by In late 2022, Home News Now visited the Kingsdown plant in Mebane, North Carolina, which is also home to the company’s headquarters. The 100,000-square-foot plant is part of a large network of manufacturing operations the company has in North Carolina, Virginia, Florida, Texas, California and Canada. As with the other five plants in the U.S. and the operations in Canada, it serves a dedicated region that includes North and South Carolina, Tennessee and Georgia.
Producing about 250 mattresses per day, the facility and others are located within an hour or less of many key suppliers of fabric, foam and springs that go into finished product. Its proximity to those suppliers allows the plants to receive those goods quickly for fast turnaround times for finished product that are about one week from the time of order. During its tour, Home News Now saw the production process from start to finish and captured images of key steps along the way.
Below is a look at the process involving the creation of a product that generations of customers have sought for nearly 120 years.
This is a staging area inside the Mebane plant for spruce used in the foundation of the mattresses.
A worker is seen loading up stacks of springs that are a key component of certain mattresses in the line.
A worker operates a machine that produces quilted fabric for the mattress line.
Michael Shoe, senior vice president, manufacturing and operations, inspects a layer of fabric being processed onsite.
Here Shoe is seen inspecting another quilted layer of fabric that will be used in the finished product.
A worker is seen here with a layer of quilted fabric that also will be used in the finished product.
More decorative quilted layers of fabric are seen being processed at the facility.
Here Shoe is seen showing layers of fabric that will be used for the boarders of different mattresses.
Measuring of the fabric used in borders is a very precise process in order to avoid waste of materials.
A machine is seen embroidering the Kingsdown logo on a section of fabric that will be used around the border of the mattress.
The logo and brand name come into sharper view on the materials that will be used on the mattress borders.
A woman is seen cutting fabric for the mattress line. As seen here, plenty of handwork combines with the use of machinery to hone materials used in the finished product.
A worker is seen preparing foam rails for use in the mattress border.
The next step is fitting the layers of components into the foam panels that have been attached into a rectangular frame.
A worker is seen affixing the top layer of quilted fabric to the mattress.
Next the border is seen being wrapped around the completed mattress.
A worker is seen affixing the quilted fabric to the top of another mattress.
A layer of fabric is seen being attached to a solid wood frame that has been assembled at the plant.
