Bassett will close Georgia BR plant
By Powell Slaughter -- Furniture Today, February 10, 2003
Bassett, Va. — Full-line manufacturer-importer Bassett Furniture Inds. will close its 500,000-square-foot bedroom plant in Dublin, Ga., to cut costs in the face of slower-than-expected sales.
Bassett said it also has eliminated about 20 corporate support positions which, combined with the plant closure, should reduce operating expenses by more than $7 million a year.
Production from the Dublin plant, which makes promotional adult and youth bedroom, will shift to Bassett's 323,000-square-foot Superior Lines plant in Bassett. Dublin production will phase out over the next 75 days, resulting in the loss of about 300 jobs, or 11% of the company's workforce.
Bassett will add 50 workers at the Superior Lines facility in coming months to accommodate the extra production. Superior Lines now makes midpriced adult and youth bedroom, including the Bassett Kids line.
"This is a decision we had to make in order to continue to provide both style and value to our customers and a return for our shareholders," said Robert Spilman Jr., president and chief executive officer. He said laid-off workers at the Dublin plant will receive severance pay and out-placement assistance.
Bassett hopes to increase efficiency through increased volume at the Superior Lines plant. The company will take charges of $3 million to $3.5 million in the fiscal first quarter related to the Dublin closing, including severance and related employee costs, and the write-down of fixed assets in Dublin.
The company said its January sales were ahead of December's, but below both planned and historic levels, and that it expects sales and earnings in its fiscal first quarter — December through February — to lag behind fiscal 2002 performance.
Bassett also said it will introduce two new sales promotions to spur demand in its Bassett Furniture Direct dedicated-store program. In addition, a large round of product to be introduced in April will include two major case goods collections, one domestic and one imported, a bedroom group and additions to the upholstery and occasional segments of the Chris Madden Collection.
