When you sit down on your living room sofa or kick back in a brand new comfy chair, what do you really know about that piece of furniture? It’s easy to remember the furniture retail store in Salem where you bought it, what its cost was and the brand name that it is, but what do you really know about it aside from these things? If you’re a La-Z-Boy owner, the story of your furniture goes a lot deeper than just the frame and cushions you’re sitting on!
A USA product
La-Z-Boy is made in Neosho, MO at a plant that employs over 700 American workers. And, though it may produce its high quality furniture in the Show Me State, La-Z-Boy ships its products all over the United States and even the world. In terms of being both a local and national economic driver, La-Z-Boy takes its role seriously, creating not only exceptional products, but also exceptional job opportunities in the American economy.
Driving quality
There’s a special secret to La-Z-Boy’s exceptional product quality—a variable that no assembly line or machine can recreate. What makes La-Z-Boy sofas and chairs so worthwhile are the people behind the assembly: people who work in teams to provide the highest level of workmanship and dedication to each product that they touch.
It works like this: instead of an assembly line or machine fabrication, each La-Z-Boy product is created in a “cell.” A cell consists of six people, who concentrate on one product at a time, building it from the ground up, putting pride and precision into their work to ensure that each piece of furniture that they create is perfect. Each cell is responsible for its work and is paid according to how well it produces items, not just how fast—meaning fewer errors, higher quality and more pride in the work being done.
Sustaining the brand
Perhaps the most intriguing thing about La-Z-Boy furniture, is the company’s dedication to zero-waste and in-house production. The frames, mechanisms and assembly of all products are done in house, leaving no room for external issues—and within this enclosed loop of production, all waste is recycled or reused in a positive way. Old scrap is sold to recyclers, rejected materials are sold back to manufacturers and everything is put towards sustainability, leaving nothing sitting in a landfill at the end of the day.
La-Z-Boy’s commitment to zero landfill waste is remarkable and even more exceptional when combined with the company’s mission to be a leader in quality. A streamlined manufacturing process, emphasis on waste reduction and the prideful demeanor of its employees all resonate in each product that’s shipped from its factory—products that eventually end up in your local furniture retail store in Salem.
The next time you’re relaxing in a La-Z-Boy chair or sprawled out on one of its sofas, think about everything that went into making that product a reality. American workers, encouraged to produce the finest product possible, put their best efforts into your furniture knowing that the greatest reward is your satisfaction at the end of the day.