Orders for new furniture increased 7 percent in February compared to 2005, according to a survey of residential furniture manufacturers conducted by High Point accounting and consulting firm BDO Seidman.

February new orders were up 6 percent from January of this year, the survey found, though the number of manufacturers who reported increasing sales fell slightly over the month, from 58 percent in January to 53 percent in February. Read more »

Employers might want to lock up the supply cabinet before leaving the office if they want to find it stocked when they return.

Turns out the majority of office workers (58%) have taken office supplies for their personal use, according to a new survey conducted by Harris Interactive® and commissioned by LexisNexis Martindale-Hubbell’s [http://www.martindale.com] lawyers.com [http://www.lawyers.com], the most comprehensive and trustworthy online resource for finding lawyers.

Among those who admit to taking office supplies for personal use, the most commonly stolen office supplies include pens/pencils (77%), followed by self- adhesive “sticky” notes (44%) and paper clips (40%). Some employees (2%) are even taking decorations like plants, paintings and office furniture (2%).

“People often forget that workplace resources are not their own and are actually considered company property,” said attorney Alan Kopit, legal editor of lawyers.com [http://www.lawyers.com]. “We are not just talking about pens and paper here, employees are also stealing expensive things too like computers, software and books. Read more »

Furniture maker Smith Brothers of Berne Inc. is buying a former auto parts plant and will turn it into a new production center, creating more than 100 new jobs.

The purchase of the former Berne Tube auto parts plant, about two blocks from Smith Brothers’ Berne factory, increases the furniture maker’s 175,000-square-foot operations by almost 40 percent, said Bill Reiman, vice president of operations.

The former auto parts plant about 30 miles south of Fort Wayne was vacated last summer when Berne Tube’s parent company consolidated by shifting the Berne operations and 50 workers to a Portland, Ind., plant. Read more »

To sustain supply of furniture that uses Filipino indigenous materials to capture markets in the US and Europe, a local furniture manufacturer is investing in a 1,000 hectare planting of disease-free abaca in Davao.

Noel L. Cunanan, president of furniture exporter Mecca Manufacturing Phils. Inc. (MMPI), said he has been touching base with the community and the local government unit in a Davao province for the abaca planting. Read more »

Plateau Corp. has introduced several new A/V furniture products in the SR, CRX-2V, QT, TSAT, and WM Series’, including a variety of A/V furniture stands, speaker stands, one of which is a telescopic model, and a universal, wall- or ceiling-mounted speaker bracket.

The SR Series includes the 65’’ and 75’’ SR-V stands, each available in a choice of cherry or expresso natural wood finish for an SRP of $899.99. It features an extra-wide centre area space to accommodate a variety of A/V products; and each provides ample ventilation for equipment, says Plateau. The glass shelves incorporate high-grade smooth edged safety glass, accompanied by soft-touch sliding aluminum doors. Gateways are positioned such that cables are hidden. The 65’’ model measures 19’’ x 65’’ x 22’’, while the 75’’ model measures 19’’ x 75’’ x 22’’ (h/w/d). Read more »

The furniture industry is urging the government to curb the illegal exportation of wood and rattan and take other steps to shore up the industry’s declining market share at home and overseas.

The newly elected chairman of the Indonesian Furniture Industry and Handicraft Association (Asmindo), Ambar Tjahyono, said over the weekend that a shortage of raw materials and tougher competition from furniture markers in China and Vietnam were hitting the local industry hard.

“If there is no immediate effort to empower the industry, we’ll see our market share both at home and overseas (continue) declining,” Ambar told a press conference after he was elected as chairman for 2006-2008. Read more »