Leggett & Platt product plays key supporting role
By David Perry, Executive editor -- Furniture Today, December 24, 2001
Suppliers are among the unsung heroes of the bedding business. They develop new products and technologies that enable bedding producers to better differentiate their products on retail floors. They also help mattress makers offer new levels of comfort, support and durability.
Despite the key roles they play, the spotlight of publicity doesn't fall on them too often. But in this column, and others that will follow from time to time, I'll be taking a look at new products now being offered to the trade, or in some cases directly to consumers.
This week, let's look at a product that plays a key supporting role — literally.
Leggett & Platt's Steel Products Division, part of the company's Consumer Products Unit, has added the "inst-A-lift" bedding support system to its PowerLift family of steel center support systems. Since its introduction in 1998, the PowerLift center support system has "solved countless bedding support problems for bedding retailers nationwide and has become one of the most popular support systems in the industry," Leggett & Platt says.
The new "inst-A-Lift" system, as its name suggests, provides instant support for bedding. The attaching brackets are affixed to a steel bed frame or bed rail. The dual, threaded glides are adjusted to the height required, then the cross support is moved to the appropriate width, and secured. The result: "Perfect support," L&P says.
The system provides a simple solution to what can be a very big problem: bedding that doesn't have enough support in the bed frame. That lack of support for the mattress and foundation can lead to premature mattress breakdown. The unhappy consumer may blame the bedding producer and complain to the retailer.
This bad situation is easy enough to avoid by providing proper support for the mattress and foundation. The problem is that some bedroom furniture doesn't have adequate support for today's mattresses, which are heavier than their predecessors. Flimsy wood slats may not be up to the job.
A steel center support system is much better suited to stand up to those heavier mattresses, which helps explain the popularity of L&P's PowerLift products.
Support problems are most likely to be noticed when a new bed arrives in the home. They can pose a real headache to everyone, from the consumer to the bedding delivery folks. Recognizing that fact, L&P notes that having at least one inst-A-Lift on hand on every delivery truck will eliminate the need for a costly re-delivery.
Plus, it will enable the consumer to get her bedding properly situated, then and there. This is not an issue the consumer wants to deal with more than once.
Bed support products like those made by L&P and other companies provide a valuable, if largely unseen, service.
