Ashley Furniture today broke ground on an 80,000 square-foot addition to its reclining, or “motion” upholstery production facility in Whitehall.
The groundbreaking, attended by Gov. Scott Walker, paves the way for an expansion that will double the size of Ashley Furniture’s existing facility when the project is completed in December.
The company said total construction and equipment costs for the project will exceed $6 million, which does not include training and other associated start-up costs. Ashley estimated that the investment would result in the retention of 400 jobs in Whitehall and the addition of approximately 225 positions. Ashley’s Whitehall facility currently employs 400 people.
Todd Wanek, president and CEO of Ashley, called the motion upholstery a very competitive category, with the company’s largest rivals coming from the U.S. and China. “The improvements in our Whitehall facility allow for the expansion of motion upholstery manufacturing in Wisconsin,” he said in a release. “These improvements include new production equipment, a more efficient facility layout, and the elimination of waste in handling and transportation.”
Due in part to Wisconsin’s distance from major population centers, Wanek emphasized that transportation costs are substantially higher for Ashley’s Wisconsin facilities than they are for the company’s other locations in California, Pennsylvania, and Mississippi.
