Furniture Today, September 8, 2009Thomas Russell 

ELKIN, N.C. — Bedroom furniture manufacturer Vaughan-Bassett will reopen part of a plant here that it mothballed earlier this year.The company plans to rehire 40 workers by the end of September and another 10 by late November.

When the company announced last December that it planned to close the facility, it employed about 400 workers. The shutdown occurred earlier this year, and Vaughan-Bassett shifted some of the Elkin work to its main plant in Galax, Va.

The Elkin plant will now handle assembly and finishing of various pieces in the line. It also will machine some parts to supplement parts production in Galax, which employs more than 600 factory workers.Vaughan-Bassett is reopening the plant because its incoming orders are outpacing production capacity in Galax, said company President and CEO Wyatt Bassett. That plant is now producing 20% more than its previous peak production in early 2008, he said.

"We're pleased that our business is strong enough to warrant this move," he said in a statement.

The company said that some of the Elkin jobs will be filled by Vaughan-Bassett employees who were transferred to Galax from Elkin. The company will refill those Galax positions as part of a commitment to add 100 jobs in Galax over the next three years in exchange for some $300,000 in Virginia economic development grants. It already has added 65 of those jobs in the past seven months.

As part of that commitment, the manufacturer also had to purchase $3 million in new equipment, a goal it has already met largely due to the recent purchase of a $2.5 million Weinig Rough End System.

Company officials said that they are able to reopen the Elkin facility because they never sold the building or equipment inside.

"This move indicates that Vaughan-Bassett remains committed to producing its products in the United States and that our strategy is working," Bassett said.

He added that the move also will help the company meet its commitment of delivering
VBX (Vaughan-Bassett Express) suites in seven days or less to the eastern two-thirds of the United States.