You could say that the FDMC 300 group of companies stayed the course in 2016. It was another good year for the industry, and there were relatively few major changes in those companies.

There were several major consolidations, but we identified only one company in the group of 300 that closed during 2016. That’s the lowest number in more than 20 years.

In a normal year, there may be 10 companies that close or are purchased by other companies.

Sales for the FDMC 300 group of companies grew 5 percent in 2016 over the previous year to $48.786 billion. That’s the fifth consecutive year of sales growth for this group of companies.

The FDMC 300 is a group of the 300 largest cabinet, furniture, millwork, store fixture, office/contract and component producers in North America.

Changes in companies

-- Right after the first of the year, Hooker Furniture Corp. agreed to purchase Home Meridian International, a move that would more than double the company's size and make it one of the top five U.S. sources of upholstered furniture and casegoods.

We later estimated combined 2016 sales of $525 million, based on third quarter sales. Both Hooker and Home Meridian were FDMC 300 companies.

-- Essential Cabinetry Group bought and replaced Designers Choice Cabinetry, Rockledge, Florida, on the FDMC 300 list. Executive Cabinetry and Tedd Wood are other divisions in South Carolina and Pennsylvania. The combined companies have sales of an estimated $70 million.

-- In November, Canada’s Leda Furniture decided to cease production and close its doors after 49 years of manufacturing high-end furniture in Ontario.

According to company president Marco Confalone, this was a difficult decision to make but the logistics of manufacturing domestic high-end furniture in Ontario were becoming too great a challenge with government regulations, labor rates and shortages, and cheap imported product coming from overseas.

The Toronto company liquidated its inventory and remaining equipment. The company made contract/office, hospitality and residential furniture, bedroom, dining room, occasional furniture; bookcases, conference tables, desks, office systems, and hotel furniture in its 175,000 square foot operation.

-- Groupe Cabico in Coaticook, Quebec, a cabinet manufacturers, purchased Elmwood Fine Custom Cabinetry in St. Catharines, Ontario. The companies are listed separately in the 2016 summary.

-- In a less-publicized move, Moduform Furniture of Fitchburg, Massachusetts, purchased Adden Furniture and replaced Adden in the FDMC 300 list. The company manufactures casegoods, upholstered lounge and public area seating, tables and chairs.

-- Ampco Products in Miami became part of AJW Architectural Products, and the manufacturer of doors and partitions is listed as AJW.

-- We made one change ourselves, by not listing U.S. Remodelers (formerly U.S. Home) separately. This was an independent company that had been purchased and became a division of Home Depot. Its manufacturing location in Charles City, Virginia is in operation, but its refacing business seems to be carried out in a number of retail locations rather than a separate large manufacturing operation. We were unable to confirm this information with Home Depot.

-- Wichita cabinet manufacturer Custom Cupboards changed its name to R.D. Henry & Co.

-- High Country in Longmont, Colorado, was purchased earlier by Fleetwood, but is listed separately at Fleetwood’s request.

-- One change not reflected in the 2016 FDMC 300 was the purchase of Brown Jordan International, Inc., by Littlejohn & Co., LLC, a private investment firm based in Greenwich, Connecticut.

Brown Jordan International is a manufacturer of indoor and outdoor furniture serving a variety of commercial and consumer markets. The transaction has been approved by the boards of directors of both companies and was expected to close in early 2017. Several years earlier, Brown Jordan had purchased Tropitone, another outdoor furniture manufacturer.

Additional information and the full list of 300 companies is also online at http://www.woodworkingnetwork.com/fdmc-300