a story of
materials
and machines
Few manufacturers work with as
wide a range of raw materials and
with as many different technologies
as Simmons. Further, our most
important raw materials involve
aesthetics in one way or another-
fashion, color, form, texture, etc.
First, of course, come textiles. To
cover our mattresses and
Hide-A-Bed sofas, we now spend
about $20 million a year on 82
million linear yards of textiles. That
is enough to circle the earth twice
and it includes every color, pattern
and texture appropriate for mass
retailing. Over two thousand sewing
machines in our plants keep busy
sewing these fabrics. They eat up
close to a million dollar's worth of
thread and twine a year. So you can
see what a responsibility it is to
select, test, buy, store, and apply our
textiles.
Simmons is a major user of steel-
nearly 160,000 tons annually of
sheet steel, strip steel, bars and
shaped angle iron and low and high
carbon spring wire. Our 134
Beautyrest Automatic Pocket
Machines consume four miles a
minute of just one type of high
carbon wire.
To insulate the sleeper from the
innerspring construction, we use
cotton felt or polyurethane foam.
Our annual consumption: forty-five
million pounds of cotton linters and
nearly sixty million board feet of
polyurethane. Similar impressive
statistics could be cited for the wood
in our boxsprings and sofa frames,
aim to be a "favorite customer." We
are eager to learn about new
developments as early as possible.
We are always ready to work with
suppliers to improve current
products.
All these materials are consumed
in 58 plants around the world. In
our bedding plants alone, there are
6,300,000 square feet or about 144
acres! As much area as 132 football
fields!
Huge? It certainly is. It adds up to
paint and stains, packaging
materials, nails, tacks, staples by the
ton, and so on and on. And we have
not even touched on the materials
consumed by our affiliates who are
not in the mattress business.
Our Vice President for Purchasing
is responsible for the bulk of
Simmons' annual $100 million
shopping list. He deals with
hundreds of companies, large and
small. These suppliers are an
important factor in helping us
maintain our leadership and we do
our best to inspire the most favorable
long-range treatment from them. We