Sales for the FDMC 300 group of companies grew 4.75 percent in 2018, to reach $54.691 billion.

This group of the 300 largest North American cabinet, millwork, furniture and fixture manufacturers recorded a seventh consecutive year of sales expansion in 2018, the year just completed. In 2017, sales grew 5.4 percent over the previous year to $52.209 billion. 

Companies in most market sectors that reported indicated growth or similar sales levels compared to the previous year. Some of the largest publicly traded manufacturers consolidated operations or concentrated on improving efficiency rather than increasing overall revenue.

The FDMC 300 is a group of the 300 largest cabinet, furniture, millwork, store fixture, office/contract and component producers in North America. This annual summary of wood manufacturing firms' sales performance is published annually by FDMC magazine.

There were adjustments in some company information in 2018 due to new data, mergers and consolidations.

Also, there were several companies listed last year that are no longer included, along with new companies and a few name changes.

In 2017 we identified five companies that closed. In 2018, we identified only three companies in the group of 300 that went out of business. We will detail these changes and look more closely at several key market segments in future issues of FDMC.

Most notably, Heritage Home Group LLC sold its Broyhill, Thomasville and Luxury Group business units and filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Formerly known as Furniture Brands, this company was one of the largest in the FDMC 300 at one time and was still one of the largest residential furniture companies.

One major cabinet manufacturer purchased another when American Woodmark bought RSI Home Products. Also, JSJ Corp. closed its izzy+ contract furniture operation, and Harden Furniture closed its New York operation. Its future is uncertain.

Several other companies consolidated, and a few of these changes happened late in the year and both companies involved are listed.

The year 2018 was the seventh straight in which the overall group of companies reported sales increases. This long period of growth came after five consecutive years of declines from 2007 to 2011.

Sales for the FDMC 300 group of companies grew 5 percent in 2016 over the previous year to $48.786 billion. Earlier, we calculated annual sales for this group to be $46.404 billion for 2015. That was an increase of 7 percent over $43.325 billion for 2014.

A detailed list of the top 25 companies and a summary of all 300 companies is included in our coverage.

The full list of 300 companies is at https://www.woodworkingnetwork.com/fdmc-300

We were not able to get updated sales and employee numbers from some privately held companies, but were able to update at least some information on most of these firms.

Several companies previously listed were not included in 2018 because they had sales just below the 300^th company. These companies are still in operation and may be included in future years.

Here’s a look at the methodology we used for the 10 largest companies in the FDM 300:

1. Ashley Furniture Industries Inc. This company reported more employees and larger manufacturing space. They make furniture in Mississippi and North Carolina, in addition to the large primary operation in Wisconsin. Ashley also has manufacturing operations in China and Vietnam. This figure was provided directly by the company and does not include estimate of retail store sales.

2.  Steelcase Inc. Sales for company’s fiscal 2018 increased about 1 percent from the previous year. Plant location and division information are the same.

3. Andersen Corp. Silver Line division was sold. Sales number is our estimate for 2018. No other new information from the company.

4. MasterBrand Cabinets. Fortune Brands Home and Security’s kitchen and bath cabinetry segment’s sales figure is based on third quarter sales. Auburn, Alabama, cabinet plant closed. A new operation in Reynosa, Mexico, was to open.

5. Herman Miller Inc. Information is from the company’s annual report. Sales increased 4.5 percent for the publicly traded office and contract furniture company.

6. Jeld-Wen Inc. This figure is based on final fiscal 2017 window and door sales for North America.

7.  Haworth Inc. Revenue reported in February 2018 for the most recent fiscal year. Sales were up more than 5 percent over the previous year.

8. American Woodmark Corp. Sales figure based on 2018 third quarter. RSI sales included.

9. HNI Corp. Estimate based on third quarter sales for the office furniture segment.

10. Masonite. Company is publicly traded, and figure is based on final 2017 sales number.

Pollmeier is sponsor of the FDMC 300.