KI Proudly Making Furniture in High Point

Ken Neves, general manager for privately owned commercial furniture manufacturer KI (formerly known as AGI), says no challenge is too big—except finding skilled workers.

There are plenty of studies that corroborate Neves frustration with the lack of a skilled workforce. A 2005 survey by the National Association of Manufacturers found that 81 percent of its members report a moderate to severe skills shortage and the biggest shortage is for technically skilled employees. Comparatively, 85 percent of North Carolina manufacturers experienced similar limitations based on the NC Skills Market Survey, conducted by the NC Department of Labor.

Concerns for Future

“In the future, where will the people come from? Kids are not coming out of school knowing how to sew, upholster or make furniture,” said Neves. “We’re not doing enough to help those kids who aren’t on the college path.” He advocates for increased vocational training available in the high school curricula, for good reason as the average age in his plant is 53, and many employees are nearing retirement.

Neves puts his money where his mouth is—he’s helping young people learn about the industry. In 2006, he took advantage of the North Carolina State University Industrial Extension Service (IES) student-on-demand program. An industrial engineering student worked a total of 180 hours on job standardization for KI. Student-on-demand is a cost-effective resource that benefits both industry and students alike.

The student-on-demand program was part of a $2 million economic impact reported by KI based upon gains made by partnering with IES. Another portion of the $2 million was based on achieving ISO registration, a process also facilitated by NC State specialists. “We just want to be the best and whoever we can pull in to do that, we will,” said Neves.

1B4NC

That $2 million impact will be celebrated in NC State’s 1B4NC campaign. KI will be recognized on April 23, 2008 as a major contributor to the IES promise: to create $1 billion in economic impact for North Carolina by 2010. Since January 2006, IES’ economic impact for the state of NC is more than $370 million.

Neves, a believer in continuous improvement, can demonstrate his passion with results.

KI, which produces high end furniture for healthcare, governmental, education and corporate environments, is the sixth largest contract furniture manufacturer in the industry with 10 manufacturing plants in North America.

The High Point facility is one of the smaller of KI’s plants, their accolades, however, are larger than life. They’ve received 28 company based awards since 2003, including “plant of the year,” not once, but twice. They are measured on metrics like quality, delivery timeframe, safety and profitability.

The company continues its award-winning ways. In January of 2008, KI-High Point, shipped $1 million more furniture than budgeted. KI boasts a five week lead time on standard orders. Custom orders make up almost 20 percent of their sales. Industry standard for custom orders is 1 percent of sales. So, in this company that seems to be almost recession-proof, the drive to please the customer is working. One of KI’s mottos is, “Never ship anything you’re not proud of.”

Behind slogans such as those, the KI-High Point plant has doubled their sales in 4 ½ years. Neves attributes this increase to sales force relationships, delivering on time and most importantly, delivering what the client needs.

Neves believes in his product and actually views some of the plant’s processes as art forms. He believes upholstery is an art. He has posted a $250 bounty for any employee that brings him a trained upholsterer.

“There is a mindset about going to work in a factory, that you aren’t a ‘success’ unless you work in the corporate office on the eleventh floor,” said Neves.

The importance of manufacturing to the state is hard to ignore. Manufacturing continues to generate the highest percentage of Gross Domestic Product for the state of North Carolina at 19.75 percent, based on the U.S. Department of Commerce. And the furniture industry continues to employ the most employees within the manufacturing sector.

Manufacturing has evolved into a highly skilled industry. One look at KI’s products is testament to that fact.