Made in USA, from start to finish

EXETER, Pa. - With a new wholly owned, vertically integrated manufacturing facility in Pontotoc, Miss., Pride Mobility is now behind “literally every stitch” of its lift chairs, says Pat Ramey, director of manufacturing.
Lift chairs made from start to finish at the facility, known as Pride Mississippi, were a highlight of the company's booth at Medtrade this year, where it debuted a “Home Décor Collection.”
“We control every aspect, from engineering to testing to manufacturing to delivery,” said Ramey, director of manufacturing at the facility. “Being truly vertically integrated allows us not just control, but innovation and accountability. When customers buy a Pride lift chair, they are assured that we are behind literally every stitch of that product.”
Pride Mobility plans to begin shipping lift chairs from the facility on Nov. 7, with the majority of chairs coming from the facility by Jan. 1, 2017.
Pride Mobility made a significant investment in the 240,000-square-foot facility after hearing from customers that “if we can supply them with beautiful, comfortable, outstanding quality lift chairs, they can get more consumers interested and build stronger retail businesses,” Ramey said.
“After analyzing alternatives, we concluded that a wholly owned, vertically integrated facility located in Mississippi was the surest way to achieve this goal,” he said.
Pride Mississippi employs about 100 in an area known as the “capital of U.S. motion furniture manufacturing.” The facility combines state-of-the-art technology like computerized cutters with specialists like woodworkers, sewers and upholsterers, Ramey said.
“That's where the highly skilled workers are,” he said. “By locating our facility there and by offering attractive packages of wages and benefits, we are able to select the finest, most skilled craftsmen from a large pool of applicants.”
Confident in the potential of the lift chair market, Pride Mobility has built the facility to handle its current business and future growth, Ramey said.
“We see tremendous potential to keep growing and this facility has the capacity to meet extremely high production demands, including running multiple shifts,” he said.