Furniture Manufacturing Processes
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L uP 1.p CX- ! .. I , i FURNITURE MANUFACTURING PROCESSES by Anco L. Prak and Thomas W. Myers Department of Industrial Engineering North Carolina State University -.THIRD EDITION Under the sponsorship of The Furniture Foundation, Inc. and The School of Engineering of North Carolina State University Copyright , 1977, 1979, 1981 Department of Industrial Engineering North Carolina State University Raleigh, N. C. All rights reserved. This book, or any part thereof, may not be reproduced in any form without written permission of the Head of the Department of Industrial Engineering, North Carolina State University. Printed in United States of America ii FOREWORD The School of Engineering at North Carolina State University offers a four-year curriculum in Furniture Manufacturing and Management within the Industrial Engineering Department. The purpose of this program is to provide young men and women with academic preparation for a career in the furniture industry. The preparation and publication of this text has been made possible through support from the Foscue Furniture Fund. We acknowledge the help and encouragement from the Furniture Foundation and its President, Dr. Henry A. Foscue, who has been responsible for the growth and many improvements in the Furniture Manufacturing and Management curriculum. L. K. Monteith Dean of Engineering North Carolina State University iii PREFACE Students in the Furniture Manufacturing and Management curriculum spend a major part of their junior year on the design of a furniture manufacturing facility. This assignment is split into two natural parts; in the fall, the students do the calculations part and in the spring, the plant layout follows. This text is written specifically for the calculations part of the project. This task requires the students to view the manufacturing process in quantative terms. At the start the students receive drawings of commercial furniture which they use as "representative" items for the project. They then proceed to calculate 1umber requi rements , dry ki 1 n capacity, rough mill capacity and equipment and so on, all the way through finishing and packing. This course is preceded by a descriptive course covering production machinery for which the text, Production Woodworking Equipment, by Rudolph Willard is used. The nature of the course has dictated to a certain extent the manner of presenting the subject matter. For example, in teaching the course, the authors place more emphasis on the calculation of finishing conveyors than on the finishing schedule itself. We gratefully acknowledge the generous help given by many companies and individuals. We especially thank the following for permission to reproduce material supplied by them. American Drew, Inc. Furniture Production Magazine Athens Home Decor Gordon I s , I nc . Brooks Furniture Manufacturing, Inc. Henkel-Harris Company, Inc. Burl i ngton House Furniture J. M. Lancaster, Inc. Buss Automation Moore Dry Kiln DeVi 1bi ss Re1 iance Universal Forest Products Stanley Furniture Thomasvill e Furniture Industries, Inc. It is hoped that readers outside the Furniture Manufacturing and Management curriculum will find the book useful and will freely communicate any suggestions to the authors. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS PREFACE CHAPTER I THE FURNITURE INDUSTRY CHAPTER I1 ORGANIZATION OF A FURNITURE FACTORY CHAPTER I11 LUMBER RECEIVING, STORAGE AND DRYING CHAPTER IV THE ROUGH END: PROCESSES CHAPTER V THE ROUGH END: LUMBER UTILIZATION CHAPTER VI THE ROUGH END: PRODUCTION RATES CHAPTER VI1 VENEER AND PLYWOOD CHAPTER VI11 MACHINING PARTS CHAPTER IX MACHINING RATES CHAPTER X PRODUCTION CONTROL CHAPTER XI ASSEMBLY CHAPTER XI1 FINISH I NG METHODS CHAPTER XI11 THE FINISHING CONVEYOR CHAPTER XIV RUBBING AND PACKING CHAPTER XV WAREHOUSING AND SHIPPING CHAPTER XVI THE COST OF MANUFACTURING FURNITURE CHAPTER XVII PREDICTED COST - STANDARD COST CHAPTER I THE FURNITURE INDUSTRY INTRODUCTION Approximately 5400 firms manufacture furniture in the United States. The majority of these firms produce furniture for the millions of homes, apartments, and mobile homes across the country. Furniture used in the home is classified into two basic segments. Casegoods refers to the wood furniture found in bedrooms, dining rooms and other areas of the home. This segment includes all cabinet-like items, tables and wooden chairs. Three commonly referred to subseg- ments of casegoods are: 1. Bedroom 2. Dining Room 3. Occasional Tables. There are about 3100 firms that produce furniture in this categ0ry.l Of this number, approximately 1000 have 20 or more employees. Upholstered furni ture is the segment that includes such items as sofas and chairs found in living rooms and family rooms. Approximately 1700 companies produce upholstered furniture for the home. These are firms that manufacture upholstered furniture on wood frames or manufacture wood frames for upholstered furniture. It does not include those firms engaged in reupholstering. The U.S. Department of Commerce recognizes five segments in the furniture manufacturing industry for its census of manufacturing reporting. U.S.D.C. Standard Industrial Code Wood Household Furniture SIC 2511 Upholstered Household Fwniture SIC 2512 Metal Household Furniture SIC 2514 Wood Office Furniture SIC 2521 Metal Office Furniture SIC 2522 The Wood and Upholstered Household Furniture categories closely para1 le1 the casegoods and upholstery segments respectively. A number of firms produce both types of furniture. 1-2 Several hundred firms spec alize in furniture produced for use in busi- nesses, schools, churches, libraries and other non-home uses. Obviously there are a few furniture tems that are likely to be found in both homes and the other places mentioned. Upholstered furniture and items such as bookcases are two good examples. Labels identified with these specialized segments are institutional , metal , office, casual , kitchen and juvenile. SOME DESCRIPTIVE STATISTICS The furniture manufacturing industry has grown from the stage of cabinet- makers and apprentices in the 1700's to its current position. Approximate wholesale (factory sales) volume of the 5000 plus furniture manufacturers in 1980 was 12.5 billion dollars. Of the over 5000 firms producing furniture, about 60 percent employ less than 20 people and these account for about ten percent of industry sales. The six largest casegoods manufacturers account for about 12 percent of annual sales in that segment while in the upholstered furniture segment, four firms account for a similar percentage. The largest single firm accounts for about two and a half percent ($280 million plus) of the total industry sales. Currently, North Carolina, Virginia, California, and Tennessee are the leading states producing wood furniture, and these account for about 55 percent of total shipments. North Carolina, California, Mississippi, and Tennessee account for about 60 percent of total upholstered furniture shipments. NORTH CAROLINA - FURNITURELAND, USA Within a 200 miles radius of High Point, North Carolina, is produced approx- imately one half of the total wood bedroom and wood dining room furniture and almost a third of the total upholstered furniture. Approximately one quarter of the furniture sold annually in the country comes from North Carol i na. The Southern Furniture Market Center, located in High Point, is the show- place for the introduction of new furniture styles and fashions. Starting in 1921 with the Southern Furniture Exposition Building , there has evolved the largest concentration of furniture exhibits in buildings and factory showrooms anywhere in the world. Now the Southern Furniture Market Center is a complex of about two million square feet which houses hundreds of exhibitors. Additional showrooms are concentrated along the "Furniture Highway" that carries buyers through other showroom cities such as Lexington , Thomasville, Statesville, Hickory and Lenoir. Major national markets are held annually in April and October. About 85 percent of the nation's retail furniture purchasing power is represented at these shows. 1-3 Table 1-1 exhibits an approximate distribution of furniture sales by geographical areas in the United States.2 Percent of Percent of Region State Total (100%) Region State Total (100%) North- Maine 0.3 North Kent uc ky 1.2 __ east Vermont 0.2 Central Ohio 5.8 New Hamps hi re 0.2 Indiana 2.6 Massachusetts 2.7 Mi c h i g an 4.2 Connecticut 1.6 I1 1 i noi s 5.9 Rhode Island 0.5 Wisconsin 1.8 New York 9.9 Minnesota 1.6 Pennsylvania 5.6 Iowa 1.2 New Jersey 3.9 Missouri -2.4 Del aware 0.3 Mary1 and 1.9 26.7 Dist. of Columbia 0.8 Mid- Montan a 0.2 West Virginia 0.8 west Wyoming 0.1 Vi rgi n i a 2.2 Colorado 1.1 30.9 Utah 0.7 Idaho 0.3 South North Carolina 2.6 Kansas 0.8 South Carol i na 1.2 Nebraska 0.7 Georgia 2.1 South Dakota 0.2 F1 ori da 3.2 North Dakota 0.3 A1 abama 1.7 4.4 Mississippi 0.7 Tennessee 2.0 South- Arizonia 0.8 Louisiana 1.6 west New Mexico 0.4 Arkansas 0.8 Texas 4.8 15.9 Oklahoma -1.1 7.1 West Was hing ton 1.6 Oregon 0.9 California 11.9 Nevada 0.3 14.7 Table 1-1 : Distribution of Furniture Sales by Geographical Area FURNITURE RETAILING AND CONSUMER DEMANDS Most of the furniture purchased for use in the home is bought from the thousands of retail furniture and department stores across the nation. Furniture retailers typically carry items for all areas of the home in a variety of styles, finishes, fabrics, etc. The furniture found in most retail stores represents a number of different furniture manufacturers. 1-4 A furniture retailer buys what he believes will sell. Having what the consumer wants in stock is desirable from the retailer's standpoint but the variety of products is so large that this is difficult. When the consumer comes in, the retailer can show what is on display and available for immediate delivery.