As an industry leader, Trendler has been committed to sustainable work environments and business practices for over 50 years.
Furniture manufacturing companies want to offer dependable products at a sustainable price, while meeting customers’ needs and demand. In this blog post, we take a look at how Trendler’s 160,000 square foot manufacturing facility uses innovative and sustainable resources to produce the highest quality and most dependable chairs and barstools for their customers across the country.
Martin Gfesser has been with Trendler for nearly three decades. As President, he oversees all the major areas at the company, with the emphasis on manufacturing. “When I became President, our leadership team realized Trendler had to be self sufficient in many of the key operational aspects of our business,” said Martin.
“For example, we were outsourcing our plastics, which put us at a major disadvantage. We were reliant on an outside source to provide us the quality and turn around we needed.”
Outsourcing this aspect of the business extended Trendler’s lead times and Martin realized, they needed to provide product to Trendler’s customers that were high-quality and quicker. The only way to do this would be in self control of all the aspects of manufacturing. “By bringing all those technologies in house, Trendler reduced their lead times from 4 – 5 weeks to at most 2 weeks,” said Martin. This move gave Trendler a huge advantage in the market and fueled their growth.
Currently, the only process Trendler does not do internally is chrome plating and that’s due to environmental restrictions. Every other facet of the manufacturing process, Trendler’s does internally and is completely self-sufficient, setting their business apart from others in the industry. “Most companies depend on an outside source for tool and die. Our facility is equipped with its own tool and die shop, so if something breaks, our expert craftsmen are on it within hours,” said Martin.
“We are self-integrated within all aspects of our business. If we had to depend on an outside source, we’d have to send the part to them and hopefully their schedules aren’t full, wait 2 -3 weeks to get a part fixed, which in turn shuts down our whole manufacturing.”
Today, the dependability of products manufactured in Trendler’s Chicago plant are assured by total quality management procedures with their onsite American National Standards Institute / Business and Institutional Furniture Manufactures Association testing facilities. Shop their newest collection of chairs and barstools manufactured using Trendler’s sustainable business practices today!