The Bedworks - 25 Years Made In Maine

The LL Bean Connection

(l to r) Steve Hammann, Robin Emery (Assistant Sales Manager), and Janet and George Moran of The Bedworks. Below a worker hand sands a finished solid wood drawer.

Hammann and his partner George Moran (Janet’s husband) started their partnership as students at the University of Maine, Orono, in 1975. “I met George back then, in fact he picked me up while I was hitchhiking. That’s how we met,” said Hammann. Like many other cottage industry entrepreneurs they began making and selling products in a small workshop space. “We started out in the waterbed industry and did very well,” said Hammann. The beds were made in the back room, and there was a small retail showroom in front. The years went by and the company grew. By 1984 they were operating a manufacturing facility and four futon stores. It was then that the company began its move into the wholesale business. “We felt at that time that our greatest strength was in our manufactured product,” said Janet Moran. “We retrenched back to one store and went into wholesale in earnest,” Hammann said. In 1990, knowing their styles and designs were proven winners, they focused the company on wholesale, and futon manufacturing fine hardwood furniture from Maine. “We really felt we had something we could sell successfully based on all those years of selling to the public,” said Moran. Apparently they were right.

Today The Bedworks operates out of two neighboring locations in beautiful Bangor, Maine. The primary manufacturing plant is about 25,000 square feet with a 15,000 foot addition planned. The retail store, which houses the company offices, is located across town and provides additional storage space. Being a furniture manufacturer from Maine conjures up the impression of the “down home fine craftsman.” However, Hammann was quick to point out that The Bedworks is moving forward with new technology. “We just put in a new CNC computerized machining center this year,” he said. “In our line of KD (RTA) furniture the precision and accuracy of this machine is what is needed to insure that our furniture will assemble without any problems.”

The Bedworks recently installed a state of the art CNC machining system to better equip them for the future.

In 1994, with a growing national wholesale account list, The Bedwork’s products were picked up by an account that would literally push and pull them to the next level. They had been trying, like many do, to get their foot in the door at LL Bean. “LL Bean gets many calls each day from new vendors trying to get their products in front of buyers. When we got the call and discovered it was Bean we were obviously very excited,” said Moran. The buyer had seen their ad for futon furniture in Futon Life magazine and with the added ingredient of The Bedworks being a Maine company Bean decided to take a look. Like anyone would The Bedworks saw the LL Bean connection as a very important segment of their business. But many other positive things happen when you deal with a company like the famous Freeport, Maine futon retailing giant.

“Dealing with a billion dollar company like LL Bean has brought our level of professionalism and attention to detail to new levels. It has also taught us so many things about how to better service all our accounts,” said Hammann. “What’s good for them (LL Bean) is good for all our customers,” he said.
 

Twenty Five Years Made In Maine It's a team effort all the way

All of this boils down to a simple fact. The Bedworks, with its experience as a vendor for LL Bean, can deliver high quality furniture with proven value. “We have carefully managed our growth, not desiring to grow for the sake of growth alone,” says Hammann. “We want to be known as a company that listens carefully to all of our customers.”

Futon Furniture Includes Casegoods

“We currently make seven different futon frames in six different finishes, all in solid ash,” said Moran. The company also offers several styles of occasional tables and casegoods to match the futon frames. “By listening to our customers,” added Hammann, “we have tried to keep our line simple enough to fit into many different decors. This has allowed us to put a considerable amount of effort and quality into the things that matter. Things like how the drawers slide, and the dovetail jointed drawers. The drawer guts are solid hardwood too, and they are finished with a coat of sealer and a lacquer, all without making them so pricey that we are out of the ballpark.

“One of my favorite quotes about our casegoods was when a customer said that they were ‘an antique of the future,’” added Moran.

“Everything is engineered with the goal of keeping it problem free. Any mistake that is made is always compounded when it’s out in the field. We deal with a lot of smaller companies that simply can’t afford to send out a driver to deliver something we forgot to put in the box. Our emphasis is on making sure it goes together the way the instructions say it should. It’s simple; we try to do what we say. We aren’t trying to be the biggest, we’re trying to be the best for our customers,” Hammann said.

Customer Service Is King

With twenty five years of futon retail experience The Bedworks team is amply prepared to deal with the issues their dealers contend with every day. “If you ask any one of our futon dealers they will tell you that we are more than responsive,” said Moran. Once again The Bedworks retail experience gives them an edge. “We understand from having had retail stores for all these years that you must be able to deal with a customer’s product issues on the spot,” she said. The Bedworks also works to bring this one on one contact with consumers to their design and manufacturing groups. “Our wholesale sales force still works the retail floor too,” Hammann added.

Another refreshing aspect of this company is their desire to bring products to market that don’t just mimic styles that everyone else has. “We want our furniture to be distinctive enough to stand out from the crowd of imported futon frames on the market, yet be priced and designed to meet our customers’ needs,” Hammann said. “We want to be a trailblazer by giving our customers what they want, not by just making what everyone else is selling,” added Moran.

Managing distribution is also a key focus of the firm. “We don’t want to over saturate any individual market,” said Moran, “It only causes price wars and nobody wins.” Hammann added.

Long term measured growth, product diversification by design, added to customer service second to none and a true sense that this company is in it for the long haul leaves me feeling pretty good about The Bedwork’s future. “We value all of our customers because we realize that our success depends on them,” said Hammann.

FL