La-Z-Boy Furniture is the largest manufacturer of upholstered goods in North America. Its factory in Dayton, Tennessee employs 1,200 people and ships about 19,000 units per week. The factory makes all components of La-Z-Boy products in-house, from wood and metal to foam cushions. A team of six workers can produce over 90 La-Z-Boy lounge chairs in a single day through an assembly process where each team member is responsible for a part of upholstering and assembling the chair. Quality control is a priority, with each step inspected and the final product checked for any flaws before shipping.

1. Made in Dayton: La-Z-Boy Furniture
Calvin Sneed
2012-02-03 17:48:47
Many of you watch NewsChannel 9 from the comfort of one of the
products that's made locally, and shipped around the country and the
world..
[La Z Boy Furniture] is the largest manufacturer of upholstered goods in North
America. For over 40 years, it's Tennessee factory has been the
largest of the company's five plants. Workers take pride in the fact
that items to fit your comfort and well-being, are "Made in Dayton."
The La-Z-Boy plant in Dayton employs 12-hundred people. "Right
now, we ship out about 19,000 units per week," says safety director
Dennis Poland.
Every item used to make a La-Z-Boy product is in-house, from the wood, to the metal spring assemblies..
Even the polyurethane foam is pre-cut from patterns for the cushions. "We can either use fiber or
polyurethane foam in all our units," says Ronnie Angel, who heads that department.
Probably, La-Z-Boy's most recognized item is the lounger.. Today, we'll watch this team of 6 make a La-
Z-Boy lounger.. Between Justin, Jason, David, Josh, Keith, and Nathan, they've got 15 years experience
on the line. "Every wood-to-wood connection in our frame components has glue," Poland says, as we
watched the beginnings of the lounger.
At the next stop, the body of the lounge chair is upholstered by a team member, with materials used by
the [La-Z-Boy Furniture] line for years. "80 yeears of design went into this steel rod, and the patented La-Z-Boy
mechanism," says Poland.
"That's the backbone of our product."
The lounge chair back is assembled by another team member, who will then slide it into the seat chassis,
which is being upholstered.
This is fast-paced work. "This team of 6 is capable of producing over 90 units daily," Poland says, "in
fact.. their record is 93 units in one day."
Stretching the material is hard work. The team permitted me to staple the material, using a high-powered
staple gun. I got high marks for stretching the fabric without prompting...
While one team member works on that activity, another has already made the seat for the lounger.
"Heavy-gauge springs... that's the longevity of our product," says Poland, "as well as the polyurethane

2. foam to make the cushions."
Everything is tucked and folded.. No raw edges are left exposed.
Each team member is in charge of inspecting the previous man's work.
The foot rest is attached, then the rocker is applied.. by that time, the back is slid into place, and
everything is in place.
And then it was to pass Keith's watchful eye. He's the quality control manager, and nothing gets by him.
"I'm looking for any staples showing, hanging threads," he says.
From there, the next stop is the La-Z-Boy Gallery in Antioch, Tennessee outside Nashville, where the
customer who ordered it, can pick it up.
Over the years, La-Z-Boy Tennessee has done some streamlining of its operations, but the company still
has well over one-million square feet of manufacturing space in Dayton..
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