La-Z-Boy Residential Announces Changes To Manufacturing Staff

Furniture World Magazine

In an effort to streamline day-to-day operations and enhance its manufacturing processes, La-Z-Boy Residential has announced the addition of a senior level manufacturing position at the company's headquarters in Monroe, Mich., as well as personnel changes at two of its manufacturing facilities. Larry A. Woolace has been promoted to vice president of manufacturing for La-Z-Boy Residential, a newly created position, from his previous position as vice president of La-Z-Boy West, the company's manufacturing facility in Redlands, Calif. Woolace is responsible for operations at the nine La-Z-Boy Residential plants in North America as well as the residential industrial engineering staff in Monroe. Reporting to him are all La-Z-Boy Residential plant vice presidents, general managers and industrial engineering staff members. He continues to report directly to David A. Layman, senior vice president of operations for La-Z-Boy Residential. "With this new position, we have the ability to streamline and improve safety, quality and profitability across all of our production facilities, treating them as one large manufacturing operation as opposed to nine individual operations," explained Layman. "We are very fortunate to have someone with Larry's vast experience and impressive record leading the charge." Woolace began his career with La-Z-Boy at the company's headquarters in 1969 as a ten spindle operator. A year later, he transferred to La-Z-Boy Midwest in Neosho, Mo., where he worked as a time study analyst. In 1978 he was promoted to plant superintendent at the La-Z-Boy Utah plant in Tremonton. After eight years, Woolace moved back to Monroe where he was director of manufacturing services at La-Z-Boy for six years. He moved to Redlands in 1994 to fill the position of plant manager and was promoted the following year to vice president of the La-Z-Boy West facility. Larry has a bachelor of arts degree in human resource administration from Concordia College in Ann Arbor, Mich. He is vice president of government relations and a board member of the Redlands Chamber of Commerce. He and his wife Donna are in the process of relocating closer to La-Z-Boy headquarters in Monroe. They have three children. LA-Z-BOY WEST: Taking over the management of La-Z-Boy West is Theodore (Ted) Meinke, Jr., who has been named general manager at the company's manufacturing facility in Redlands. A 30-year veteran of La-Z-Boy West, Meinke has worked as a quality assurance manager, upholstery supervisor, upholstery superintendent, and most recently was plant superintendent. In his new position, he reports directly to Woolace. "Ted's successful career at La-Z-Boy West combined with his excellent leadership and coaching skills make him ideally qualified for this position," said Woolace. "We have every confidence that he will continue to succeed in his new role." Meinke is certified in Total Quality Management (TQM) by the University of California, Riverside, and is a Prism Performance certified trainer in "Facilitating Teamwork." He and his wife, Cindy, have three adult children and live in Redlands. LA-Z-BOY SOUTH: At La-Z-Boy South in Newton, Miss., vice president Earl W. Bryan has retired after 31 years with La-Z-Boy. Bryan's career with La-Z-Boy began as a cost accountant/analyst a La-Z-Boy South. While there, he was promoted to the position of office manager. In 1976, Bryan moved to the corporate office in Monroe, where he helped establish the company's first internal audit department. He was named plant manager in 1980 and transferred to La-Z-Boy Midwest in Neosho, Mo., were he was promoted to vice president in 1981. In June of 1992, Bryan returned to Newton as vice president of La-Z-Boy South. Replacing Bryan as general manager is Daniel L. Breeding, formerly director of quality management for La-Z-Boy Residential. In his new role, Breeding is responsible for overseeing the day-to-day plant operations at La-Z-Boy South. He reports directly to Woolace. Breeding began his career with La-Z-Boy 22 years ago at the Monroe headquarters, where he held positions in the upholstery and quality assurance departments. In 1987, he was transferred to La-Z-Boy East in Florence, S.C., where he served as assistant plant superintendent, MRP scheduling manager and quality assurance/special projects manager. As special projects manager, Breeding played a key role in reorganizing the Florence facility. In 1998, he transferred back to Monroe to assume the role of director of quality management. "Dan has a tremendous knowledge of plant operations and the manufacture of La-Z-Boy upholstery," said Woolace. "He has shown impressive dedication and professionalism throughout his years with us and we are confident in his ability to lead our state-of-the-art Newton facility." Breeding has a master's degree in management science from Southern Wesleyan University in Central, S.C. He and his wife, Ella, will relocate to the Newton area. Headquartered in Monroe, La-Z-Boy Residential is the nation's largest single manufacturer of upholstered furniture and the world's leading producer of reclining chairs. It is a division of La-Z-Boy Incorporated, the nation's largest furniture manufacturer.