Fraenkel to close Louisiana facility
Heath E. Combs -- Furniture Today, August 11, 2008
BATON ROUGE, La. — Manufacturer and distributor Fraenkel will close its case goods distribution and mattress manufacturing facility here and consolidate its functions into two other plants.
Brian Akchin, president and CEO, said the company will shift furniture distribution into its 300,000-square-foot Olive Branch, Miss., facility and bedding manufacturing into its 100,000-square-foot plant in Carrollton, Texas.
“We lost a lot of customers after Hurricane Katrina. Business is very difficult in this market. It’s a sign of the times and belt tightening. It became clear that this location for the long term was not the most viable,” Akchin said. Fraenkel will lay off about 70 of its 82 employees here and several may move to another location, he said. The company still has another 250 employees, he said.
Fraenkel consolidated an upholstery manufacturing facility into its Olive Branch location earlier this year, Akchin said.
Fraenkel owns the 175,000-square-foot facility on South Choctaw Drive here and the company will lease or sell the location, he said. The employee-owned company started in Baton Rouge five decades ago and entered manufacturing more than 30 years ago.
