Burke Furniture Inc.

Music T Welcome to Burke County, America's heartland of fine furniture manufacturing. For the last few years these sounds have been few and far between. Offshore manufacturing sadly took jobs away from a dedicated workforce that for decades produced quality craftsmans But now we're bringing it back to Burke. The reason we're here today and the reason I t Well there's a lot in that. Charlie and Chris Rice are helping bring it back to Burke. The brothers are two of the partners who own Kellex Corporation, makers of contemporary furniture, the client for today's assembly, and upscale Las Vegas Hotel. Who would feel the most comfortable both in quality skill set, dedication, commitment, and Burke County was where we looked. New England based ad and furniture moved here too. They researched the area and decided that Burke County was the place for them. The resurgence brings a smile to Scott Darnell as president of Burke Development Incorporated. Companies are run by people not mac We're taking a skill set in a traditional industry and actually using modern methods of manufacturing and technologies to make that industry competitive once again. When you look at furniture coming through our lines and from lines around other companies in Burke County, most companies are putting over a hundred years of experience in the content of the product and nowhere on the globe can you do that today. Burke County offers a superb workforce and a rich supply chain. Currently in a four county region we have over 15,000 people still employed in the furniture industry. Because of that the supply chain is here. Two miles from where we're sitting today is one of the largest fabric producers for the commercial and residential fabric lines. So having that supply chain is a competitive advantage outside of the skilled labor force. T Atlanta based designer Dixon Bartlett can't And I know t And so that's why we'really excited about being here in Burke County. What about offshore competition? I believe if you have the correct vision and you have the correct location, you have the correct people working with you. I believe right now that I believe you can do even better. I t We manufacture around the country, we build products for four seasons, the lows, the upper end properties. We s There's 2100 pieces of furniture that is on the water with us today that is being delivered to Las Vegas on a weekly basis. Our competition offshore cannot do that. Dozens of fine furniture companies J. Victor, Art Van, Shannon Doa, Kellex and Adden call Burke County home. And there's good reason for that. We have people in Burke County that not only are trainable, but the beauty of it for us was it was almost We brought them in, very small learning curve and they were up and going just People that just know how to pick up a staple gun and a pollster or can sit down at a sewing table and as you hear in the background, rapidly sew somet And it'somet The state should be even equally as proud because the region has some great other areas around it. But to us, t Burke County should be the nucleus of t It's a game of strategy. T So it is truly, if you were kicking a field goal, the ball is perfectly centered in the middle of that field goal for Burke County. And the people here, from our point of view, are the most willing, honest, hardworking and able people you want. Looking at the bigger picture from the labor force, the supply chain and our commitment to providing the resources to help companies be more competitive, it's a very viable strategy. And one that we're seeing a lot of success with our local companies already. When you're looking for top quality craftsmen to build a really superior product, t Made in the USA, is alive in Wilmberk County. If you Thank you.