Oakland manufacturer has unique way in recycling finish
Dan Chong is chief executive of Oakland’s Metro, whose furniture is made using environmentally friendly finishing systems. (Ray Chavez/staff)


WEARING a full face mask, Antonio Bermudez sprays powder finish on a table leg at the factory of Metro, a 101-year-old Oakland furniture manufacturer. As he works, every puff of powder that doesn’t stick to the metal is sucked into a vacuum chamber to be captured and reused.
The $44.4 million, 200-employee company has created one of the country’s first energy-saving, environmentally friendly furniture finishing systems. Metro’s annual saving from this and other conservation efforts: more than $150,000.
“The finishing system is the beacon, the representation of what we’re trying to do,” said Kevin Owens, Metro’s director of environmental strategy.
The company has made environmental issues a central concern, from cutting back onits energy use to recycling all its cardboard and plastic to choosing yarns, dyes and wools with an eye to conservation.
Metro, which started in San Francisco in 1905 and settled in Oakland four years ago after a stint in South San Francisco, both designs and builds furniture. In the early 1960s, when most furniture companies were selling traditional home furnishings, Metro promoted “modern design with sleek, clean lines,” said Dan Chong, the company’s chief executive.
One of its original designs, the “rubber chair,” is in the permanent collection of San Francisco’s Museum of Modern Art.
The company, founded as the Metropolitan Furniture Manufacturing Co., never formally shed the name, though its ads and business cards use “Metro.” In 1987, the company was purchased by Steelcase Inc., a major international furniture manufacturing company that also places a heavy emphasis on environmental concerns.
Customers include such high-end clientele as Nike Inc. and the Kuwait Parliament. Metro made a 10-foot-long conference table for the latter. Prices for tables and chairs mostly range from around $700 to around $2,000, and revenue is up this year. Generally, Metro’s wares are sold to dealers, not the general public.
Metro’s factory shares the company’s Edgewater Drive headquarters with its administrative offices. The finishing area, kept separate from the offices, is
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immediately distinguished by its lack of aroma. There is only the faintest trace of lacquer in the air.
During a recent visit, workers were loading brown circular wooden tabletops on a conveyor belt like giant round loaves of bread. The conveyor belt carries the tabletops underneath two sprayers.
“Sensors know when the items are underneath and cue the sprayers to start,” said Wicky Che, the company’s director of manufacturing.
A belt directly underneath the tabletops catches the unused coating so it can be reused.
Now the tabletops pass through a series of boxes that encase them, like covered bridges. “This section removes all the water. The water that is pressed out is reused to make water-based stain,” Che said.
After the finish is applied, the conveyor belt moves the tabletops into an area with fluorescent lights above and below, like a tanning booth. The 110-degree temperature in the “tanning booth” sets the finish.
“By using this approach, we save as much as eight hours on the finishing process,” Che explained.
Saving time means getting products to the client faster, Che said.
For guidance on its internal conservation practices, the company has worked with StopWaste.org, a public agency that handles waste management and recycling programs.
“They are indeed paying attention to every facet of their business to try and improve their environmental performance,” said Tom Padia, recycling director for StopWaste.org. “They’re one of our showcase companies leading the way to sustainable business practices.”
Business Writer Janis Mara can be reached at (510) 208-6468 or jmara@angnewspapers.com.