Boss to invest $86m in bed-spring factory in Jamaica
Published:Wednesday | September 22, 2010 | 12:00 AM
Dionne Rose, Business Reporter
Boss Furniture, family-owned business that manufactures living room suites and beds in downtown Kingston, is to spend US$1 million (J$86 million) to set up a factory to produce the springs for its mattresses, the company's CEO Omar Azan disclosed.
Azan spoke of the plans for the factory, to be opened in the new year, at a function last week to invest the new leadership, Jamaica Wood Products and Furniture Association (JAFWA), and expanded afterwards in interview with Wednesday Business.
"(It) will not be before the first quarter of next year," he said.
Boss will have a partner in the venture, who Azan declined to name.
The proposed 15,000-square foot factory, to be housed in a refurbished building at Church Street in Kingston, will initially have a workforce of between12 and 15. The company assembles beds and furniture nearby.
The move is part of Azan's efforts to further integrate his company's production processes.
Three years ago, for example, Boss established polyurethane foam facility at Elletson Road, which employed 20 persons.
That eliminated the need to import formed foam - the main raw material in bedding - helping to reduce costs and increasing Boss' efficiency.
Azan, who is also the president of the Jamaica Manufacturers' Association, expects the same thing to happen with his facility that will form bed springs. He hopes some six other manufacturers will become his customers.
"Rather than importing the spring, they can buy from the local factory," he said at the JAFWA ceremony. "That would help with cash flow."
Established in 1990, Boss is the largest upholstery and bedding manufacturer in Jamaica. Its beds sell in most local home furnishings stores and feature in many of the island's hotels.
The company also exports to other Caribbean Community (CARICOM) markets, except Trinidad and Tobago - a market at which Azan urged other manufacturers to look.
"There is opportunities in the region," he said at the JaWFA function.
He also offered to help identify markets to those who are interested in exporting to the region, a personal pledge of the kind of cooperation that he said was important to industry in Jamaica.
From an original workforce of nine, Boss now employs 200. It has won several awards for industry.