Stressless Moves Key Product Assembly to USA

Furniture World News Desk on 9/8/2022

Stressless Mike and Max power recliners will be assembled at the J.E. Ekornes USA facility in Morganton, NC. The move comes after 2 years of producing the highly popular Stressless recliner relaxers in Ekornes Thailand.

“We could not be more excited to bring Stressless recliner assembly to the USA,” says president, Peter Bjerregaard, Ekornes, Inc. “Up until now we have only had the capacity for Stressless sofas and Stressless Dining chairs, and this key move will greatly reduce our lead times for these two popular Stressless recliners. Introduced in 2020 to our retail partners, the Stressless Mike and Max have quickly become some of our top-selling power recliners.”

This key move is a part of a major capacity expansion in the USA to increase the growth of the company’s North American business and reduce product delivery times to consumers. The expansion is giving the company an opportunity to add Stressless recliners to the capacity here in the North America.

“The expansion of Morganton will set us up to be the best partner to our retailers for the future,” says Bjerregaard. “With a robust annual sales event calendar and ongoing national marketing, we are poised for growth well into the future.”

This past April, the Morganton, NC plant officially opened an additional 100,000 sq ft of production and warehouse areas, increasing capacity to 70 percent more seats per day by year-end. In addition, the factory has hired over 50 fulltime employees for various positions.

“This expansion has so many benefits to the North American business, and it will surely distinguish us from our competitors who only make or source products abroad.” says Randy Tallent, President, J. E. Ekornes USA.

Ekornes, Inc. is the North American division of the company that provides the NC plant workflow. ?

“North America makes up the largest market for Ekornes’ global business in terms of revenue and sales potential,” says Peter Bjerregaard, President Ekornes, Inc.  “Our Stressless business is thriving, and this expansion is a very positive display of the company’s dedication and support to our market, our retail partners and consumers here in the US, Canada and Mexico.”

Currently the Morganton operation also produces all Stressless sofas sold in North America, including the popular motorized sofas, as well as Stressless dining chairs, ottomans, and accessories.  The company also offers a quick ship/stocking recliner program out of a New Jersey warehouse.

J.E. Ekornes opened in 2012 and is located at 115 Wamsutta Mill Rd, Morganton, NC 28655.  It was the first major manufacturing facility outside of Norway.

About Ekornes

Ekornes is the largest furniture manufacturer in Norway and owns the brand names of Ekornes®, Stressless®, Svane®, and IMG. Ekornes sells its products in 43 countries, maintains 18 sales offices in 11 countries, runs more than 4,000 sales outlets, and operates 10 production units in 4 countries. Company revenue amounts to around 3.2bn NOK (€ 315m) and the company employs some 2,200 people.