by In early June, Home News Now visited the 150,000-square-foot manufacturing facilities of Bradington-Young in Hickory, North Carolina. The tour offered an opportunity to see first-hand the inner workings of a facility that produces custom leather and fabric upholstery to a growing customer base that includes designers and their clients. Seeing these facilities not only helps us understand the process of making custom upholstery, but also gave us a chance to learn about the tasks of the 160 men and women who work at the facility.
A key aspect of the process, we learned, is significant attention to detail, seen not only in the production of components for frames but also in the assembly, upholstering and even packaging of the finished product. Combined, these efforts get the customer their sofa, chair or sectional exactly the way they ordered it and in the quality they expect from the 45-year-old company. Below are some images that help show some of the craftsmanship and expertise that goes into the product.
CNC routers at the plant produce components for upholstery frames.
Jose Teopcentzin is seen starting to assemble an upholstery frame. The process involves keen attention to detail to make sure the parts line up before the next steps in the process.
Caleb Thomas is seen nearing completion on a sofa frame, using wood components built at the plant.
Sarah Earwood combines various components including wood parts and foam seats and backs with various chair frames to which they have been assigned.
These chair frames are ready to move on to assembly with their respective wood and foam components.
Pattern maker Jeff Lints is seen working on patterns for various upholstery pieces in the line.
Robbie Lynch is seen working on a leather sofa, affixing strips of material to the wood frame.
Toby Colvard is seen affixing leather to the arm of a chair frame.
In this area, workers are seen affixing leather to the backs of recliner frames.
Hanzel Delgado is seen applying nailhead trim to the frame of a leather sofa.
More upholstery frames nearing completion are seen on the assembly line of the Hickory, North Carolina, plant.
Angela Pineiro is seen blowing off excess fibers and dust from a nearly completed leather sofa.
Thirty-year employee Tracy Wilson is seen inspecting a nearly completed chair for structural issues before it heads on to the shipping department.
Forty-year company veteran Jeff Lail is seen working on an electrical switch on a power motion recliner before it heads on to the shipping area.
Khalifa Muhammad is seen assembling a power motion recliner.
David Rodriguez is seen tailoring a leather chair that also is nearing completion before being sent to the shipping department.
David Reese is seen putting a heat shield on a chair before it gets boxed for shipping.
