David Henson wants people to get a good night's sleep. A step in that direction is for them to purchase a mattress pad or pillow from his Tupelo-based Henson Sleep Relief Inc. (HSR)
Posting $10 million in sales last year, Henson's 23-year-old manufacturing firm has evidently found a niche that needed filling.Denver Mattress' spokesperson Bob Rensink explains, "Immediately we knew we could help. We felt that providing a good night's sleep for the evacuees on new mattresses would be an economic and emotional relief for them. In an effort to rebuild lives during these trying times, HOPE was the message we wanted communicate. It's our intention that this mattress donation will aid in recovery of so many who have lost so much."NIMS currently supports a clinical trial to demonstrate the intended use of Exer-Rest for temporary relief of musculoskeletal pain associated with osteoarthritis of the lower extremities (hips and knees) in order to meet FDA approval for its marketing in the United States. Exer-Rest is a CE0120 Class 2 device and can be marketed and sold in the common market and Canada.Henson points out that higher-end retailers like Belk usually sell a thicker mattress pad than most of the dollar stores, hence the usually higher price at the upscale stores.The donated mattresses have been branded HOPE, which is the intended message for the survivors.Further information on the Company can be obtained at www.nims-inc.com.Of the 100,000 square feet of space HSR occupies, Helms says one-third is dedicated to manufacturing and materials storage. The remaining two-thirds is used for finished-product storage and shipping."Working with the Denver Mattress Company will enable World Vision to touch many lives with this generous gift," said Dean Salisbury, World Vision Director of Operations for Gifts-in-Kind. "Together with our church partners, we can positively impact lives. The Denver Mattress Company is going the extra mile to help the hurting and distressed."At present, Henson calls HSR's business "fair, not great but fair." He has no concrete plans to make any major changes in the manufacturing or marketing processes."Every customer primarily has their own specs," Henson says. "We make what the customer wants." Those customers range from "dollar" discount stores to other retailers including, indirectly, Wal-Mart and other high-end stores.Forming the corporate partnership with Springs offered the best of both worlds. HSR sells its products in the hundreds of Wal-Mart stores but has been able to use Springs as a buffer."You put them under the sheets to add thickness," Henson explains of the pads. Expensive mattresses usually have the pad - called "pillow top" - built in.Henson's products are sold in the world's largest retailer, Wal-Mart, but they're there by contract to Springs Global, a worldwide maker of towels and other household fabric goods (Wamsutta is one of Springs' brands) so don't bear any of the HSR brand names.Standing among high stacks of huge foam blocks called "buns," the 50-year-old Henson explains the process of changing buns to pads. They are moved through huge slicers, handsaws with smooth, sharp vertical blades that cut the blocks to proper dimensions to fit bed sizes ranging from twin to king.Henson estimates his cost of equipment at approximately $1 million. "We have one machine that, alone, costs $350,000.""We never put our business in jeopardy by being in Wal-Mart," Henson recalls, explaining he didn't purchase any additional equipment or hire anymore workers to accommodate the retailing giant. "We didn't put Wal-Mart in a position to let them run our business."The sliced pads, which are actually twice as thick as they will be when finished, move to a dimpling machine that simultaneously slices the pads in half once again. Workers like Tracy Jones feed the pads into one side of the machine, where the dimples the pressed into it, while Nom Fair pulls the dimpled pair off the other side."We do need to have an offsite distribution center and office in the Chicago area since we're up there all the time," Henson says of HSR's dealings in that region. "We have almost done it two or three times but backed off."Helms says the workers earn $8 to $12 per hour. "We've been very lucky to find good, dependable people."Linda Bean and Frances Brown team up to fold the pads, place them on racks and send them to be packaged."We can definitely stay within mar-gins using domestic vendors," he states.
"We do need to have an offsite distribution center and office in the Chicago area since we're up there all the time," Henson says of HSR's dealings in that region. "We have almost done it two or three times but backed off."
Author: Cotton, C Richard
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