Furniture industry faces its future

Execs and experts talk about what’s next after `Asian invasion’
HICKORY – Furniture executives and other industry experts


waxed nostalgic about the good, old days of furniture-making at a panel discussion Wednesday at Lenoir-Rhyne College.
But they also offered glimmers of hope for an industry that has seen its golden age and now fights for survival against Asian competitors.
“The Future of Furniture Forum” brought together U.S. furniture luminaries such as W.G. Holliman, chairman of the board of Furniture Brands International, and John Bray, president and CEO of Vanguard Furniture.
“There’s something depressing about an abandoned plant,” said keynote speaker Art Padilla, professor of management, entrepreneurship and innovation at N.C. State University. “The North Carolina landscape is littered with such facilities. … You can almost smell the sawdust and lacquer.”
Padilla said many furniture factories failed because they couldn’t compete globally. “Internal factors contributed,” he said, “but the real cause was the Asian invasion in the absence of protective trade measures.”
But Padilla and other speakers said U.S. furniture failures have created opportunities for success.
Furniture management must have quality leadership, understand people, attract the best minds to the business, be an agent for change and be technology-savvy, Holliman said.
Padilla reminded the audience that businesses in other industries, such as IBM and Motorola, “looked death in the face” but now thrive because they reinvented themselves.