Jul. 8—CHIPPEWA FALLS — The first sofa constructed at the new Ashley Furniture plant in Chippewa Falls was on display Thursday during a ribbon-cutting ceremony.
"When we are up and running, we'll be making 10,000 of these per week," said Travis Wagner, Ashley Furniture's senior vice president of global manufacturing.
However, ramping up to full production is going to take a while. The company plans to employ 200 workers at the new Chippewa Falls site, located at 925 First Ave. However, the current staff is about 40 employees.
"We are on our way," said public relations director Cole Bawek. "We hit the ground running with our recruitment efforts, and we are still filling jobs."
Bawek said the company will hold a job fair at the plant from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. today, and Ashley has a booth at the Northern Wisconsin State Fair. The company also plans to have a presence at Country Jam.
Ashley Furniture purchased the 127,000-square-foot building, formerly used by Spectrum Industries, in May, and began operations in early June.
"We're extremely glad to be here in Chippewa Falls," Wagner said. "There were a ton of challenges to overcome. It's been an amazing journey so far."
Ashley founder Ron Wanek said when the company opened its first facility in Arcadia, it was a 35,000-square-foot building. Today, there is a 3 million-square-foot facility, and Ashley has now expanded to 12 locations, including Chippewa Falls.
"We've learned a lot from the pandemic," Wanek said. "This facility will help a lot with our logistics. We're looking forward to a great future here in Chippewa Falls."
The First Avenue building has been for sale since 2014, when Spectrum Industries purchased the former Pactiv plastics plant at 1500 River St., which is 260,000 square feet. Spectrum had been using both buildings, with the plan to eventually sell the First Avenue building when a buyer stepped forward. The Pactiv plant was constructed in 1966 and closed in January 2013. Ashley Furniture has described it as a "multi-million dollar investment" to purchase the site and install equipment.
The city of Chippewa Falls did not provide any financial assistance to Ashley. Mayor Greg Hoffman praised the addition of the company, saying Chippewa Falls is known for its manufacturing, from logging to tool-and-dies to computer components, and adding Ashley Furniture helps the city diversify.
"I'm very excited to have Ashley here," Hoffman said.
To learn more about Ashley Furniture Industries and view Chippewa Falls job openings, visit Ashley.com/ChippewaFalls.