thread: No improvement in delivery times for ordered furniture

  1. #41
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    Jul 2010
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    Default Re: No improvement in delivery times for ordered furniture

    Quote Originally Posted by reader2580 View Post
    The Federal WARN act requires 60 day notice of mass layoffs. This is where the employees could win, but the company may claim they qualify for one of the exceptions to the 60 day notice.
    There are a half dozen exceptions to the rule. I would assume a large furniture manufacturer would have on-going legal representation. A law firms purpose is to make it's clients don't step on legal land mines.

  2. #42
    Join Date
    Nov 2018
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    69

    Default Re: No improvement in delivery times for ordered furniture

    Quote Originally Posted by prosdds View Post
    There are a half dozen exceptions to the rule. I would assume a large furniture manufacturer would have on-going legal representation. A law firms purpose is to make it's clients don't step on legal land mines.
    The federal WARN Act does allow for three exceptions to the 60-day notice period with the burden of proof on the employer:

    Faltering company. This exception generally covers situations where a company has sought new capital or business to stay open and where giving notice would ruin the opportunity to get the new capital or business. The employer must be able to identify specific actions taken to obtain capital or business, that there was a realistic opportunity to obtain the financing or business sought, and that the financing or business sought, if obtained, would have been sufficient to have enabled the employer to avoid or postpone a shutdown. This exception applies only to closings.
    Unforeseeable business circumstances. This exception applies to both closings and layoffs that are caused by business circumstances that were not reasonably foreseeable at the time notice would otherwise have been required. An important indicator of a business circumstance that is not reasonably foreseeable is that the circumstance is caused by some sudden, dramatic, and unexpected action or condition outside the employer’s control.
    Natural disaster. This applies where a closing or layoff is the direct result of a natural disaster, such as a flood, earthquake, drought, storm, tidal wave, or tsunami.
    This point is worth stressing – these exceptions are only to the 60-day notice requirement. Notice must still be given to the employees, government agencies, and government officials in a manner mandated by the WARN Act, even if it amounts to no advance notice or notice after the fact. Further, when the notices are given under these exceptions, they must include a brief statement of the reason for reducing the notice period in addition to the other information required in notices.

  3. #43
    Join Date
    Jul 2008
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    Alexandria VA
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    Default Re: No improvement in delivery times for ordered furniture

    Nothing is more frustrating that deciding you want to purchase a high ticket item after much consideration and then having to wait....and wait...and wait Some items take a year from time of order to complete, if you tweak up a piece to custom-size it for example, it can double the production time from 6 months to 12 months. Don't do customs lightly or on a whim, because they will take longer. We just got shipping notice today on a H&M Custom Milan Sectional that was ordered on Dec 14, 2021 and it will be here next week....that's 12 months due to a width lengthening on one segment of that sectional

    As things in many industries improve on time after Covid, there are still supply chain shortages and a lack of workers. One of the things we here at The Keeping Room are looking at is high-quality suppliers who can deliver quicker while maintaining good price points. While not dropping any suppliers, we will de-emphasize those that can't improve on build times. 10 months or even longer out is really trying patience for most people and for us, too.

    Our initial Whitmore-Sherrill was placed on Sept 23rd and will finish up and be here the week of Dec 19th, that's three months....that's very much acceptable. Can they maintain that build pace with their all-new state-of-the-art facility? We will see, but we are off to a good start, I think. Pricing is decent, and I like the build quality. But before I bang that drum too loudly, I want to see what the first order looks like and feels like. It has to pass my "tests" before I get behind the product whole heartedly and that requires a careful look-over of the initial order for workmanship, materials, packing, comfort, pitch angles and the like. I know my customers rely on me to evaluate a product line with an honest assessment as I have been doing for the past 36 years.

    Our Floor Model H&M Ricki Sofa is leaving this Saturday for a new home. The Ricki is a top seller, and I know it will be at least summer 2023 before a replacement gets here - most likely June if we order one in Juno Soft Blue, which seems to be really popular. It's difficult to plan that far out on inventory. It makes us either over-crowded or not-enough floor models, its hard to maintain a steady level.

    I am not sure build times are going to improve in 2023, but at least we have (so far) seen the pause in price increases which plagued us for the past year. Sales are continuing to come in, and there is a lot of immediate product available in warehouses on imported pieces - they are caught up. But much of that is made in China or Vietnam, and many our our customers want domestic product.
    Duane Collie
    Straight answers from thirty-six years in the business.
    My Private Messages are Disabled - Please ask questions here in the forum.

  4. #44
    Join Date
    Nov 2018
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    42

    Default Re: No improvement in delivery times for ordered furniture

    I am wondering how Whitmore-Sherrill managed to staff a new factory when other furniture manufacturers can't staff their factories? Did they add a lot of automation?

  5. #45
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    Jul 2008
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    Default Re: No improvement in delivery times for ordered furniture

    I can't really speak to that other than to tell you there is not that much automation in making upholstered furniture, its hands-on, labor intensive. I do know Sherrill skipped showing at the High Point Market in Spring 2022, preferring instead to put energies and dollars into their new facility (showing at Market is costly, btw). I assume they ponied-up and paid workers bonuses to come work for them. Catawba County NC is full of furniture makers and the upholstery work is similar from maker to maker, so there is always job-hopping back and forth based on where a worker can make the most money and have the best working conditions.

    Hancock and Moore also re-opened their Plant 2 (which was the Solid Wood Frame facility) and put an upholstery production line in there as well to improve on build times and they are hiring as well. They also put in a state-of-the-art break room for the Plant 1 Associates, before this it was pretty much just a microwave and a soda machine. They are working hard to make sure they keep their staff as well.

    Click image for larger version. 

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    Once Spring rolls around, I think a trip down the factories is in order, that's the only way (as a dealer) we can see what is going on and how they are working, plus its always fun.
    Last edited by drcollie; 12-06-2022 at 07:56 PM.
    Duane Collie
    Straight answers from thirty-six years in the business.
    My Private Messages are Disabled - Please ask questions here in the forum.

  6. #46
    Join Date
    Oct 2022
    Location
    Utah
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    Default Re: No improvement in delivery times for ordered furniture

    I’ll be very interested in your further assessment of the Whittmore-Sherrill 121-01 chair you spoke so highly of after sitting in it for two hours during your initial visit with the rep and your designer friend who designed it! At least I think it was your friend who designed it.

  7. #47
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    Default Re: No improvement in delivery times for ordered furniture

    I have one on order, exactly as shown, this will be in our second floor stock order and likely will arrive late Winter 2023.
    Duane Collie
    Straight answers from thirty-six years in the business.
    My Private Messages are Disabled - Please ask questions here in the forum.

  8. #48
    Join Date
    Aug 2022
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    35

    Default Re: No improvement in delivery times for ordered furniture

    Quote Originally Posted by reader2580 View Post
    I am wondering how Whitmore-Sherrill managed to staff a new factory when other furniture manufacturers can't staff their factories? Did they add a lot of automation?
    Agreed. I'd be in interested to know what H&M is doing to retain and attract workers. Almost two years later makes it difficult for me to not be looking at management at this point.

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