news-record.com

The days of giant "battleship" furniture factories are gone; thousands of layoffs have proved that.

The Triad's furniture businesses are far from dead, however.

United in a well-organized team, the furniture industry's various components in the Triad and the state could dramatically improve the industry's prominence throughout the world, a new report suggests.

The report is designed to help this region compete with threats from manufacturers in China and from a new furniture market in Las Vegas.

It suggests that the Triad's designers, dealers and marketers must join with local governments and the state to build a force that can compete.

The timing is right. GTCC will announce today that several furniture companies are joining with the school to help train a new generation of sewing and upholstery workers.

The alliance, known as the CRAFT Team (Combining Resources for Advancement of the Furniture Trade), said workers may apply for training to begin at GTCC's High Point campus in February. Applications can be made online at www.triadjoblink.com.

The new furniture report catalogs the industry's many assets, from strong furniture businesses to educational courses, that must be harnessed to boost the economy.

With an estimated $9 billion regional impact, the industry is still strong, but undergoing wrenching change, according to the report, which was written by consultant J. Holmes and commissioned by the Triad Partnership, the region's economic development group.

The consultant's study is a catalog of strengths and weaknesses, with 22 specific recommendations.

The recommendations go beyond High Point, which is the recognized heart of the furniture world, to include the Triad and the state, said Don Kirkman, the partnership's president and chief executive officer.

Some of the region's problems include:

• A furniture market spread through scores of High Point showrooms with well over 148 landlords;
• A market name - High Point Market - that is too narrowly focused and must include the word "international" to reflect its world impact;
• Price gouging at local hotels and restaurants. Furniture market officials in Las Vegas announced Tuesday a long list of discount hotel rooms for their winter market that includes such high-end hotels as the Wynn and Bellagio at well under $300 a night; and
• Tensions between local communities that interfere with economic development and cooperation.

If the Triad's leaders and communities take the right steps, however, the region's assets will flourish, according to the report. Those assets include:

• A furniture market that's recognized worldwide;
• Designers and design companies that are well known;
• A transport and logistics system - capped in 2009 by a new FedEx air hub - that can dominate the East Coast.
• The effort will require changes, according to the report, including:
• A regional business plan for the home furnishings industry that includes, but is not limited, to the traditional companies in High Point.
• A regional group with a paid staff that would encourage and advocate for the home furnishings industry.
• A research center for home furnishings at the Gateway University Research Park that N.C. A&T and UNCG are building.

"What this report underscores is the opportunity we have in the region to be the furnishings capital of the world," Kirkman said. "We have many of the resources already here that are world class, whether it is the High Point Market, the design competency ... trade publications ... we have all of that here."

The first step, said Kirkman, is to find funding and hire an executive who can manage the furniture advocacy group, which will likely be based in the partnership's offices off Interstate 40.

Contact Richard M. Barron at 373-7371 or richard.barron @news-record.com