A long-established home furnishings manufacturer operating from a 400,000-square-foot flagship facility had reached the limit of what its existing structure could carry. Space was running short, costs were climbing across multiple locations, and product moved through the operation across too many handling points to be efficient. Growth was on the table, but the operation as it stood could not deliver it.
A home furnishings operation lifted productivity 49% and raised wages while cutting labor cost, without expansion, hiring, or new equipment.
Home Furnishings Manufacturer
Results at a Glance
$2M+
Annualized Savings
49%
Productivity Gain
12%
Labor Cost Reduction with Wage Increases
Executive Brief
A home furnishings manufacturer was running out of room and out of routines. Decentralized production, missing metrics, and an ad hoc planning style had the team frustrated but unable to act. POWERS rebuilt the operation around cell manufacturing and installed the management discipline the team had grown beyond, lifting productivity 49%, reducing labor cost 12% while raising worker pay, and delivering more than $2M in annualized savings.
The Situation
An operation outgrowing its own routines, a leadership team without the tools to lead, and a culture comfortable talking about problems rather than solving them.
A long-established home furnishings manufacturer operating from a 400,000-square-foot flagship facility had reached the limit of what its existing structure could carry. Space was running short, costs were climbing across multiple locations, and product moved through the operation across too many handling points to be efficient. Growth was on the table, but the operation as it stood could not deliver it.
Beneath the surface constraints, the deeper problem was managerial. The leadership team had risen with the company but had never been equipped with the management tools the business now required. Metrics were absent in most departments. Decision-making ran on instinct rather than data. Planning happened ad hoc.
An ERP installation was scheduled. Without operating discipline in place first, the system would automate the wrong behaviors. Senior leadership recognized the sequence and engaged POWERS to build the foundation before the technology landed on top of it.
The Diagnosis
Six structural gaps producing the same outcome from six directions.
Decentralized production, excess handling
Product moved through the facility across more handoff points than the work required. Each handoff added time, created opportunity for error, and consumed floor space the operation needed back.
Metrics absent from most departments
Outside raw production counts, there was no measurement system. Departments could not see their own performance, and improvement initiatives had no baseline to measure against.
Leadership without the tools to lead
The management team carried the institutional knowledge but lacked the operating skills the business now required: confronting problems directly, coaching to standard, following up on commitments, and conducting root-cause analysis.
No planning routine
Process mapping from Receiving through Production to Shipping revealed missing planning steps at nearly every transition. Work moved forward, but no one was managing the sequence.
A culture of observation, not action
Frustration with operational gaps was visible across the workforce. But the culture had settled into a pattern of naming problems and waiting for someone else to solve them.
An ERP installation about to amplify all of it
A major system was scheduled to land on top of operations that had never been documented or standardized. Without intervention, the ERP would harden the existing disorder into permanent process.
What POWERS Did
Built the operating system the manufacturer had grown beyond.
Working alongside the leadership team, the POWERS team began with the physical reorganization. Decentralized production was converted into thirteen manufacturing cells, six running in daily operation with capacity to scale into the rest. Over 2,500 baskets used in the old handling pattern were eliminated, recovering both floor space and time. The Packing department, previously separated, was integrated into the cell structure so staffing could flex against actual demand rather than departmental boundaries.
The management work happened in parallel. POWERS delivered ten workshops on the skills the leadership team had never been trained in: managing by the numbers, constructive confrontation and coaching, follow-up discipline, and root-cause problem-solving. Each workshop paired classroom learning with floor-side coaching, so the new skills landed in the work rather than in a binder.
The measurement system was built next. Pieces-per-hour standards were introduced in production. Earned-hour tracking was established in Receiving and Shipping. Daily, weekly, and monthly reporting routines gave the leadership team a system to manage to rather than instincts to rely on. Every process and tool change was documented, both to lock in the gains and to prepare the operation for the ERP install that would follow.
The Full Result
Six measurable gains from a system rebuild, not from expansion or new capital.
$2M+
Annualized Savings
Engagement delivered 166% of target savings, with positive cash flow achieved fifteen weeks ahead of plan.
49%
Productivity Gain
Units per nozzle hour climbed from 176.82 to 263.78, as cell manufacturing and clearer standards replaced decentralized production.
12%
Labor Cost Reduction with Wage Increases
Leadership cut labor costs 12% in Q1 2024 while raising pay for the hourly workforce and leadership team. The two moves were possible together because the operating system finally extracted full value from every labor hour.
40%
Volume Increase, Sustained
Production volume rose 40% versus 2023 and held through Q1 2024, as the new cell structure unlocked capacity the old layout had been absorbing.
133K sq ft
Floor Space Recovered
Over a third of the 400,000-square-foot facility was returned to the operation as handling consolidated and the cell structure replaced spread-out production. The recovered space supported inventory consolidation, a new pre-labeling area, and capacity for growth.
18%
Cost per Unit Reduction
Early 2024 saw an 18% improvement in cost per unit, a structural shift rather than a one-time gain. A task that had previously required 36 Fillers was completed with 24 after the engagement.
Ready to builddisciplined execution in your operation?
Every POWERS engagement starts with our intensive Discovery Process. We work with everyone on your team, identify the gaps in the five disciplines that hold execution back, and build the partnership that closes them. The results stay built long after we’re gone.
Stronger Execution. Stronger Performance.
MOS
A home furnishings operation lifted productivity 49% and raised wages while cutting labor cost, without expansion, hiring, or new equipment.
Home Furnishings Manufacturer
Executive Brief
A home furnishings manufacturer was running out of room and out of routines. Decentralized production, missing metrics, and an ad hoc planning style had the team frustrated but unable to act. POWERS rebuilt the operation around cell manufacturing and installed the management discipline the team had grown beyond, lifting productivity 49%, reducing labor cost 12% while raising worker pay, and delivering more than $2M in annualized savings.
Results at a Glance
$2M+
Annualized Savings
49%
Productivity Gain
12%
Labor Cost Reduction with Wage Increases
The Situation
An operation outgrowing its own routines, a leadership team without the tools to lead, and a culture comfortable talking about problems rather than solving them.
Beneath the surface constraints, the deeper problem was managerial. The leadership team had risen with the company but had never been equipped with the management tools the business now required. Metrics were absent in most departments. Decision-making ran on instinct rather than data. Planning happened ad hoc.
An ERP installation was scheduled. Without operating discipline in place first, the system would automate the wrong behaviors. Senior leadership recognized the sequence and engaged POWERS to build the foundation before the technology landed on top of it.
The Diagnosis
Six structural gaps producing the same outcome from six directions.
Decentralized production, excess handling
Product moved through the facility across more handoff points than the work required. Each handoff added time, created opportunity for error, and consumed floor space the operation needed back.
Metrics absent from most departments
Outside raw production counts, there was no measurement system. Departments could not see their own performance, and improvement initiatives had no baseline to measure against.
Leadership without the tools to lead
The management team carried the institutional knowledge but lacked the operating skills the business now required: confronting problems directly, coaching to standard, following up on commitments, and conducting root-cause analysis.
No planning routine
Process mapping from Receiving through Production to Shipping revealed missing planning steps at nearly every transition. Work moved forward, but no one was managing the sequence.
A culture of observation, not action
Frustration with operational gaps was visible across the workforce. But the culture had settled into a pattern of naming problems and waiting for someone else to solve them.
An ERP installation about to amplify all of it
A major system was scheduled to land on top of operations that had never been documented or standardized. Without intervention, the ERP would harden the existing disorder into permanent process.
What POWERS Did
Built the operating system the manufacturer had grown beyond.
Working alongside the leadership team, the POWERS team began with the physical reorganization. Decentralized production was converted into thirteen manufacturing cells, six running in daily operation with capacity to scale into the rest. Over 2,500 baskets used in the old handling pattern were eliminated, recovering both floor space and time. The Packing department, previously separated, was integrated into the cell structure so staffing could flex against actual demand rather than departmental boundaries.
The management work happened in parallel. POWERS delivered ten workshops on the skills the leadership team had never been trained in: managing by the numbers, constructive confrontation and coaching, follow-up discipline, and root-cause problem-solving. Each workshop paired classroom learning with floor-side coaching, so the new skills landed in the work rather than in a binder.
The measurement system was built next. Pieces-per-hour standards were introduced in production. Earned-hour tracking was established in Receiving and Shipping. Daily, weekly, and monthly reporting routines gave the leadership team a system to manage to rather than instincts to rely on. Every process and tool change was documented, both to lock in the gains and to prepare the operation for the ERP install that would follow.
The Full Result
$2M+
Annualized Savings
Engagement delivered 166% of target savings, with positive cash flow achieved fifteen weeks ahead of plan.
49%
Productivity Gain
Units per nozzle hour climbed from 176.82 to 263.78, as cell manufacturing and clearer standards replaced decentralized production.
12%
Labor Cost Reduction with Wage Increases
Leadership cut labor costs 12% in Q1 2024 while raising pay for the hourly workforce and leadership team. The two moves were possible together because the operating system finally extracted full value from every labor hour.
40%
Volume Increase, Sustained
Production volume rose 40% versus 2023 and held through Q1 2024, as the new cell structure unlocked capacity the old layout had been absorbing.
133K sq ft
Floor Space Recovered
Over a third of the 400,000-square-foot facility was returned to the operation as handling consolidated and the cell structure replaced spread-out production. The recovered space supported inventory consolidation, a new pre-labeling area, and capacity for growth.
18%
Cost per Unit Reduction
Early 2024 saw an 18% improvement in cost per unit, a structural shift rather than a one-time gain. A task that had previously required 36 Fillers was completed with 24 after the engagement.
POWERS|+1 678-971-4711|info@thepowerscompany.com|1801 Peachtree St NE, Suite 200, Atlanta, GA 303091 / 1