Latest expansion could add $20M to current $50M annual volume

TUPELO, Miss. — Promotional upholstery producer Affordable Furniture is adding three production lines to its factory here.

One line is for recliners, and another for stationary upholstery. A third line, also for stationary, is set for October, which will bring the total to 11 production lines for the three-year-old company.

The expansion will allow Affordable to add $10 million to $20 million in annual sales to its current $50 million, said CEO Jim Sneed. The company now employs 225 workers and expects to add 30 to 50 people for the new lines, he said.

The company has expanded its factory a couple of times, and moved to its present 600,000-square-foot plant last November.

Affordable makes sofas at $299 and $399 retail in limited styles and covers.

Meanwhile, the company has hired R. Wilson Ellis as its sales representative for east Tennessee, Georgia, Alabama and the two Carolinas.

Most recently he was an independent rep, and previously repped for American Furniture, Culp Inc. and Leggett & Platt. Earlier, Ellis was president of Culp of Tennessee in Cleveland, Tenn.; vice president of sales for Culp of Mississippi in Tupelo; and regional sales manager at Super Sagless Corp. in Tupelo.