BedTimes |
The Business Journal for the Sleep Products Industry November 2011
Employee Benefits Keeping your workers happy & costs down
How high achievers can accomplish even more Safeguarding against the dangers of social media
Build Mattresses with Model
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(770) 963-7369 • FAX (770) 963-7641 The Sudden Service® Company INTERNATIONAL SLEEP PRODUCTS ASSOCIATION
SUPPLIER MEMBER
This equipment may be protected by one or more of these patents. Other patents may be pending: US patents: 4,280,421; 4,432,294; 4,466,367; 4,644,883; 5,134,947; 5,159,889; 5,203,270; 5,522,332; 5,524,563; 5,562,060; 5,634,418; 5,647,293; 5,657,711; 5,743,202; 5,865,135; 5,899,159; 5,915,319; 5,918,560; 5,979,345; 6,035,794; 6,055,921; 6,202,579; 6,279,869; 6,295,481; 6,494,255; 6,802,271; 6,574,815; 6,834,603; 6,968,794; 6,994,043; 7,100,525; 7,100,526; 7,210,181; 7,383,676 ; 7,383,780; 7,412,936; 7,543,364; 7,574,788; 7,647,876; 7,735,439; 7,984,681 Foreign patents: 9-520,472; 0,537,323; 92,905,522.6; 96,936,922.2; 2,076,379; 2,084,055. Other U.S. and Foreign Patents Pending. Copyright 2011 Atlanta Attachment Co.
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BedTimes Editor in Chief Julie A. Palm 571-482-5442 jpalm@sleepproducts.org Associate Editor Barbara Nelles 336-856-8973 bnelles@sleepproducts.org Ar t Director Stephanie Belcher 336-201-7475 stephanie@jimmydog.com Vice President of Adver tising Sales Kerri Bellias 336-945-0265 kbellias@sleepproducts.org Ad Production & Circulation Manager Debbie Robbins 571-482-5443 drobbins@sleepproducts.org Copy Editors Betsi Robinson Margaret Talley-Seijn Volume 139, Number 11 BedTimes (ISSN 0893-5556; Permit 047-620) is published monthly by the International Sleep Products Association. Periodicals postage paid in Alexandria, Va., and additional entry offices. Administrative and ISPA offices 501 Wythe St. Alexandria, VA 22314-1917 Phone 703-683-8371 Fax 703-683-4503 Postmaster: Send address changes to BedTimes 501 Wythe St., Alexandria, VA 22314-1917 Contents © 2011 by the International Sleep Products Association. Reprint permission obtainable through BedTimes.
www.bedtimesmagazine.com
Contributors |
Joelle K. Jay
Joelle K. Jay is an executive coach and the senior managing partner of the leadership development firm Pillar Consulting. She strategizes with business leaders to enhance their performance and maximize business results. Her clients include presidents, vice presidents and other C-suite executives in Fortune 500 companies. Jay is the author of The Inner Edge: The 10 Practices of Personal Leadership. To read a sample chapter, check www.theinneredge.com or email info@theinneredge.com. |
Phillip M. Perry
Phillip M. Perry is an award-winning writer who has published widely in the fields of business management, workplace psychology and employment law and is syndicated in scores of magazines nationwide. He is past editor of a leading communications magazine and served as business editor of a major industry newspaper. He is the author of Management, Retailer’s Complete Guide to Bigger Sales and China Business Directory. Perry wrote about saving money on your commercial real estate lease in the May issue of BedTimes. He can be reached at phil@pmperry.com or call 212-274-8694. |
Richard Weinblatt
Richard Weinblatt, also known as “the Cop Doc,” is a former police chief, excriminal justice professor and past police academy director. He is an expert on police, crime and safety topics. A speaker and author, Weinblatt regularly writes articles and has been interviewed widely by media outlets, including CBS News, CNN, MSNBC and The Washington Post. To learn more or to contact him, check www.thecopdoc.com.
| Dorothy
Whitcomb
Dorothy Whitcomb is a freelance journalist and editor whose work has appeared in a wide range of business and general interest publications. Her primary focus for the past 25 years has been the home furnishings industry. She writes about businesses, trends, products and design, specializing in profiles of companies and industry leaders. She wrote a profile of family-owned bedding producer Diamond Mattress in the October issue of BedTimes. She can be reached at dwhitcomb@hughes.net or call 410-820-0456.
n
Coming up
Deadlines The deadline for the News and Newsmakers sections of the January issue of BedTimes is Thursday, Dec. 1. Submit news releases and photos to jpalm@sleepproducts.org. Questions? Call 571-482-5442. What’s ahead in 2012 Special ISPA EXPO 2012 editions, an examination of trends in mattress machinery, a guide to surviving a product recall and a look at the unique factory-direct business model are among the features BedTimes has planned for the coming year. Check out our Editorial Calendar, online at www.bedtimesmagazine.com under the “Editorial” tab. The calendar includes planned cover stories, special product features and information about the magazine’s bonus distribution at markets and shows throughout the year. Corrections A story on adjustable bed frames in the October issue of BedTimes incorrectly listed the headquarters of Customatic Adjustable Bedz. The company is based in Natick, Mass. For more information about the company, check www.customaticbedz.com. In addition, the story incorrectly spelled the first name of Kelly Clenet, president of adjustable bed producer Ergomotion. For more information about the company, check www.ergomotion.us. We regret the errors.
November 2011 BedTimes
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Inside ■
Departments
9 | Brief Sheet
■ U.S. bedding sales pick back up ■ Report: Bedbug insecticides linked
to illness ■ Ways to stop procrastinating right now
& more…
13 | Profile
Don & Greg Wright These two brothers turn their differences into strengths and contribute in their own unique ways to Wright of Thomasville, their second-generation family business.
20 ■
A simple, five-step process will help high achievers meet their many goals.
37 | News
■ Sealy’s sales increase 4% ■L atex International buys mattress
Business owners can attract and retain top employees by offering good benefits. The most coveted programs, though, can be costly. Human resource experts offer advice on how to cap expenses while satisfying employees.
Plus
07 | Note 57 | Calendar 58 | Advertisers 59 | Classifieds
29
How to set up social media security policies for your company.
33 | Skills
Feature
| 20 The best benefits
■
29 | Employees
company
51 | Newsmakers 33
■ Davis steps into Hauser’s role at L&P ■W ilson replaces retiring McLean at
Kingsdown ■H ickory Springs’ Coleman to retire
& more…
56 | ISPA
■ Better Sleep Council creates video series ■C PSC amends cigarette standard
& more…
60 | On Sleep
■ Report: Early bedtimes better for kids ■ Study shows sleep boosts memory
& more… www.bedtimesmagazine.com
November 2011 BedTimes
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QUALITY BEDFRAME LUMBER MANUFACTURER
CERTIFIED WOOD
SLEEP BETTER WITH PEACE OF MIND
Bois Le Roux is now FSC® certified, as part of our effort to remain a leader in business development and contribute to the sustainable management of the environment. Our FSC certified wood is another added value to our bedframe lumber and our company. • Rigid, lightweight, resistant products providing better support that extends mattress life. • Deal closely with the mill. • Our production is 100% bedframe lumber. • Two separate production lines for more versatility and greater productivity. • Fast delivery, thanks to our warehouses in the US and a loyal carrier working with us for over 10 years.
Bois Le Roux Inc. www.blrlumber.com Phone: 819-877-2092
Toll Free from USA: 888-877-2098
Email: blr@blrlumber.com
Note
With right perspective, mattress forecast looks pretty good
W
Julie A. Palm Editor in chief
www.bedtimesmagazine.com
ith the United States mired in an anemic economic recovery unlike any it has seen before, it is no easy task to predict consumer behavior. As the International Sleep Products Association puts it: “The nation’s fiscal outlook remains difficult to project.” But twice a year, even in unprecedented economic times, ISPA issues a forecast for U.S. mattress sales. Its latest was released in October and covers the remainder of 2011 and all of 2012 and 2013. Like every ISPA forecast, it’s based on a national economic forecast from the University of Michigan, combined with insight and observations of current mattress market conditions from members of ISPA’s Statistics Committee, who serve as the ISPA Forecast Panel. So, what does it say? Through 2013, ISPA expects the value of mattresses sold in the United States to post respectable gains, though the number of units sold will be more modest. Helping to hold sales down are larger economic troubles, including continued stagnation in the housing market, stubbornly high unemployment rates and political uncertainty as the 2012 election cycle kicks into full gear. Evening things out are lower gas prices that put more money in consumers’ pockets and continued low inflation. Looking at specifics of the forecast: ■ In 2011, ISPA expects unit shipments (mattresses and foundations) to finish the year up 1.7% but forecasts that the wholesale dollar value of those shipments will rise a more substantial 6.2%. The average unit selling price for mattresses is forecast to increase 4.5% this year. ■ In 2012, unit shipments are forecast to increase 1%, while the dollar value is expected to rise 4%. AUSP is forecast to grow by 3%.
■ In 2013, ISPA calls for unit shipments to expand
by 2.5%, with their dollar value predicted to grow 5.5%. AUSP is forecast to rise 2.9%. Five years ago, these numbers would have been considered paltry. But that was before the Great Recession and the especially painful years of 2008 and 2009 when dollar values dropped more than 9% annually. Unit shipments tanked, too, during those years, falling 11% in 2008 and 8.6% in 2009. It was 2010 before the industry charted positive numbers again. As Jerry Epperson, a furniture industry analyst and managing partner with the Richmond, Va.based investment banking and advisory firm Mann, Armistead & Epperson Ltd., puts it in his letter accompanying the ISPA forecast: “In a time when technology-driven consumer durables (HD TVs, computers, tablets, etc.) are doing well and automotive is doing OK, but most housing-related sectors like furniture, floor coverings and major appliances are weak, the mattress sector should not complain. It could be (and has been) a lot worse.” ■ November 2011 BedTimes
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Brief Sheet
$10,475 T
hat’s the estimated health care premium per employee for large companies in 2012—a 7% increase over 2011. It will be the first time the figure has crossed the $10,000 mark, according to Aon Hewitt, a global human resource consulting and outsourcing business of Aon Corp. Average out-of-pocket costs for employees—co-payments, co-insurance and deductibles—are expected to be an additional $2,275 in 2012.
“Y
our work is going to fill a large part
of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle.” —Steve Jobs, late founder and chief executive officer of Apple Inc. and Pixar Animation Studios
www.bedtimesmagazine.com
Bedding sales rebound
A
fter a dip in July, sales of mattresses grew again in August, according to the Bedding Barometer, a monthly snapshot of the U.S. mattress industry from the International Sleep Products Association. Unit sales (mattresses and foundations) increased 3.1% in August when compared with the same month in 2010. The dollar value of those bed sets grew 12.3% in August when compared with the same period a year earlier and the average unit selling price rose 8.9%.
CDC: Bedbug insecticides linked to illness
T
he U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that 111 people in seven states became ill from insecticides used to combat bedbug infestations from 2003 to 2011. One woman in North Carolina died after setting off 18 cans of chemical fogger to kill the pests. “The most common factors contributing to illness were excessive insecticide application, failure to wash or change pesticide-treated bedding, and inadequate notification of pesticide application,” according to the CDC report, which was issued Sept. 28. The majority of illnesses occurred in 2008, 2009 and 2010, and more than half (58%) of the cases occurred in New York City, which has seen a dramatic rise in bedbug infestations in recent years. The CDC and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency promote integrated pest management to control bedbugs, including “encasing mattresses and box springs with bedbug-excluding covers,” using extreme heat or cold in infested homes, and vacuuming, steaming, laundering and disposing of infested items. In the report, the CDC calls for public health campaigns to educate people about safely controlling bedbugs and preventing infestations. Among those recommendations is “avoiding the purchase of used mattresses and box springs.” November 2011 BedTimes
9|
Brief Sheet Little annoyances add up
W
hat drives you crazy at work? Professional social networking site LinkedIn surveyed more than 17,000 people globally and found that the No. 1 thing that frustrates people on the job is co-workers not taking ownership of their actions. Other top annoyances: ■ Constant complaining ■ Dirty common areas ■ Meetings that start late or go on too long ■ People who don’t respond to email. “In nearly every office, there’s at least one co-worker whose quirks drive colleagues up the cubicle wall,” says Nicole Williams, LinkedIn’s connection director and author of the book Girl on Top: Your Guide to Turning Dating Rules Into Career
Success. “Sometimes the most irritating office offenders don’t even realize that their behavior impacts the rest of their team. It is crucial for you to solve the annoyance before it disrupts your work performance and career.”
Can’t that wait?
“I
never put off till tomorrow what I can possibly do the day after,” said Irish poet and writer Oscar Wilde. An amusing quip, but according to researcher Piers Steel, “procrastination is a prevalent and pernicious form of self-regulatory failure.” Steel wrote about the propensity to put off necessary tasks in Psychological Bulletin several years ago. On his PsyBlog at www.spring.org.uk, Jeremy Dean revisits Steel’s research, looking at four key reasons people procrastinate and how they can stop. Dean is a lawyer turned psychologist who currently is a researcher at University College London.
1
Unpleasant tasks It’s not surprising that people faced with bothersome or difficult tasks procrastinate. If a project is boring, experts suggest breaking it into smaller bits or setting time limits for
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BedTimes November 2011
how long you’ll work on it. Or pair it with something more pleasant. “Or just treat yourself like a dog: small rewards for the right activities; punishment for procrastination,” Dean says.
2
The procrastinator personality “Some people are born procrastinators,” Dean writes. “They have low self-
control, are easily distracted and impulsive. There is not much we can do about our personalities, but we can adjust our surroundings. Standard advice is to put yourself in the right environment.” Avoid distractions and temptations. Shut the office door, hide the smart phone, turn off email alerts. Have everything in place that you need to complete the project so you don’t have to stop and start.
3
Uncertain expectations “If you expect to complete a task easily, you are less likely to procrastinate,” Dean says. “Once you do get going on a task and successfully complete it, you’re unlikely to procrastinate as much in the future on that same task.”
4
Goal failure “Almost by definition, procrastination is a failure to meet goals. So setting goals in the right way is crucial,” Dean says. “You should use short-term, as well as long-term, goals and even artificial deadlines can be helpful.”
How about 10:30 a.m. Tuesday?
A
ccording to Andrew Bradbury, author of Successful Presentation Skills, that’s the best time to give a presentation or hold a meeting. “In the midmorning, early birds are still going strong, while night owls are getting into the stride of their day, meaning everyone in the audience should be energized and receptive,” he says. Tuesdays are good because most people are in the office, are in the swing of things at work and aren’t yet daydreaming—at least not too much—about the weekend. Plus, “if there’s anything in your presentation that needs to be followed up on, a Tuesday meeting time ensures that you have three more days in which to do it,” Bradbury says. www.bedtimesmagazine.com
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Profile
Wright brothers build business together Their differences become strengths in family business
Top left The adventurer Whether he’s skiing, cycling, kayaking, surfing or riding his Harley-Davidson motorcycle, Don Wright is usually on the move when he gets free time from his roles at Wright of Thomasville. Top right The connoisseur Greg Wright enjoys cooking and appreciates wine. He’s seen here sampling at Childress Vineyards in Lexington, N.C., a customer of Wright of Thomasville.
www.bedtimesmagazine.com
By Dorothy Whitcomb
T
he interesting thing about brothers Don and Greg Wright is that, in spite of all of their differences, they are fundamentally very much alike, valuing family, responsibility and hard work. What makes them such a formidable team, both in business and as brothers, is that they accept each other for who they are, building upon their individual strengths. Don puts it this way: “If there’s a tightrope out there, I’m going to walk it. Greg, on the other hand, will study it, consider it and then define the consequences of walking that rope.” The pair, along with a third brother, Ron Wright, and a cousin, Doug Wright, lead Wright of Thomasville, a printer and provider of labels and point-of-purchase branding materials that was founded by their father and uncle, Bill and Tom Wright, in 1961. The company serves a variety of business segments, including the carpet and rug, furniture and mattress industries. To the mattress industry, Don and Greg are the face of Wright of Thomasville, attending most trade
shows and furniture markets and working with bedding companies on their marketing needs. The company is active in the International Sleep Products Association and Don is past chairman of the organization. Getting into the business In spite of a strong preference—at the time—for becoming a ski instructor or maybe a long-distance truck driver, Don has been with the family-run company since he graduated from the Rochester Institute of Technology in Rochester, N.Y., in 1986. “Our dad always expected us to go and work somewhere else, but when I graduated, the company was going through a major expansion and he needed someone to run machinery,” he says. If Don joined the family business out of a sense of responsibility, he has stayed because of love. “I think that I have ink in my blood,” Don says. “I love the printing business and I love the mattress industry, which is goofy and full of amazing characters.” He continues: “When I started, printing was still a dirty, rolled-up sleeves kind of business, but there’s been a November 2011 BedTimes
13 |
Profile n
Shared passions
Different as they can be, Don and Greg Wright share a number of interests. They both love music and sing in their church choirs. Don also does a regular turn as lead singer of the Insomniaczzz, the mattress industry’s rock band. The brothers also appreciate the visual arts. Don volunteers at the Hunter Museum of American Art in Chattanooga, Tenn., where he lives. Greg focuses on collecting the paintings of artists who work in and around Greensboro, N.C., “smothering the walls” of his nearby home with them. Don and Greg say their parents instilled them with a thirst for learning, an appreciation of people and a strong sense of community. Greg has long been active in Scouting and serves on the board of the Old North State Council of the Boy Scouts of America. Don, who has a passion for Shakespeare, has acted in community theater.
n
wholesale shift in technology since then. Now it’s creative, innovative and satisfies my personal passions.” Greg Wright took far longer to join the corporate fold. After graduating from Virginia Polytechnic and State University (otherwise known as Virginia Tech) in Blacksburg, Va., in 1992, he went to work for the Ritz-Carlton Hotel Co., where he worked in quality assurance and guest services. He followed that with a stint at the Dunhill Hotel, a boutique property in Charlotte, N.C. “Our dad really did want us to do whatever we wanted to do,” Greg says. “I guess I wanted to be different a lot of the time, so I went my own way.” After spending several years in the hospitality industry and following the death of their father in 2002, Greg began to rethink his career path. When his family asked him to consider working for Wright of Thomasville, it began a larger process of restructuring the company to improve stability and increase growth. Greg links the process to management guru Jim Collins’ Good to Great. In the book, Collins explores ways in which strong organizations can be turned into outstanding ones that produce remarkable, sustained results. In one example, Collins compares a business with a bus traveling toward a destination. Each passenger has a role to play. The challenge is to find the right passengers and to place them in the correct seats. “We had to work some things out,” Greg says. “We actually had to get everyone on the right seat of the bus. This took some time—and we may still be tweaking it. You want to be fair, but fair doesn’t mean that everyone gets exactly the same thing. Fair means that everyone’s contribution moves the business from
BRIEFLY
Name
n Greg Wright
Position President & chief executive officer Company
|
Wright of Thomasville
good to great.” Building on his affinity for technology, Greg finally joined the company in 2004 as information technology manager. Strong, separate roles Greg’s decision made brother Don a happy man. “Greg has been a lifesaver and a gift,” Don says. “I’m pretty hard to be around sometimes, but Greg was willing to take my creativity and make sense out of it. He is the steady hand on the whirlwind that is my brain and handles the business management that I’m terrible at.” Today, Don serves as executive vice president of business development and chairman of the company’s board. Greg is president and chief executive officer— two stabilizing roles that he embraces. “I know that Don is never going to do reports, but I’m really glad that he’s in front of our customers. I feel like my job is to support him. Don and I are both very passionate and we lock horns a lot. It can be hard and it’s not perfect—even now—but we do have a lot of fun.” Both brothers give their parents and their uncle, who is no longer active in the business, credit for structuring the company so that it could pass securely to a second generation. “Our parents and our uncle did a great job of putting the pieces of the puzzle together so that it would all work,” Greg says. “We are a family business that runs like a corporation. Our parents also raised us to be very independent and taught us how to work hard.” “If you love and respect each other, the ‘work’ just happens,” Don adds. And the “work” part does seem to be working for
BRIEFLY
Name
Don Wright
Position Executive vice president of business development & chairman of the board
Location Thomasville, N.C.
Company
Age 44
Location Thomasville, N.C.
Education Greg Wright earned a bachelor’s degree in business from Virginia Polytechnic and State University in Blacksburg, Va., in 1992. He concentrated his studies in the hospitality industry.
Age 50
Family Greg and his wife, Gretchen, have been married for 16 years and have a 15-year-old son.
Family Don and his wife, Beverly, have been married for 21 years and have two adult daughters.
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BedTimes November 2011
Wright of Thomasville
Education Don Wright earned a bachelor’s degree in printing management and technology from Rochester Institute of Technology in Rochester, N.Y., in 1986.
www.bedtimesmagazine.com
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Profile Let me tell you about my brother
L
ike many brothers, Don and Greg Wright have turned teasing each other into an art form. When they talk about each other, however, the teasing is replaced by affection and respect.
Don on Greg: “Greg is a studious guy who loves to learn, especially about history. He also has this really quirky knowledge base filled with obscure facts about history, wine and food. I’m always amazed by the things he knows. “He’s also a religious scholar. He has a deep spiritual sense and a quiet faith about him that’s wonderful to see. “Greg’s a family guy. He busts his butt for his family and our extended family. He bears a tremendous burden in our business and he takes that responsibility seriously. It would have been easy to come into a successful family business and slack off, but that’s not my brother.”
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BedTimes November 2011
Greg replies: “I did want to be ordained in the Episcopal Church. I actually got through the first stage right after my father died, but it got put on the back burner. My retirement goal is to become an ordained deacon and serve my community.”
Greg on Don: “Don loves the outdoors. He mountain bikes, skis, kayaks and surfs. When we had a companywide picnic to celebrate our 50th anniversary in business, he ran the golf course. “He has five bicycles of his own, eight to share with friends and family—and he rides his Harley. He’s out riding bikes while I’m in the kitchen cooking. My 15-year-old son says that he wants to go live with the ‘cool’ part of the family.” Don replies: “I’m a full-on ADD (Attention Deficit Disorder) adult male with a touch of hyperactivity. I cope by slinging my body through the woods really fast, because nothing makes you focus like the threat of breaking some ribs.”
Wright of Thomasville. The home furnishings industry, including mattresses, represents about 40% of the company’s business, but it has expanded its reach into the beverage industry, from wine to water and distilled spirits. In the past three years, Wright of Thomasville also has added companies in the action sports and hosiery/apparel industries. The Wrights are particularly pleased with their expansion into Asian markets, which began about four years ago. The company is adding equipment and expanding its facility in China to better serve customers in China, India, the Middle East and Southeast Asia. Don says: “Business development for us really means looking for new techniques and processes to bring to our customers so that they can accomplish what they want to do.” ■
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Balancing
Employee Benefits Keeping workers happy & costs down By Phillip M. Perry
Creating a good benefits package is like a tightrope act. As a company, you want to offer a competitive program that keeps your best employees from jumping ship. But you also need to contain an expense category that the U.S. Chamber of Commerce estimates can account for one-third of payroll costs. What’s the solution? Design a basket of benefits that gives you the most employee satisfaction for each dollar invested. As for deciding which benefits should go in that basket, the answer can be found with the intended recipients. “The first thing to do is find out what your employees really want,” says Julie Stich, senior information and research specialist at the International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans, a research firm based in Brookfield, Wis. “It doesn’t do you any good to spend money implementing a benefits plan that people don’t care about.” www.bedtimesmagazine.com
November 2011 BedTimes
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‘It doesn’t do you any good to spend money implementing a benefits plan that people don’t care about.’
Survey says… While informal discussions with employees can give you some idea what benefits they most want, a structured approach will be more reliable. “Conducting a survey of your employees is important,” Stich says. “Tie in the results with what other employers in your region are offering. You want to make sure your benefits are competitive.” One caveat: Your survey should assess the willingness of employees to contribute a portion of their pay to their coveted benefits. Enthusiasm for life insurance, for example, may cool when employees are informed that part or all of the premiums would be deducted from their paychecks. You can get a rough idea of what your employees might say in your survey from the results of research conducted by the Principal Financial Group in Des Moines, Iowa. Earlier this year, the insurance company issued the findings of its own survey in a report titled, “The Principal Financial Well-Being Index.” The results offer insights into what employees want. What’s the most coveted employee benefit, according to the survey? No surprise here: Health insurance. Nearly nine out of 10 employed people cite the benefit
Going…going…gone?
I
n the face of the Great Recession and weak economic recovery, businesses have been cutting back on a wide range of benefits offered to employees, according to a survey of 600 human resource professionals conducted earlier this year by the Society of Human Resource Management in Alexandria, Va. Here are more than 20 benefits that the survey found have been disappearing from workplaces since 2007: ■ Traditional pension plans ■ Retiree health care coverage ■ Long-term care insurance ■ Health maintenance organizations ■ Paid family leave ■ Adoption assistance ■ Professional development ■ Life insurance for dependents ■ Incentive bonuses ■ Contraceptive coverage ■ Casual dress days ■ Legal assistance ■ Sports team sponsorships ■ Club memberships ■ Relocation benefits ■ Help buying a home ■ Travel perks ■ Company picnics ■ Rewards for tenure and job performance ■ Event tickets ■ “Take your child to work” day Source: U.S. News & World Report, July 2011
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as extremely important. Employees continue to contribute more to the cost of their health insurance, a trend that has continued during the past decade. Some 36% of respondents reported increases in co-pays and 32% said they’d seen deductibles increase over the previous year, according to the Principal Financial Group report. Roughly one out of 10 employees has experienced a reduction in medical benefit coverage options. The second most coveted benefit is a defined contribution retirement plan, ranked as important by seven out of 10 employees. Dental insurance essentially tied for second place. According to the Principal Financial Group survey, after that, enthusiasm for other benefits tends to trail off significantly. Roughly half of respondents rated disability, vision and life insurance as important. But only about one in three employees rate profit-sharing plans and stock options as important. Other benefits to consider asking employees about are paid holidays and vacation time, paid and unpaid leaves of absence, long-term care insurance, and financial and retirement planning services. Stay realistic While surveying employees is a good idea, avoid raising unrealistic expectations by asking about benefits that you know are too costly to offer. “The biggest mistake is to fail to set some limit on benefit costs per full-time equivalent employee and then ask employees what they want,” says Ian Jacobsen, a management consultant based in Morgan Hill, Calif. “Asking about specific benefits raises hopes they will be offered and that the employer will pay for all or part of them. When expectations are shattered, morale suffers.” Bear in mind that costs to an employer go beyond the basic contributions to premiums. Maintaining programs can be expensive when employees pepper your support staff with questions and request assistance. Do you have the personnel required to maintain the records required for each specific benefit? “Employers need to not only assess their budget, but also the legal, regulatory and tax impacts of proposed benefits and the company’s ability to effectively manage their programs,” says Lenny Sanicola, benefits practice leader at World at Work, a human resource research organization based in Scottsdale, Ariz. Thinking about retirement As noted, among employees, retirement plans are the second most popular benefit after health insurance. Why? “When you are finished working, you want to be able to have money set aside,” Stich says. “People are looking for some retirement security.” Challenging economic times have endangered the www.bedtimesmagazine.com
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‘Employers need to not only assess their budget, but also the legal, regulatory and tax impacts of proposed benefits.’
all-important employer contributions to these plans. According to data from Bank of America, one out of four employers have reduced or eliminated their matching funds and many are not sure when—or
n
RESOURCES
Managing benefits packages n Employease.com This site allows employers to
outsource their benefits administration. Services include maintaining a centralized database of employees, managing enrollments, issuing benefits statements and allowing employees 24-hour access to data. It’s owned by Automatic Data Processing Inc., a Roseland, N.J.based provider of payroll and human resource services.
n Trinet This San Leandro, Calif.-based firm serves more than 5,000 small and mid-size employers nationwide. On its website, www.trinet.com, it offers an “outsourcing toolkit” with information about topics such as how to select benefits that attract and retain top talent.
n Benefitssummary.com Do your employees realize the value—in terms of dollars and sense—of the benefits your company provides? One way to make sure they do is to distribute a graphic benefits summary. Benefitssummary.com provides this service.
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if—they will resume. Though many small business owners and consumers remain jittery, the economy has recovered in terms of corporate profits and stock market performance. Now may be a good time to review your own financials to see if a rebound in your sales performance justifies expanding your retirement plan offerings, according to a Bank of America report, “Small Business Retirement Planning.” “A post-recession environment offers small businesses the chance to review any difficult decisions made during periods of slow growth to see if updated business plans could support new, more positive changes in plan benefits or services,” according to the Bank of America report. There’s a huge selection of retirement plans to choose from. Beware of the temptation to “buy a plan off the shelf” without carefully considering alternatives, experts say. Comparison shopping is critical because the organizations that sell these plans can vary widely in terms of administration costs. Remember that not all demographic groups have an equal interest in retirement plans—or other benefits. “A younger demographic will probably be less interested in retirement and possibly more interested in child care,” Jacobsen says. The demographics of your specific work force is something to keep in mind when considering which benefits to offer.
Learn more n Employee Benefit Research Institute is a Washington, D.C.-based group founded “to contribute to, to encourage and to enhance the development of sound employee benefit programs and sound public policy through objective research and education.” Its website is www.ebri.org.
n HRMorning.com is a website and weekly e-newsletter with news, advice, reports and information for human resource executives. Click on the site’s “Benefits News” tab at the top of the page.
n Society for Human Resource Management is an Alexandria, Va.-based association devoted to human resource management with more than 250,000 members in 140 countries. It provides research, publications and education on human resource issues, including benefits. Its website is www.shrm.org.
n Bank of America offers advisory materials to help small business owners. Go to www.benefitplans.baml.com and then click on “Small Business.”
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may value the ability to adjust their working hours to their personal needs. And letting them do so might not have much of an effect on your bottom line. “With all of the demands we are faced with in terms of families and work, people want more flexibility in their hours today,” Stich says. “They want to work from home maybe once a week or have the flexibility to come in and leave when they can. It’s nice, for example, to be able to attend a child’s recital in the afternoon.” Increasingly popular are so-called “voluntary benefits,” which include a range of employee-paid benefits that an employer is able to offer with minimal costs and relatively easy administration. Although the employees pay the full premium costs, they receive the benefits at discounted group rates. The top voluntary benefits companies offer, according to the Principal Financial Group report, are dental (52%) and vision (41%) insurance. Short-term disability (36%) and long-term disability (34%) also are sometimes considered part of this class of benefits.
Increasingly popular are so-called ‘voluntary benefits.’
Helping workers who face a disability Workers compensation protects your workers from financial disaster if they are injured on the job. But what if the injury takes place outside of work? That’s where long- and short-term disability comes to the rescue. It can be a valuable benefit. (Short-term disability policies also typically cover leave for pregnant women.) How can you control the rising costs of disability income insurance? Institute “early return to work” policies, the experts say. That’s because the costs of a disability go far beyond disability payments and insurance premiums. Other costs include lost productivity, overtime for employees required to accomplish the missing person’s work and retraining time. Whatever you can do to return the employee to work quickly can make a big difference. To encourage early return, institute workplace programs that will accommodate workers who suffer from temporary disabilities. Many employers have these in place for staff members covered by workers compensation, but have not extended the programs to cover people absent under short-term or long-term disability. Now is the time to do so. Overlooked benefits Not all benefits are costly. Indeed, some low-cost options are especially useful and appreciated by employees. Consider flex time, for example. Your employees
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Cohesive approach Given the fact that hourly workers and salaried staff all want good benefits as part of the employment agreement, your challenge as an employer is to offer the right mix—one that helps retain good personnel while containing costs. To some extent, benefits provisions are piloted by company philosophy. “Some employers have a paternalistic attitude,” Stich says. “They may institute traditional defined benefit plans or generous health insurance or life insurance plans. Other employers want to ‘help employees help themselves’ so maybe their retirement program consists of a 401k plan, which helps employees save. Or perhaps they offer a ‘consumer-driven’ health care plan with higher deductibles. In such cases, employees are more responsible for making their own decisions.” Left uncontrolled, the rising costs of employee benefits can erode your profit margin and lead to staff discontent when sharp measures are needed to cap spiraling expenses. Take action now to review your entire benefits package. Survey your staff to find out what benefits they really want—they may be different than what you’ve always assumed are most important. Finally, share information about costs with your employees. When workers know the effect that offering benefits has on the financial health of the company, they will be more willing to help by shouldering costs and responsibly using their valued benefits. “In designing their benefits packages, employers need to take a step back and determine how their programs support their larger business goals,” Sanicola says. “The bottom line is this: What does the organization need to do from an employee benefits perspective to attract and retain the individuals it needs to help drive the company’s success? Employers need to look at all of this from a strategic perspective.” ■
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Explaining the benefits of benefits
B
enefits are powerful factors in attracting and retaining the best employees. But if people are unaware of the value of their benefits, your business will not get top value for the dollar invested. “Oftentimes, organizations don’t invest enough resources to communicate what benefits they offer and convey their value,” says Lenny Sanicola, benefits practice leader at World at Work, a human resource research organization based in Scottsdale, Ariz. “Employers should make sure that communication initiatives are top of mind when putting a package of benefits together.” Employers also can do a better job helping employees make the connection between their needs and the programs available to them, Sanicola says. Good communication solves another problem, as well: Employees not understanding the benefits you’ve spent money and time to offer to them. According to an Aflac survey of 2,200 U.S. adult workers, 76% of employees say they’ve made mistakes in selecting benefits options—and 42% say they’ve lost money because of it. Aflac is an insurance company based in Columbus, Ga. More disturbing numbers from the 2011 “Aflac WorkForces Report”: n 74% of workers say they “sometimes,” “rarely” or “never”
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understand everything that’s covered by their policy options. n 59% of workers who choose the same benefits every year say they “sometimes,” “rarely” or “never” have a full understanding of the changes in the policies each year. “Avoid talking about benefits with your employees by using lots of acronyms and terminology they may not understand,” Sanicola says. “Use terms employees can understand. Often that might mean talking about how a particular benefit fulfills a need at a particular life stage of an individual or addresses the need for income protection or the availability of pay for time not worked.” Writing on HRMorning.com, a website and weekly e-newsletter for human resource executives, Christian Schappel suggests creating a “frequently asked questions” document that you can give to employees each year during the open enrollment period for benefits. But don’t limit communication to that period, Schappel says. “Handing employees a thick packet of information is overwhelming and many just won’t take the time to read through it thoroughly,” Schappel writes. “One way to get employees to absorb everything is to give it to them in bite-size chunks throughout the year. Create a blog on your company intranet and use it to post one short educational article every week or so. You’ll also want to post a glossary of benefits terms on the intranet.”
November 2011 BedTimes
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Employees SOCIAL MEDIA
Smart security policies Tips
to protect your workers & company / By Richard Weinblatt
Social media sites often are a workplace distraction.
tweeting, blogging or posting comments about the company, customers or products on their own time. While some companies may find it easier to ban access altogether, this is akin to throwing the baby out with the bath water. A more moderate approach is appropriate for most employers. Related laws vary from state to state and are evolving. Check with legal counsel when drafting your policies.
T
here’s the example of the sales representative who tweets for hours every day and the one about the employee who harasses a co-worker via Facebook. Then there’s the story of the worker who slams her employer on LinkedIn and is fired, taking a morale-busting toll on the terminated employee, the employer and the company as a whole. Whatever their benefits as marketing, communications and recruiting tools for your company, social media sites often are a workplace distraction. At their worst, they are a conduit for stalking, harassment and other criminal activity. Can Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, FourSquare and other sites be used in the workplace in a way that doesn’t expose companies to moral and legal liability? Yes. The key is for supervisors and executives to recognize the common uses and abuses of social media sites and to take preventive action. Here are a few tips that you can implement: ■ Establish clear policies You need
to have detailed policies in place that govern usage of the Internet and social networking sites by workers—both while on the job and in their off hours, if they are www.bedtimesmagazine.com
■ Educate employees Make sure employees, as well as managers, understand what is expected of them in terms of conduct on social media sites. Have employees sign company policies on the subject, indicating that they have read and understood them and have had the opportunity to ask questions. While you’re at it, reinforce policies on sexual harassment and other workplace behaviors. Let employees know that such policies are in place to protect them, as well as the company. ■ Take technological precautions Keep one step ahead of the nefarious forces of the Internet. It’s imperative to continuously update anti-virus protection, require regular password changes and implement strong firewall protections. If appropriate, consider Web filtering systems that enable you to restrict access to certain sites based on a number of factors, including time frame (such as breaks or lunchtime) or time limit (such as one hour per day). ■ Monitor usage Make sure key managers can
monitor Internet usage and, in particular, social networking within the workplace. Explain to employees that their computer interaction is being recorded. Make this part of your social media and Internet policy. This oversight is vital: Your company can bear civil or criminal responsibility for some actions of your employees. ■ November 2011 BedTimes
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A. Lava & Son Co. Advance Fiber Technologies Corp/AFT American & Efird, Inc. American Nonwovens Inc. Apropa USA Aquila Textiles, Inc. Arch Chemicals, Inc. Ateja Tritunggal Atlanta Attachment Company Avery Dennison Balcan Plastics-First Film Extruding Baumer of America Bechik Products, Inc. Bekaert Textiles BLR Lumber Bo-Buck Mills, Inc. BoMei Tex Ltd. BRK Group, LLC Bruin Plastics Company Inc. C.J. Hodder Lumber Company Carpenter Co. Changshu DAFA Warp Knitting Co., Ltd. ChemTick Coated Fabrics, Inc. Coats North America Costa International Creative Ticking CT Nassau Tape – Ticking Culp Home Fashions CUSBoR D.R. Cash Inc. Deslee Textiles USA Diamond Needle Corporation Dunlap Sunbrand Int. DBA Jumpsource Earnhardt Manufacturing, LLC East Grace Corporation Eclipse Sleep Products/Eastman House Sleep Products Edgewater Machine Co., Inc. Enkev Group BV Enriquez Materials & Quilting, Inc. Ergomotion, Inc. Farnsworth Logistics, Inc. Fecken-Kirfel America Flex-A-Bed Flexible Foam Products, Inc. FMA Trading LLC Foshan Ruixin Nonwoven Co., Ltd. Foshan Quianfang Home Supplies, Co., Ltd. FXI Global Latex Global Industrial Systems Group Guangzhou Xingsheng Industrial Co., Ltd. Hangzhou Chenyu Textile Co., Ltd. Hangzhou Landscape Imp.& Exp. Co., Ltd. Hangzhou Xiaoran Import and Export Co., Ltd. Hangzhou Xiaoshan Lianhong Polyester Textile Co. Hangzhou Xiaoshan Meixin Decorative Fabric Plant Hangzhou Xinyada Fabric Co., Ltd Harvard Manufacturing Enterprises, Inc. Healthcare Co., Ltd. Henkel Corporation Herculite Products, Inc. Hickory Springs Mfg.
(as of September 27, 2011) Hot Melt Technologies, Inc. IDEAL Fastener Corporation Industrias Marves S.A. de C.V. Innofa Integrity Software Solutions Interwoven Group Jacquard Textile South America S.A James Cash Machine Company Jiangsu Dreamerry Mattress Manufacturing LTD Jomel Industries, Inc. Jones Fiber Products, Inc. Knickerbocker Bed Company Komar Alliance LLC Lampe USA Inc. Latex International Latexco LLC Lava Leggett & Platt Bedding Components Group Leigh Fibers, Inc. Lenzing Liberty Threads, N.A., Inc. Macao Com. & Ind. Spring Mattress Manufacturer Markwell Florida Masias Maquinaria, S. L. Matsushita Industrial Co., Ltd. Maxime Knitting Mills Inc. Middleburg Yarn Inc. Monks International NV Ningbo New Haiyan Belt Industry Co., Ltd. Milliken & Company oHM Systems Inc. orsa Foam S.p.a. Plastic Monofil Company Pratrivero Group Precision Blades Inc. Precision Fabrics Group Precision Textiles QAI Laboratories Response Computer Group, Inc. Rock Island Industries SABA North America Shaoxing Huajian Mattress Machinery Simalfa Simmons Engineering Corporation Springs Creative Products Group Spuhl AG Stork Twin City Testing Sunkist Chemical Machinery Ltd. Tekscan Inc. The Govmark Testing Services Inc. Therapedic International Tietex Transfer Master Products, Inc. Uni-Source Textile UPACo Adhesives Vintex Inc Westech Building Products ULC (Westlake) Wm. T. Burnett Wright of Thomasville Xidengbao Mattress Machinery (Guang zhou) Co., Limited Xsensor Technology Corp. Z Wood Products Co Inc.
Skills GETTING THINGS DONE
A guide for high achievers 5 steps to
speed you through your to-do list / By Joelle K. Jay
in place that can simplify the process of accomplishing many tasks quickly—a system that will bring progress, as well as peace. If you’re ready to whip through your to-do list, this five-step process will help you get it all done, with less stress and greater results. Depending on your situation, you may need to take a half day, full day or even a weekend to get through all the steps. The process works for a variety of scenarios, from completing a specific, pending work project to strategizing for longterm professional objectives.
1 Begin by getting all of your ideas and notes in one place.
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H
igh achievers, go-getters, Type A personalities. Whatever you call them, one thing is certain: These people want to do it all and they want to do it all right now. While having many lofty and simultaneous goals is a good thing, doing too many things at once can leave a person feeling overwhelmed and stressed out. There never seems to be enough time to accomplish everything. But that doesn’t stop some high achievers. They are determined to make everything happen—even if doing so ruins their day and everyone else’s in the process. I’m not saying that high achievers should try to do less, especially since most Type A personalities achieve great happiness from getting many things accomplished and will do whatever it takes to meet their objectives. Rather, this is about having a system
Make a mess If you’re like most high achievers, you likely have numerous sticky notes, lists, files, piles, papers and a host of other items on your desk, in your computer and scattered around your office. Each one is meant to help you move forward in reaching your goals, but as the piles and files grow, they become overwhelming—no matter how neatly you may have them organized. Begin by getting all of your ideas and notes in one place. If you have to, make a big pile of all the papers, files and other items in the middle of your office floor. Don’t leave anything out.
2
Sort and purge Roll up your sleeves and start digging. Go through your pile of stuff and look at each item to determine what you should keep and what you can toss. For each item, ask yourself: ■ Is this idea or information still important to me? ■ Can I retrieve this information from elsewhere should I ever need it? ■ Is this information duplicated somewhere else? ■ Will this information or idea help me reach one of my goals? As you decide which items to keep, put them in separate piles or files, preferably as they relate to a particular goal or task. November 2011 BedTimes
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Skills tion step. The objective is simply to create one coherent to-do list rather than have multiple versions floating around your office.
4
3
Organize your list Look through all your “keep” papers and ideas to see which goals are truly important to you and consider what steps
you need to take to reach them. Put your ideas and action items into one organized list, preferably on one page. At this point, you don’t have to detail every ac-
Rank items in chronological order Redo your list one more time, now paying special attention to the order in which you think you should accomplish tasks. At this point, you also can add more detail to your action items. List not only what to do, but also how to do it, whom to call for help, what resources you may need, etc. You might feel like you’re wasting time by going over the same list again, but trying to put your initial ideas in chronological order is difficult until you can see them on the page all at once.
5
Get going Now that your ideas and goals are organized, all you have to do is take action and tick off the tasks as they’re completed. No more repeated thinking, planning and organizing. It’s already done. And, most importantly, no more confusion about what to do when. Just look at your list, take the top task and knock it out. Mission complete While this process is designed for high achievers who tend to have many high-priority tasks facing them at once, it works for anyone who simply wants to end the stress and chaos of having incomplete tasks hanging overhead. By taking the time to complete this five-step process, you can finally meet your goals and achieve the results you want. n
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News
Sealy reports net sales up 4% in third quarter
M
attress major Sealy, with headquarters in Trinity, N.C., reported net sales of $334.1 million in the third quarter of fiscal 2011, a 4.2% increase over the prior-year period. Total U.S. net sales increased 2.5% to $257.3 million over the third quarter of fiscal 2010. International net sales increased $7.3 million, or 10.5%, from the third quarter of fiscal 2010 to $76.8 million. Excluding the effects of currency fluctuation, international net sales increased 4.8% from the third quarter of fiscal 2010. Sealy attributed the gain primarily to increased sales in Argentina and Mexico, as well as the effects of a stronger Canadian dollar. Gross profit increased by $4.8
million to $137 million in the fiscal third quarter. Income from operations increased by $1.7 million to $37.8 million, a 5% increase over the prior-year period. “We continued to reap the benefits of both our recent Next Generation Posturepedic launch and our new advertising campaign in the third quarter,” said Larry Rogers, Sealy president and chief executive officer. “These results were achieved despite a more challenging macroeconomic environment, as well as volatility and increases in the costs of our raw materials.” Sealy’s net income from continuing operations in the third quarter was $7.5 million, or $0.04 per diluted share, com-
n
BRIEFLY
Sealy’s third quarter Net sales
$334.1 million
U.S. net sales $257.3 million International $76.8 million net sales Gross profit
$137 million
pared with $9.2 million, or $0.05 per diluted share, in the prioryear quarter. Adjusted EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization) in the third quarter increased 1.3% to $48.4 million. During the quarter, Sealy completed the launch of its
Next Generation Posturepedic line, which it said represented the largest and fastest rollout in company history. “Looking forward, we still feel confident in our ability to execute on the initiatives that we control, which now also include an acceleration in the launch of our Next Generation Stearns & Foster line, but the overall outlook for the consumer environment is less certain,” Rogers said. “These events, alongside current raw materials inflation, challenge our ability to deliver gross margin expansion and adjusted EBITDA growth in the second half of 2011. However, with the investments we are making in our product portfolio in 2011, we feel well positioned for 2012.”
Therapedic signs Massindo as new licensing partner
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attress licensing group Therapedic International, which has headquarters in Princeton, N.J., and Massindo Group, based in Jakarta, Indonesia, held a dramatic gathering in San Francisco on Sept. 8 to celebrate their new licensing agreement. More than 300 mattress and home furnishings executives from Indonesia and the United States gathered on Crissy Field at the foot of the Golden Gate Bridge to mark the new partnership. For Indonesian executives, guests and their families, the event was the culmination of a weeklong travel tour of Los Angeles, Las Vegas and San Francisco. Massindo Group is a leading Indonesian mattress and furniture manufacturer with production facilities in 10 Indonesian cities and more than 1,000 retail partners. “The Massindo-Therapedic alliance is so important to our group because this is the first time we have a legitimate license partner in the ever-growing, important region of Indonesia—one with the wherewithal and resources to build our brand,” said Gerry Borreggine, Therapedic chief executive officer. “This partner has a long-range view of where and how to grow Therapedic.” Guests at the San Francisco event dined on gourmet cuisine and were entertained by the Insomniaczzz, a rock band that includes Borreggine and other executives in the U.S. sleep
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Big deal Celebrating the licensing agreement between their two companies were Norman Rosenblatt (from left), Therapedic International chairman; Jeffri Massie, Massindo Group chief executive officer; and Gerry Borreggine, Therapedic CEO.
products industry. “We wanted a stage that was nothing short of spectacular to announce our new partnership with Therapedic International,” said Jeffri Massie, Massindo chief executive officer. “The Golden Gate Bridge is an American icon and a fitting see page 38
November 2011 BedTimes
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Founding pair Mattress industry veterans Joe Hunt (left) and Kurt Ling launched Pure LatexBLISS in 2009. The company regularly shows its line of latex mattresses and sleep accessories at the Las Vegas Market.
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ndustry supplier Latex International has acquired Pure LatexBLISS, a provider of latex mattresses and sleep accessories based in Atlanta. Latex International, with headquarters in Shelton, Conn., purchased an additional 51% stake in Pure LatexBLISS in September, bringing its ownership stake to 100%. Pure LatexBLISS will operate as a wholly-owned subsidiary of Latex International. Details of the deal were not disclosed. “In the past two years, Pure
LatexBLISS has become one of the fastest-growing luxury mattress brands in the world, doing business in six countries,” said Dave Fisher, Latex International president and chief executive officer. “The brand has proven to be a successful alternative for retailers to maintain high tickets and increase margin dollars of specialty bedding consumers who are ready to spend $2,000 to $3,000 on a mattress but don’t like the feel of memory foam. The latex industry needs a stable
from page 37 backdrop for this historic moment in our company’s history. It is also a symbol of the important business and cultural bridge we are hoping to build between our two companies.” Massindo will position Therapedic as a “lifestyle brand,” targeting a younger, more affluent demographic. “This partnership places our products in more than 1,000 furniture and bedding stores in Indonesia,” Borreggine said. “The Massindo family are not only fine business people, but they are quality people with great integrity. We are both thrilled and honored to be associated with them.” Therapedic currently has more than 50 licensees in 17 countries.
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of strong brands to sit across from successful memory foam on retail floors, and retailers need more profitable alternatives in the specialty sleep market.” Latex International said it will continue to pursue business as a supplier of latex components to key manufacturing and factory-direct partners in North America. The company does business in 60 countries. It plans to rebrand its direct-to-retail Rejuvenite latex pillow line under the Pure LatexBLISS label. Pure LatexBLISS was founded in 2009 by mattress industry veterans Joe Hunt and Kurt Ling. It has operated as a sales and marketing company that uses contract manufacturers and logistics partners to produce and distribute its products. Under the new ownership structure, Hunt and Ling will continue to be involved in the leadership of the brand, according to a news release. “Latex International has been a tremendous supporter of our company since inception,” said Ling, Pure LatexBLISS chief executive officer. “This deal is good for us, personally and professionally. It allows Pure LatexBLISS to go to the next level to service retailers and consumers.”
SHORTS
Latex Int’l takes full ownership of Pure LatexBLISS
Ashley Furniture launches sleep website
Furniture producer and retailer Ashley Furniture Industries Inc., with headquarters in Arcadia, Wis., has created an e-commerce site for its private-label memory foam and latex mattresses and pillows at www.ashleysleep.com. The new Ashley Sleep site offers information about products and component materials, safety and quality, as well as sleep and health issues.
Reverie bed earns quality certification Silver Creek, N.Y.-based sleep products producer Reverie has earned the Intertek Quality and Performance Mark certification for its patented Dream latex mattress. Intertek is a London-based consumer products testing company with more than 1,000 test-
Signing celebration More than 300 mattress and home furnishings executives and guests from Indonesia and the United States gathered in San Francisco Sept. 8 to mark the new partnership between Therapedic International and Massindo Group.
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News ing facilities around the world. To achieve certification, the bed was tested for durability, functionality and workmanship. In addition to the quality tests, Reverie passed a battery of fire safety tests. “We believe the QPM certification validates our technology and will instill confidence in consumers when they see the Intertek label on our Dream beds,” said Jack Eppolito, Reverie chief operating officer.
Sleepy’s brings ‘Bedder Days’ to many Sleep shop chain Sleepy’s has made a number of product donations as part of Bedder Days, a community relations program the retailer launched in May. The Hicksville, N.Y.-based company supplied more than 50 mattresses to the charity Rebuild Tuscaloosa following the April tornadoes in Alabama. In May, it donated two Tempur-Pedic bed sets to an injured soldier and his caretakers in Staten Island, N.Y. In June, it gave the American Red Cross 125 beds for victims of a tornado that struck Springfield, Mass. Sleepy’s also has donated mattresses and bedding to struggling families being helped by three TV programs—“Clean House,” “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” and “George to the Rescue.”
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QAI Laboratories buys SGS facility
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AI Laboratories Inc., a certification, testing and inspection company, has added another facility to its network of labs on the East Coast, West Coast and in Canada. The Coquitlam, British Columbia-based company has acquired a testing facility in Tulsa, Okla., that previously was owned and operated by SGS North America. The transfer of ownership was complete in August. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. The equipment, services offered and staff at the former SGS lab remain in place. “The Tulsa lab is a perfect fit for QAI. It expands our capabilities, geographical presence and capacity while staying true to QAI’s core value of providing professional, client-focused, cost-effective services,” said Lawrence Gibson, QAI president. The Tulsa facility provides accredited flammability testing of mattresses and upholstered furniture composites and components; fire-resistance and flammability testing of building products, furniture, plastics, textiles and other materials; accredited inspection-agency service for manufacturers located in the Midwest; product certification labeling recognized in the United States and Canada; materials analysis testing for compression, tensile strength, durability to weathering and freeze and thaw; and other testing and inspection services.
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Jamison repositions brand, redesigns products
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attress maker Jamison Bedding has a new branding strategy that will serve as the umbrella under which the 128-year-old manufacturer and its products will be made and marketed going forward. The repositioning comes on the heels of an 18-month period that involved management changes, self-study, market analysis and strategic planning, the Brentwood, Tenn.-based company said. “Our new strategic mission and brand position—‘We Make Sleep Different’—is how we plan to express this critical redefinition,” said Ken Hinman, Jamison senior vice president of sales and marketing. “The ‘we’ in our brand statement is key because it reflects the commitment of every Jamison employee—not just of management—to this new direction. ‘Different’ reinforces the fact that doing business with Jamison today differs dramatically from the past because we are now a significantly different company and every Jamison product has been reinvented or changed in significant ways.” Jamison officially reintroduced itself to retailers at the fall High Point Market in High Point, N.C., with new brands and product designs. The company transformed its showroom into a more modern retail environment that included new marketing and point-of-purchase materials designed to reflect and reinforce the “We Make Sleep Different” position. Among the new mattress lines is the four-model Gel Comfort collection, which incorporates JGel, a high-density memory foam blended with gel beads to improve temperature control. The beds have the same foam core used in the company’s Mar|
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Complete makeover Jamison Bedding’s rebranding includes both new products, such as the Gel Comfort collection, and new marketing materials.
riott hotel line of mattresses. Suggested retail prices in queen size range from $1,099 to $1,999.
The new European-styled Talalatex Conformer line has an unquilted super-stretch knit
cover over Talalay latex layers of varying firmnesses and either a Talalay latex core or a highdensity Marriott polyurethane foam core. The five models have suggested retail prices of $1,099 to $2,199 in queen size. Jamison describes the redesigned Vita Pedic collection as “the next generation in twosided sleep.” The nine beds feature Jamison’s Smart Coil technology and a range of special features and components, including, at the high end, a layer of Celliant Sleep fiber for temperature regulation. Vita Pedic beds retail for $499 to $1,399. “Our products are unique and exciting, and retailers will discover that the Jamison brand is extremely market competitive,” said Frank Gorrell, Jamison president and chief executive officer. “But we’re also proud to say that the quality components we’ve always used in our mattresses and the quality measures we’ve taken to build them have not and will not change. That’s the real value that we want to demonstrate to current customers and to new retailers.”
Sealy forms specialty bedding division
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attress major Sealy has created a specialty bedding division with the goal of expanding its market share in the fast-growing mattress category. Mark Delahanty has been named vice president and general manager of specialty bedding and will lead the new division. “We are increasing our commitment to the very important specialty bedding category by creating a new specialty division,” said Larry Rogers, president and chief executive officer of the Trinity, N.C.-based company. “Mark will have responsibility for the development, marketing and distribution of new specialty bedding products and report directly to me.” The specialty division will launch a revamped Embody line of beds at the winter Las Vegas Market. Delahanty has been part of Sealy’s marketing department for 5½ years, starting with the company as vice president of marketing for Sealy brands. In 2008, he became vice president of marketing for innerspring and, under his leadership, the company launched its successful 2009 Stearns & Foster redesign. For the past two years, Delahanty has been vice president of business development.
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Vogue Bedding joins Eclipse/Eastman House
Relax...
Henkel Has You Covered.
Your ToTal Source. New partners Stuart Carlitz, (from left) chief executive officer of licensing groups Eclipse International and Eastman House, welcomes Dal Flora, Vogue Bedding vice president, and Sukhi Ruprai, Vogue Bedding director, to the group.
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icensing groups Eclipse International and Eastman House have signed an exclusive agreement with Vogue Bedding, a Canadian mattress producer based just outside Vancouver, British Columbia. Vogue Bedding will serve the territories of Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, Ontario and Saskatchewan. Vogue Bedding was founded in 1999 and has been producing private-label mattresses for distribution in Ontario and western Canada. It is led by President Vikram Flora and Vice President Dal Flora. The company was seeking an international brand to help it expand its market reach. “We have always wanted to manufacture a brand name that is well-known around the world and we knew that Eclipse and Eastman House are the best,” Vikram Flora said. Ultra-premium bedding line Eastman House, originally the flagship line of the Chittenden & Eastman Co., was created in 1866. Eclipse International is a bedding manufacturing cooperative that uses manufacturing and marketing expertise to develop scientifically advanced bedding systems. Both are owned by Stuart Carlitz and his North Brunswick, N.J.-based Mattress Development Co.
SHORT
Sleep Innovations introduces customizable topper
Sleep Innovations, a maker of memory foam mattresses, pillows and mattress toppers based in West Long Branch, N.J., has introduced the Rejuvenation topper. The customizable topper consists of layers of gel-infused memory foam and textured, supportive Luratex foam that can be rearranged in three configurations inside the fabric cover. The layers can be stacked to produce a soft, firm or “massage-like” feel, depending on the sleeper’s preferences. Olympic gold medalist swimmer Dara Torres is endorsing the topper and a previously introduced pillow.
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Except as otherwise noted, all marks used are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of Henkel and/or its affiliates in the U.S. and elsewhere. ® = registered in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. © Henkel Corporation, 2010. All rights reserved. 6991 (12/10)
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Nature’s Rest reaches into new markets, products
New styling The Euro Series from Nature’s Rest features a contemporary look with unquilted, zippered covers.
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attress brand and licensing group Nature’s Rest is re-energized and expanding into new markets and new products, said Bill Huertas, president of both Nature’s Rest and Spring Air Northeast in Boston. Nature’s Rest and the entire
family of Spring Air brands were acquired in 2009 by Ed Bates, chairman of the Spring Air International licensing group and owner of Spring Air Northeast. Nature’s Rest was founded 15 years ago by current Spring Air International President Rick Rob-
inson and is operated by Bates as a separate company. The mostly latex specialty sleep line recently added its fifth licensee, Biscayne Bedding, based in Miami. Biscayne Bedding is a mattress producer with its own bed brands and a 50-year history. It’s the first non-Spring Air producer to license Nature’s Rest. “Biscayne Bedding really understands the value of the Nature’s Rest brand and the concept of ‘alternative sleep’, ” Huertas said. “We are trying to set Nature’s Rest apart from the crowd. As we move forward, we are seeking out quality manufacturers with a desire and ability to get into the specialty market.” The company’s newest collection is the six-bed Euro Series with a smooth, contemporary,
unquilted look and zippered covers. The Progeny and Natural Zone collections have more traditional styling with quilting and tapeedges. Bed components include natural latex, polyurethane foams with plant-based content, wool, sustainably forested wood, and other components and fibers with a natural story. “We are going to be more focused on this brand as we move into 2012,” Huertas said. “And we are getting our name out there— where consumers shop every day—by licensing an accessories collection of toppers and pillows at Bed Bath & Beyond.” The accessories have 100% cotton covers and fills of “eco-fiber,” which is 100% recycled PET or feathers. The collection rolled out to 500 stores in September.
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News Art Van expands PureSleep chain
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urniture retailer Art Van is putting major emphasis on mattress sales with the opening of its fifth freestanding sleep shop, the latest in Ann Arbor, Mich. A dozen additional standalone PureSleep stores are slated to open in Michigan in the next year or two, the Warren, Mich.-based retailer told The Detroit News. The company is converting bedding departments in its furniture stores to the PureSleep format, as well. In addition, the company has plans to franchise PureSleep— both the store-within-a-store and the freestanding concepts—nationally. PureSleep retails several brands, including Comfort Solutions, E.S. Kluft & Co., Kingsdown, Natura World, Sealy, Simmons and Tempur-Pedic. The retailer opened its first PureSleep store in 2009 and recently purchased another sleep shop chain, Mattress World, which has about two dozen locations in Michigan and Indiana. Art Van Furniture ranks No. 17 among Furniture Today’s Top 100 Retailers.
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Sleep Train buys California retailer
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est Coast mattress retailer Sleep Train has acquired Christian’s Mattress Xpress, a sleep shop chain with three stores in the central California cities of Bakersfield, Fresno and Visalia and a warehouse and outlet store in Fowler. Details of the deal, announced in September, were not disclosed. Sleep Train, with headquarters in Sacramento, Calif., has more than 230 retail locations. The purchase is part of Sleep Train’s planned expansion into new markets throughout California. In addition to rebranding the Mattress Xpress stores, the retailer expects to open an additional four or five new Sleep Train stores in the region in 2012. “This expansion will bring Sleep Train into two of the top 10 largest cities in the state, as well as into the fast-growing community of Visalia,” said Dale Carlsen, Sleep Train chief executive officer. “With economic conditions improving, we saw an opportunity to expand our reach into a new region where demand is high for quality sleep products and a superior shopping experience.” Christian’s Mattress Xpress was established in 1992 as Christian’s Solid Wood Furniture and became a full-line mattress retailer in 2007. Founder Ron Gonzalez is staying on to oversee the transition, which is expected to be complete by the end of the month.
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News
Simalfa launches ‘On-Demand’ system imalfa, a water-based adhesive supplier with headquarters in Hawthorne, N.J., has introduced On-Demand, a new innovation in adhesive systems that the company says offers the benefits of both a one- and twopart adhesive in a single system. On-Demand allows the operator to use his existing Simalfa product as a one-part adhesive or in combination with Simalfa Accelerator, boosting the instant bond for high-stress applications via a push-button trigger. “This is a quantum leap from a system standpoint,” said Darren Gilmore, Simalfa president and chief executive officer. “We’ve rendered traditional twocomponent adhesive systems
obsolete. The existing two-part technologies are temperamental, complicated, maintenance intensive and force clients into using the system as a two-part component all the time, even in areas where a one-part would do the
surized and pump systems and doesn’t require the mixing equipment associated with two-component products. In addition, the flexibility of simple push-button control allows customers to reduce adhesive usage and labor.
Atlanta-based mattress maker Simmons Bedding Co. took its ComforPedic Advanced NxG Memory Foam mattress line to Hollywood this fall. The brand was featured in the GBK Emmy Awards Gift Lounge in Los Angeles. Celebrities were invited to visit the ComforPedic by Simmons lounge space Sept. 16 and 17 to test a ComforPedic Mystic mattress set on the company’s adjustable NuFlex foundation. For each celebrity photographed with ComforPedic products, Simmons donated $100 to Art of Elysium, a nonprofit that provides workshops for critically ill children with actors, artists and musicians. Visiting celebrities received ComforPedic Free Spirit pillows, and select Emmy presenters and nominees received ComforPedic Mystic bed sets.
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job. On-Demand gives the operator production flexibility while saving the customer money.” According to the company, the patent-pending On-Demand system has been designed as an easy add-on to its gravity, pres-
Simmons’ ComforPedic plays role at Emmys
SHORT
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attress major Sealy, which has headquarters in Trinity, N.C., has signed an exclusive deal with Dometic Corp. to distribute Sealy Posturepedic mattresses for the first time directly to manufacturers of recreational vehicles. Dometic, based in LaGrange, Ind., is a components supplier to the hospitality, marine, RV and trucking industries. Sealy said Dometic chose it for the partnership because of Sealy’s brand strength, mattress quality, customer loyalty and repurchase rates. The mattress collection is based on the Sealy Next Generation Posturepedic and is called the Sealy Posturepedic 600 DSx Plush Euro Pillow Top RV mattress. Sizes include a 72-inch by 80-inch king, a 60-inch by 80-inch queen and a 60-inch by 75-inch RV queen. The beds feature Sealy’s CoreSupport reinforced center zone, Titanium DS innersprings, LiftRight handles and StayTight foundation. “With more than 60 years of designing and building Posturepedic mattresses with support in mind, we’ve realized that a good night’s sleep extends past the bedroom,” said Jodi Allen, Sealy chief marketing officer. “Our new partnership with Dometic will bring quality mattresses to RVers no matter what their travel plans and type of RV.”
is a
Verlo stores raise funds
SHORTS
Sealy revs up RV business
Verlo Mattress Factory Stores, a factory-direct franchise chain with 40 stores, featured mattress sets with a pink tapeedge during Breast Cancer Awareness Month in October. A portion of proceeds from the beds sold went to charities that support breast cancer research and work
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News with breast cancer survivors. The amount of the donation increased with the cost of the set. “We wanted to do something appropriate for Breast Cancer Awareness Month and this program allows the local franchises to decide which community group will benefit,” said George Holder, chief operating officer for the Fort Atkinson, Wis.-based company. Verlo also assembled travel kits with a pink blanket and pillow that stores used to raise additional money.
Simmons joins sustainability consortium Atlanta-based mattress major Simmons Bedding Co. has joined the Hospitality Sustainable Purchasing Consortium. The consortium is a group of hospitality industry members— from property owners to suppliers, as well as sustainability experts—brought together by New York-based MindClick SGM, a sustainability research and consulting firm. The group’s goal is to create a Hospitality Sustainable Purchasing Index that will be “a repository of supplier performance in the areas of corporate social responsibility and product and environmental sustainability,” according to the organization. For more information, check the consortium’s website at www.hspiconsortium.com.
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Sleep Train’s efforts inspire others Sleep Train, a Sacramento, Calif.-based retailer that has collected more than 300,000 items and $700,000 in cash donations through its Foster Kids Program since 2008, is thanking other companies and groups that have been inspired to help foster children. Last summer, Under the Nile, a Milpitas, Calif.-based cotton apparel company, hosted a drive to support Sleep Train’s annual collection of pajamas and donated 50 pairs of its own product, a retail value of $1,600. Laptop Lunches, based in Santa Cruz, Calif., donated more than 500 lunch boxes to foster kids. The “Reaching Beyond the Walls” Missions Group at San Quentin State Prison recently donated $1,500 to Sleep Train’s charity.
Sinomax licenses Sharper Image name for soft goods Flexible polyurethane foam and soft goods producer Sinomax USA Inc., which is based in Houston and has world headquarters in Hong Kong, has entered into a licensing agreement with the owners of the Sharper Image brand name. Sinomax will manufacture a Sharper Image-branded collection of memory foam pillows and toppers, as well as blankets.
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SHORTS
Sealy’s music download is easy listening Mattress major Sealy has released the soundtrack to its Posturepedic TV commercial “Jump.” The tune is a free download on Sealy’s Facebook page. The “Jump” spot, created by ad agency Leo Burnett, is part of a nationwide Sealy Posturepedic campaign, “Whatever You Do In Bed, Sealy Supports It.” “We’ve received a tremendous response from our ‘Jump’ commercial and numerous inquiries about the song used in the spot,” said Jodi Allen, chief marketing officer for the Trinity, N.C.-based company. “In keeping with the positive momentum behind our Posturepedic campaign, we’ve decided to support one of the most popular things people do in bed—listen to music.”
Hästens wants consumers to trade up Luxury bedding producer Hästens is running a promotion in November that encourages consumers to trade up to a new bed. The Köping, Sweden–based mattress maker is offering consumers between $350 and $3,500 (depending on bed
ISPA INTERNATIONAL SLEEP PRODUCTS ASSOCIATION
model) to exchange their old Hästens bed for an upgraded “new generation” mattress set from the company. Hästens’ bed sets have suggested retail prices from about $3,000 to more than $35,000. Each bed set is handmade, featuring natural components such as linen, cotton, wool and horsehair, as well as sustainably forested woods and recycled steel innersprings.
Airmid to do bedbug research for Smartsilk Airmid Healthgroup, a Dublin, Ireland-based research facility for consumer products, will provide research and laboratory testing services for Smartsilk, a producer of bedding products based in Montreal. Specifically, Airmid will perform bedbug-related research for Smartsilk, evaluating “the complex interactions of biological, chemical and physical properties associated with Smartsilk’s bedding products.” “With bedbug infestations on the rise, demand is greater than ever for bedding products with label claims that are validated by independent laboratories,” the companies said in a news release. Smartsilk offers silk-filled pillows, mattress pads, protectors and other items to customers in Canada and the United States.
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Newsmakers
Davis to replace retiring Hauser at L&P
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erry Davis has been named president of Leggett & Platt’s Residential Furnishings Segment, replacing Paul Hauser, who is retiring Feb. 18. Hauser has been president since 2006. “Paul has contributed much to the success of the company and will be greatly missed,” said Karl Glassman, chief operating officer of the Carthage, Mo.-based mattress and furniture industry supplier. “And Perry has risen to his current position via hard work, personal integrity and outstanding product knowledge and people skills. I look forward to working with both Paul and Perry through the succession process.”
Davis joined L&P in 1981 and has been president of the Bedding Group for five years. Prior to that, he was president of the Bedding Group’s Central Division. He has held a range of executive, sales and plant management posts within the company. Eric Rhea is being promoted to fill Davis’ post as Bedding Group president. He has been president of the Bedding Group’s Central Division since 2004 and has worked exclusively within the group since joining the company 23 years ago. His promotion also is effective Feb. 18. Rhea reports to Davis.
Coleman retiring from Hickory Springs
D
on Coleman, who has served as president and chief executive officer of Hickory Springs Mfg. Co. since 1996, will retire at the end of December. His career at the Hickory, N.C.-based mattress and furniture industry supplier spans nearly four decades. The company is working with an executive search firm to fill his position. Coleman joined Hickory Springs in 1972 and was the Don Coleman company’s first national product manager. He served as general manager of the Highland Fabricators facility following its acquisition by Hickory Springs and was named vice president of the company’s Eastern Furniture Division when it was formed in 1992. Four years later, he succeeded Neil Underdown as president and CEO. “Hickory Springs is grateful to Don for his years of outstanding leadership, loyalty and vision,” said Tom Pierce, chairman of Hickory Springs’ board of directors. “His commitment to developing innovative products, sound fiscal policy and creative partnerships and his understanding of the needs of our customers have had an immeasurable impact upon the ongoing excellence, growth and diversification of Hickory Springs over the years.” “It has been a wonderful 39-plus years working with and for a company with the quality, standards and ethics we enjoy,” Coleman said. “We, as employees, can be proud to be a part of the organization we have today. Over the past year, we have placed talented and seasoned managers in expanded roles to strengthen and grow Hickory Springs in all markets. I look forward to stepping back and seeing the fruits of our planning propel the company into exciting opportunities.” In addition to his long career at Hickory Springs, Coleman has been active in a range of other professional and civic activities. He serves on the boards of the Furniture Foundation, the American Furniture Hall of Fame Foundation, the Catawba County Community Foundation and the Wells Fargo Western North Carolina Advisory Board. He also is conductor of the Hickory Choral Society, a community choir he helped found in 1978. In 2010, the Lenoir-Rhyne University Business Council named him Business Leader of the Year. Former N.C. Gov. Jim Hunt awarded Coleman the state’s highest civilian honor, the Order of the Long Leaf Pine. www.bedtimesmagazine.com
ISPA publications hire new managing editor
M
ary Best has joined the International Sleep Products Association as managing editor of its BedTimes and Sleep Savvy magazines. It is a newly created position. Best has been a writer and editor for more than 25 years and has extensive experience in Mary Best trade journalism and magazine publishing. For the past five years, she has been a freelance writer and editor. Prior to that, she was editor and associate publisher of Our State books and editor in chief of Our State magazine, the premier travel and culture magazine in North Carolina. Best was editor of special supplements for Furniture Today in the mid-1990s and, while there, launched Retail Ideas, a monthly publication that was the inspiration for Sleep Savvy. “Mary brings a wealth of experience to the ISPA publications team. She has a keen editor’s eye, a lively writing style and a passion for magazine journalism,” said Julie A. Palm, BedTimes editor in chief. “We look forward to the contributions she will make to both BedTimes and Sleep Savvy.” In her new role with the magazines, Best is responsible for editing and writing articles, supervising freelancer writers, coordinating production with printers and mailhouses, and contributing to the editorial direction of both publications, their websites and their other digital media vehicles. She reports to Palm.
November 2011 BedTimes
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Newsmakers
Kingsdown’s McLean steps down, Wilson steps up
T
om McLean, executive vice president and head of sales training at Kingsdown, has retired after 42 years with the Mebane, N.C.-based mattress maker. Craig Wilson, Kingsdown vice president of training, who has worked closely with McLean since joining Kingsdown a year ago, has assumed McLean’s former responsibilities. Wilson worked for Simmons Bedding Co. for 15 years, most recently as vice president of sales and training development. He reports to Kevin Damewood, Kingsdown executive vice president of sales. McLean joined Kingsdown in 1969 as a trainee. He rose through the ranks at the manufacturer, establishing an industrywide reputation as a retail sales training expert. He will
continue to serve as a member of the company’s board of directors. Eric Hinshaw, Tom McLean Kingsdown chairman and chief executive officer, credits McLean with helping the company grow from a regional to an international brand. “Tom has made important contributions to our company at every step of his career. He was a dynamic sales representative and manager and then took that field knowledge to lead our corporate marketing to new levels of professionalism. He also played a
Reeves joins Springs Creative
C
aroline Reeves has been named associate product manager, a newly created post at Springs Creative Products Group LLC, a textiles supplier based in Rock Hill, S.C. She reports to Scott Frisch, president of Springs Creative’s Specialty Products Group. Prior to joining the company in Caroline Reeves August, Reeves served as an intern in both its retail and specialty groups. She holds a bachelor’s degree in apparel and textiles with a minor in marketing from Appalachian State University in Boone, N.C. In the new post, Reeves handles a range of product management responsibilities for the SleepSkin and AirSkin mattress fabric lines, including merchandising, developing new products, managing supplier relations and overseeing customer service. “The people that make up the Specialty Products Group of Springs Creative are a diverse group and each one of us wears several hats,” Frisch said. “What stood out about Caroline is that her background and education include both design and marketing. At the same time, her professional presence is something that will add greatly to our efforts to grow our business.”
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critical role in our international expansion, for which we will always be grateful,” Hinshaw Craig Wilson said. “But I think Tom will best be remembered in our company for his passion in delivering sales training and education to our retailers this past decade and helping them improve sales and deliver a more meaningful customer experience.” “I am most proud of changing the way our company and industry sell sleep,” McLean said. “When Kingsdown created the Sleep to Live Institute, it was a
game changer for our industry and our retailers. When you help a retailer understand the importance of selling the sleep experience—not just the mattress—you are helping them improve their business, create a closer bond between them and their customers and help their customers get a better and more restorative night’s sleep. I really loved the fact I could help so many people all these years.” McLean was active in the International Sleep Products Association, serving on its Better Sleep Council for 17 years and as BSC chairman for 12. He also played roles on its Sleep Products Safety Council. In 2008, McLean was honored with ISPA’s Russell L. Abolt Exceptional Service Award.
Atlanta Attachment adds designer to art department
M
attress machinery supplier Atlanta Attachment Co. has hired Christy Causey as a graphic designer in the Lawrenceville, Ga.-based company’s advertising department. Her responsibilities include all aspects of print and online media development. She reports to Don Yaun, Atlanta Attachment vice president of advertising. Causey has 15 years of graphic design Christy Causey experience, including eight in catalog development and online marketing. She previously was located in the Pacific Northwest, where she worked with a diverse array of clients, such as Connecting Threads, Filson, Knit Picks, Mauna Loa and Sharffen Berger. “Causey is a very talented n are you a newsmaker? individual with a broad range of knowledge in many areas and is Have you hired someone a tremendous asset to Atlanta new? Earned a promotion Attachment,” Yaun said. “We are yourself? Let us know. The confident her contributions—in deadline for Newsmakers in terms of new ideas, more robust the January issue is Dec. 1. Web presentations, viral marketEmail news releases to ing campaigns and more—will jpalm@sleepproducts.org. help Atlanta Attachment grow.”
www.bedtimesmagazine.com
PATRON: HRH THE PRINCE OF WALES
Newsmakers
Jamison promotes Steele J
ohn Steele, a decade-long veteran of Jamison Bedding, has been promoted to the newly created position of director of sales. Steele is responsible for building and supporting current Jamison business, expanding into new markets, directing field sales operations in the Southeast and implementing strategies that support the company’s new branding, “We Make Sleep Different.” John Steele Steele reports to Ken Hinman, senior vice president of sales and marketing for the Brentwood, Tenn.-based company. Steele joined Jamison in 2001 as a sales manager in Tennessee and northern Georgia. Before that, he spent 15 years with Rhodes Furniture as a regional sales manager in Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky and Tennessee. With Steele in his new role, Hinman is concentrating his efforts on developing and growing the company’s newly licensed Spring Air brand in Indiana, Kentucky and Ohio, and on advancing the company’s hotel and resort business.
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Former Natura World designer launches firm
C
atherine Arkema, a former design manager at mattress and accessories producer Natura World, has started Sketchbook Design, a studio based in Cambridge, Ontario. As creative director of the new company, Arkema provides branding and graphic design services to furniture manufacturers and retailers. Catherine Arkema Arkema spent more than four years at Natura, where she was responsible for revamping the company’s brand image, website, marketing materials and showrooms. Sketchbook Design (www.sketchbookdesign.ca) offers website, brochure and logo design; point-ofpurchase materials creation; marketing services; and trade show support. It serves small businesses that don’t have an in-house marketing team and larger companies in need of additional support during periods of high demand, Arkema said.
www.bedtimesmagazine.com
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ISPA
BSC launches video series on importance of sleep
T
he Better Sleep Council has collaborated with lifestyle and relationship expert Lissa Coffey on a three-part video series emphasizing how sleep and the right mattress contribute to a person’s well-being. “We produced these videos to provide mattress manufacturers and retailers with greater access to BSC resources,” said Karin Mahoney, director of communications for the BSC, the consumer education arm of the International Sleep Products Association. “They can easily incorporate content into their promotional and marketing tools to assist customers in understanding why sleep is important in their lives and the critical role that a new, quality mattress plays in getting a good night’s rest.”
The videos center on things consumers should consider when purchasing a new mattress
The BSC encourages mattress manufacturers and retailers to incorporate the videos into their online and in-store messaging. to ensure a good night’s sleep. For example, one outlines steps to take when “test driving” a new mattress in a store. Another highlights the importance of sleep and addresses common
challenges couples face when trying to get the recommended seven to eight hours of rest. The BSC encourages mattress manufacturers and retailers to incorporate the videos into their online and in-store messaging. Creative use of the videos is OK, as long as it doesn’t appear that
CPSC amends cigarette flammability standard
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BedTimes November 2011
burn tests for the standard, which was enacted in 1973. In comments to the CPSC earlier this year, the International Sleep Products Association opposed use of the NISTdeveloped cigarette—called Standard Reference Material 1196—because it posed a greater fire risk than both the RIP cigarettes that consumers smoke today and the cigarettes that were replaced in the marketplace by the RIP cigarettes. ISPA also argued that requiring the use of SRM 1196 would increase testing costs. In response to that, the cost of SRM
1196 has been cut in half. ISPA believes that instead of being amended, the 1632 standard should be rescinded because 16 CFR Part 1633, the open-flame standard that went into effect in 2007, makes 1632 testing redundant.
The CPSC disagrees and has decided that the question of rescinding Part 1632 should be addressed in a separate, ongoing rulemaking on the subject begun in 2005 at ISPA’s request. The amendment to 1632 will become effective on Sept. 23, 2012. ISPA is reviewing its options for challenging the decision.
ISPA adds international membership coordinators
SHORT
T
he U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission has voted 5-0 to amend the 16 CFR Part 1632 mattress flammability standard to require the use of a test cigarette developed by the National Institute of Standards and Technology instead of the unfiltered cigarette currently required by the standard. The CPSC made the change because all unfiltered cigarettes available in the consumer market today—generally called reduced ignition propensity cigarettes—are designed to selfextinguish if left unattended, making them unusable in the
Coffey or the BSC are endorsing or promoting any specific brand, company or product. Download the videos from the BSC’s website at www. bettersleep.org/stopzombieitis.asp or its YouTube channel at www.youtube.com/ bettersleeporg.
The International Sleep Products Association has hired Nicole Dusör and Thomas Schulte-Marxloh to be membership coordinators in Europe, helping the association recruit new members and promote participation in the biennial ISPA EXPO trade show. Dusör and Schulte-Marxloh have served for many years as translators in the ISPA Bedding Centre during the Interzum Cologne trade show in Cologne, Germany. ISPA members who haven’t met them during the Cologne show are encouraged to greet them when they attend ISPA EXPO 2012 March 14-17 in Indianapolis.
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Calendar | DECEMBER Dec. 2-4 Seena Magowitz Celebrity Golf Classic Arizona Biltmore Phoenix, U.S. Phone 602-524-7636 roger@seenamagowitz foundation.org www.seenamagowitz foundation.org |
2012
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JANUARY
Jan. 30-Feb. 3 Las Vegas Market World Market Center Las Vegas, U.S. Phone 888-416-8600 info@lasvegasmarket.com www.lasvegasmarket.com Jan. 31-Feb. 4 Istanbul Furniture Fair Istanbul Expo Center Istanbul, Turkey Phone 90-212-291-83-10 www.itf-imob.com
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FEBRUARY
Feb. 1-3 Australian International Furniture Fair Sydney Exhibition Centre Sydney, Australia furniture@aec.net.au www.aiff.net.au Right Las Vegas Market Jan. 30-Feb. 3 in Las Vegas. Below Australian International Furniture Fair Feb. 1-3 in Sydney, Australia
Jan. 22-25 Interiors U.K. National Exhibition Centre Birmingham, England Phone 44-121-780-4141 oonagh.colligan@ubm.com www.interiorsuk.com
www.bedtimesmagazine.com
November 2011 BedTimes
57 |
a d v e r t i s e r s A. Lava & Son Co. Steve Appelbaum 800-777-5282 (800-777-LAVA) www.alavason.com
42
Buhler Quality Yarns Corp. Victor Almeida 706-367-9834 www.buhleryarns.com
23
Hengchang Machinery Factory Ren Ying 86-769-83307931 www.hcjixie.com
39
New England Needles Inc. 55 Thomas Lees 800-243-3158 www.newengland needles.com
Amelco Industries Ltd. Andreas Georgallis 357-22-484444 www.amelco.com
12
Costa International Daniel Vazquez 305-885-9761 www.costa international.com
45
Henkel Tim Brown 614-483-1149 www.henkelna.com
41
OHM Systems Inc. Catherine Anbil 513-771-0008 www.ohmworld.com
59
Pacific Spring Inc. Victor Nguyen 626-272-8882
47
Quilting Inc. Dave Pritchett 614-873-6667 www.quiltinginc.com
27
Atlanta Attachment C2-1, 35 Co. Inc. Hank Little 770-963-7369 www.atlatt.com Bloomingburg Spring & Wire Form Vickie Schwarm 740-437-7614 www.bloomingburg spring.com
54
BLR Martin Leroux 819-877-2092 www.blrlumber.com
6
Bodet & Horst GmbH & Co. KG Ute Schmiedel 49-37349-697-27 www.bodet-horst.de
15
Boyรงelik Erol Boydak 90-532-274-3193 www.boycelik.com
32
Boyteks Tekstil AS Deniz Boydak 90-352-322-0588 www.boyteks.com
36
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BedTimes November 2011
Diamond Needle Corp. 57 Abe Silberstein 800-221-5818 www.diamondneedle.com Duroflex International George Mathew 415-990-4343 www.latexglobal.com
57
Edgewater Machine Co. Inc. Roy Schlegel 718-539-8200 www.edgewater machine.com
25
Enriquez Materials 17 & Quilting Inc. Silvia Enriquez 323-725-4955 www.enriquezquilting.com Foshan Ruixin Nonwoven Co. Ltd. (Rayson Global) Himy Lee 86-757-85806388 www.raysonchina.com
44
Global Systems Group C3 Russ Bowman 954-846-0300 www.gsgcompanies.com
Hickory Springs Mfg. Co. 2 Rick Anthony 828-328-2201 www.hickorysprings.com John Marshall & Co. Ltd. Peter Crone 64-3-341-2004 www.joma.co.nz
53
Kenn Spinrad Inc. Randy Weinstock 800-373-0944 www.spinrad.net
54
Latex Systems 50 Kitti Charoenpornpanichkul 66-2-326-0886, Ext. 204 www.latexsystems.com Latexco U.S. LLC Kevin Callinan 866-528-3926 www.latexco.us Lava Textiles Ann Weaver 864-998-4892 www.lavatextiles.com
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8
MPT Group Ltd. 18-19 Andrew Trickett 44-1706-878558 www.mptgroup.com
P.T. RubberFoam 16 Indonesia Andreas Janssen 62-21-53662190 www.rubberfoam.co.id SABA North America LLC 4 Jim Turner 810-824-4964 www.saba-adhesives.com Simalfa Darren Gilmore 973-423-9266 www.simalfa.com
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Therapedic International 43 Gerry Borreggine 800-314-4433 www.therapedic.com Tietex International Ltd. Wade Wallace 800-843-8390 www.tietex.com
C4
Wright of Thomasville 34 Area Account Executive 800-678-9019 www.wrightlabels.com www.bedtimesmagazine.com
C l a s s i f i e d s For Sale
Employment Opportunity
n TAPE-EDGE MACHINES, MULTINEEDLE AND SINGLE-
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NEEDLE QUILTERS, long-arm label machines, sergers, etc. Contact Victor LeBron, American Plant and Equipment. Phone 864-574-0404; Fax 864-576-7204; Cell 864-590-1700; Email apesales@charterinternet.com; Web www.americanplantandequipment.com. n REBUILT AND RECONDITIONED MULTINEEDLE QUILTING
MACHINES. Specializing in PATHE precision parts and service. Technical consultants. SEDCO. Phone 201-567-7141; Fax 201-567-5515. n TAPE-EDGE MACHINES, QUILTERS AND MISCELLANEOUS
SEWING MACHINES. Contact Frank Carlino, U.S. Mattress Machinery. Phone 815-795-6942; Fax 815-795-2178; Email usmattmach@hotmail.com. n QUILTERS EMCO quilter 86 inches 325, circa 1976.
Gribetz 900 DG with slitter and windup, 90 inches, circa 1990. Contact Dean Schlabach 316-263-7985.
Place your classified ad today! Reach mattress industry professionals around the world with your advertising message through the BedTimes Classifieds. Rates: $3 per word for the first 100 words and $2.50 thereafter; minimum charge of $75. “Blind” box number: $50 per insertion. Ad copy and payment must be received by the first of the month preceding publication. Send ads and payment to BedTimes Classifieds 501 Wythe St., Alexandria, VA 22314-1917. Contact Debbie Robbins, advertising production manager, for additional information. Phone 571-482-5443; Fax 703-683-4503 Email drobbins@sleepproducts.org.
Check out BedTimes online!
➩C omplete issues—all articles and advertisements—posted every month
➩N o special software to download ➩E asy, intuitive navigation
➩R ead BedTimes anytime, anywhere you have Web access
➩ ‘Live’ email and Web links provide access to more information Take a look!
www.bedtimesmagazine.com www.bedtimesmagazine.com
November 2011 BedTimes
59
On Sleep
Sleep helps improve memory, study shows
A
good night’s sleep seems to improve a certain type of memory, according to a new study. Researchers at Michigan State University studied the memories and sleep patterns of 250 people and found that sleep improves something called “working memory capacity,” which allows people to solve problems, learn vocabulary, make decisions and understand passages they’ve read. Researchers found a positive correlation between working memory capacity and gains in memory performance after periods of sleep but not after periods of wakefulness. “There is substantial evidence that during sleep, your brain is processing information without your awareness and this ability may contribute to memory in a waking state,” says Kimberly Fenn, a study researcher and assistant professor of psychology at Michigan State in East Lansing, Mich. The research was published online in the Journal of Experimental Psychology on Sept. 12.
Marital stress linked to wife’s lack of rest
N
ew research shows that difficulty falling asleep at night is associated with negative marital interactions the next day—but only if it’s the wife who’s having the problem. The quality of the husband’s sleep had no such effect. “We found that wives’ sleep problems affect her own and her spouse’s marital functioning the next day and these effects were independent of depressive symptoms,” says researcher Wendy Troxel, assistant professor of psychiatry at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine in Pittsburgh. The study involved 32 healthy, married couples with a median age of 32 whose interactions were assessed over 10 days. “These results highlight the importance of considering the interpersonal consequences of sleep and sleep loss,” Troxel says. They also highlight the importance of a mattress and sleep environment that provide both partners a good night’s sleep.
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“W
ith an adequate amount of
sleep, you actually improve your health. You will lose weight, as your appetite will diminish, as will your chances for
Research: Early bedtimes keep adolescents healthier, thinner
A
dolescents who go to bed early and get up early are thinner and more physically fit than their late-to-bed, late-to-rise peers, according to new research. Researchers in Australia compared the sleep patterns, weights and activity levels of 2,200 Australian children age 9 to 16 over the course of four days. All of the kids slept about the same amount of time, but those who went to bed and woke up later were twice as likely to be sedentary and 1½ times more likely to be obese. The adolescents who had earlier sleep-wake patterns got about 30 minutes more exercise a day than their peers. “This study shows that the teenagers that have that pattern of late to bed, late to wake up don’t have as good health outcomes,” says Carol Maher, a study co-author and postdoctoral research fellow in the School of Health Sciences at the University of South Australia. The study was published in the October issue of the journal Sleep.
viral infections, heart disease and strokes.” —Dr. Mehmet Oz, cardiothoracic surgeon, co-author of the You series of health books and host of “The Dr. Oz Show” www.bedtimesmagazine.com
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Bedding is not a “one-size-fits-all” industry. Contact your GSG rep to find the best fit for you. 800-326-4742
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MATTRESS SOLUTIONS
Published on Nov 1, 2011
The business journal for the sleep products industry
Published on Nov 1, 2011
The business journal for the sleep products industry