Henson's mission? Helping customers get a good night's sleep

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)

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.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.Sure, the foam products won't guarantee more restful slumber, but they almost certainly won't hurt.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."When we met with Springs," Henson says, we told them we wanted our autonomy."Helms says the workers earn $8 to $12 per hour. "We've been very lucky to find good, dependable people."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.Henson Sleep Relief's general manager, Dale Helms, says the firm employs 32 most of the time, but swell to as many as 80 during busy times - November and December to meet demand for January white sales and June and July for back-toschool sales in August.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."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."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."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."We had a relationship with Wal-Mart, but we lost 'em," Henson relates. It was a loss that, while not a good thing, wasn't all bad, either. Henson says that the scare stories of Wal-Mart virtually taking over and running their vendors' businesses, however vicariously, are certainly true in many cases."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."The customers' specifications come into play in the next step of the process, where the blocks are loaded onto a turntable. They revolve around and are sliced by a horizontal blade to thicknesses specified by the customer. The blade drops a predetermined notch with every revolution of the turntable, which is loaded with several buns.With the exception of pillow covers for its line of foam pillows, Henson reports that all materials, including boxes and bags for packaging, are procured domestically. Most of the foam comes from a half-dozen or so "foamers" located in the furniture-intensive region of Northeast Mississippi.Posting $10 million in sales last year, Henson's 23-year-old manufacturing firm has evidently found a niche that needed filling."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."We can definitely stay within mar-gins using domestic vendors," he states.Linda Bean and Frances Brown team up to fold the pads, place them on racks and send them to be packaged.Henson estimates his cost of equipment at approximately $1 million. "We have one machine that, alone, costs $350,000."

"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."