The Virco Manufacturing Corporation, more commonly known as Virco, is an American furniture manufacturer based in
Torrance, California
Torrance is a city in the Los Angeles metropolitan area located in Los Angeles County, California, Los Angeles County, California, United States. The city is part of what is known as the South Bay (Los Angeles County), South Bay region of the m ...
which focuses on providing products for educational markets. The principal products of the company include student desks and activity tables, school and office seating, computer stations, lightweight folding tables, and upholstered chairs.
History
Foundation and early years
Prior to founding Virco, Julian Virtue had cofounded Virtue Chrome Plating (later known as Virtue Brothers Manufacturing Company) with his brother Philip Virtue in August 1926.
This company was quite successful, initially providing custom nickel and chrome plating for furniture manufacturers.
By the mid-1930s, the company began to directly manufacture its own furniture from its factory on West
Century Boulevard
Century Boulevard is a major east–west thoroughfare in the southern portion of Los Angeles, California. Century Boulevard acts as a continuation of Tweedy Boulevard at Alameda Street in South Gate in its east end (Tweedy Boulevard in its ea ...
, producing dinette sets for restaurants and consumer homes, chrome-plated chairs for offices, and beauty-parlor equipment. During
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
, the company became a significant supplier of furniture for the military, providing furniture for the sleeping quarters and
mess halls of US Navy ships, and thousands of
bunkbeds for US Army and Marine barracks.
Even after the conclusion of the war, the company remained a significant military contractor, while also expanding further into the consumer furniture market. However, due to a disagreement between the brothers, Julian Virtue left the company. After dividing their assets, Julian got a check for $1,000,000 and Philip continued to run Virtue Brothers.
In February 1950, Virco was founded by Julian Virtue in Los Angeles, California, opening its first factory on
Vermont Avenue
Vermont Avenue is one of the longest running north–south streets in City of Los Angeles and Los Angeles County, California. With a length of , is the third longest of the north–south thoroughfares in the region. For most of its length betwe ...
.
To avoid starting his new business entirely from scratch, Virtue also purchased the Slauson Aircraft Company in 1950. Despite its name, in the post-World War II peacetime economy, Slauson Aircraft had become a school furniture maker and held a lucrative contract with the
Los Angeles School Districts. This acquisition quickly allowed Virco to become the leading manufacturer of school equipment in the
Greater Los Angeles area
Greater Los Angeles is the second-largest metropolitan region in the United States with a population of 18.5 million in 2021, encompassing five counties in Southern California extending from Ventura County in the west to San Bernardino Coun ...
.
Growth and expansion
Virco further expanded in 1954 with the purchase of the Dunn Furniture Company in
Conway, Arkansas
Conway is a city in the U.S. state of Arkansas and the county seat of Faulkner County, located in the state's most populous Metropolitan Statistical Area, Central Arkansas. Although considered a suburb of Little Rock, Conway is unusual in that ...
.
This purchase established a nationwide presence for the company, allowing for sales along both the
East Coast
East Coast may refer to:
Entertainment
* East Coast hip hop, a subgenre of hip hop
* East Coast (ASAP Ferg song), "East Coast" (ASAP Ferg song), 2017
* East Coast (Saves the Day song), "East Coast" (Saves the Day song), 2004
* East Coast FM, a ra ...
and
West Coast West Coast or west coast may refer to:
Geography Australia
* Western Australia
*Regions of South Australia#Weather forecasting, West Coast of South Australia
* West Coast, Tasmania
**West Coast Range, mountain range in the region
Canada
* Britis ...
and increasing their sales volume significantly.
Julian's son Robert joined the company in 1956, after having graduated from college and serving in the navy. He rose up the corporate ladder and began working quite closely with his father in the management of the company.
In 1964, became a publicly-traded company, selling its shares on the
over-the-counter market
Over-the-counter (OTC) or off-exchange trading or pink sheet trading is done directly between two parties, without the supervision of an exchange. It is contrasted with exchange trading, which occurs via exchanges. A stock exchange has the bene ...
.
With increasing competition and rising labor costs hurting profit margins, the company decided to expand its operations internationally.
In 1971, they opened a new factory in
San Luis Río Colorado
San Luis Río Colorado is a city and also the name of its surrounding municipality in the state of Sonora, Mexico. In the 2020 census, the city had a population of 176,685. The city is the fourth-largest community in the state, and the municip ...
,
Mexico
Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...
directly across the border from
Yuma, Arizona
Yuma ( coc, Yuum) is a city in and the county seat of Yuma County, Arizona, United States. The city's population was 93,064 at the 2010 census, up from the 2000 census population of 77,515.
Yuma is the principal city of the Yuma, Arizona, M ...
. This new facility, operated under the
maquiladora
A (), or (), is a word that refers to factories that are largely duty free and tariff-free. These factories take raw materials and assemble, manufacture, or process them and export the finished product. These factories and systems are present t ...
concept, helped to drive down labor costs for the company. This, in turn, increased company profitability and allowed it to grow large enough to be listed on the
American Stock Exchange
NYSE American, formerly known as the American Stock Exchange (AMEX), and more recently as NYSE MKT, is an American stock exchange situated in New York City. AMEX was previously a mutual organization, owned by its members. Until 1953, it was known ...
in 1977.
The 1980s and early 1990s were a time of continued growth for the company, as well as leadership change.
Facilities in Conway not only had their manufacturing capacities increased, but also became distribution and packing centers. Meanwhile, the factory in Mexico grew to nearly 1,200 workers.
The company also purchased a 55,000-square-foot facility in
Newport, Tennessee
Newport is a city in and the county seat of Cocke County, Tennessee, United States. The population was 6,945 at the 2010 census, down from 7,242 at the 2000 census. The estimated population in 2018 was 6,801. It is located along the Pigeon Ri ...
from the struggling
Heywood-Wakefield Company
The Heywood-Wakefield Company is an American furniture manufacturer established in 1897. It went on to become a major presence in the US. Its older products are considered collectibles and have been featured on Antiques Roadshow.
History
Heywood ...
in 1984. This facility, used for the manufacture of
melamine
Melamine is an organic compound with the formula C3H6N6. This white solid is a trimer of cyanamide, with a 1,3,5-triazine skeleton. Like cyanamide, it contains 67% nitrogen by mass, and its derivatives have fire retardant properties due t ...
plastic chair seats, soon employed 200 workers.
Julian Virtue also semi-retired from the company, with his son Robert becoming president in 1982.
Julian died in December 1991, with Robert having taken over as CEO and chairman of the board in 1988 and 1990, respectively.
Recent struggles
In recent years, the company has struggled financially due to the declines in public school funding. The company has also faced increased competition as school and government contracts have increasingly been awarded to local furniture suppliers. As a result, company revenue and profitability has fluctuated greatly over the past twenty years.
The company relocated to its current facility in Torrance in April 1994, shutting down two Los Angeles area facilities in an effort to reduce handling and distribution expenses. These facilities, a 200,000-square-foot warehouse and a 160,000-square-foot manufacturing facility, were sold off in April 2000 and November 2003, respectively.
In 1995, the factory in Mexico was shut down after being damaged by a minor fire in 1993 and in an effort to further reduce operating margins.
The company's Newport facility was shut down and donated to the Newport Cocke County Economic Development Commission in 2002.
Corporate affairs
Finances
In the fiscal year 2019, Virco had net sales of around $191 million, with a net income of approximately $2 million.
[ In the preceding fiscal year, the company had net sales of $201 million, with a net loss of around $2 million.][ The company has occasionally paid out dividends, with five such distributions occurring between December 2017 and December 2018, after 7 years without such distributions.
Virco primarily operates in two countries, the United States where it derived 93.6% of its revenue, and Canada which was responsible for much of the remaining 6.4% of revenue.][ Virco reportedly supplies between 50 and 60% of school furniture within ]Los Angeles County
Los Angeles County, officially the County of Los Angeles, and sometimes abbreviated as L.A. County, is the most populous county in the United States and in the U.S. state of California, with 9,861,224 residents estimated as of 2022. It is the ...
. It was estimated in 1997 that Virco controlled a majority of the educational furniture market in the United States.
Financial struggles
Virco's financial performance peaked in the late 1990s, reaching a record stock price of $17.50 a share in February 1998. Profits also peaked in 1998, with the company turning a profit of nearly $18 million on revenues of $275 million. Revenue continued to grow until 2000, when it peaked at $287 million. Since 2000, the company has struggled with declining revenues which have made it difficult to remain consistently profitable. In the past 20 years, revenue has fluctuated between a low of $158 million in 2012 to $229 million in 2007, averaging around $200 million a year. In the seventeen years since 2002, the company has turned a profit in seven years, with losses exceeding $20 million in 2003. While Virco has successfully reduced costs in recent years, profitability for the company remains, in part, dependent on the cost of raw material purchases. Volatility in the commodity market
A commodity market is a market that trades in the primary economic sector rather than manufactured products, such as cocoa, fruit and sugar. Hard commodities are mined, such as gold and oil. Futures contracts are the oldest way of investin ...
for materials such as steel, plastic, and wood has resulted in cost increases which the company has not always been able to offset through increasing the price of its products. The tariffs
A tariff is a tax imposed by the government of a country or by a supranational union on imports or exports of goods. Besides being a source of revenue for the government, import duties can also be a form of regulation of foreign trade and polic ...
announced under the " America First" policy of the Trump administration
Donald Trump's tenure as the List of presidents of the United States, 45th president of the United States began with Inauguration of Donald Trump, his inauguration on January 20, 2017, and ended on January 20, 2021. Trump, a Republican Party ...
in 2018 were recognized as leading to a significant increase in the cost of steel purchases for the company. [
These financial woes led to signification reductions in the number of permanent employees. The number of employees peaked at nearly 2,950 in August 2000.] A voluntary separation program in 2003 led to the departure of 485 employees while an additional 160 employees were laid off. Further cost-trimming measures instituted by cutting labor costs brought the number of employees from 1,045 in 2011 to 825 at the beginning of 2020, a more than 70% workforce reduction since 2000.[ The company supplements this reduced full-time workforce with temporary workers that help with seasonal production bumps in the summer months, sometimes utilizing around 200–300 temporary workers.][
]
Management
Robert Virtue is the current chairman of the board and CEO of Virco. Born in 1932, he joined the company full-time in 1956 and is the son of the company's founder, Julian Virtue.[ Douglas (Doug) Virtue, the son of Robert, is the current president of the company, having been appointed to the position in 2014. He joined the company in 1984.][
In 2014, the board of directors was reorganized and reduced in size to five seats from nine seats.] However, by 2020 there were eight seats on the board of directors.
Environmental initiatives
Virco has engaged in a number of environmental initiatives, with these efforts receiving recognition from local, state, and federal authorities. Doug Virtue, Virco's president and a director on the Mono Lake Committee
The Mono Lake Committee (MLC) is an environmental organization based in Lee Vining, California in the United States. Its mission is to preserve Mono Lake, by reducing diversions of water from the Eastern Sierra watersheds by the Los Angeles Depart ...
, has been influential in this drive towards more environmentally conscious business practices, stating in 2002 that sustainability is "the state towards which all business must evolve." The company began a recycling program in 1989, and by 2010 the company had processed over 313 million pounds of recyclable materials spanning more than 40 categories.
Virco has made significant efforts to restrict chemical emissions from its products, becoming the first classroom manufacturers to have their product lines to meet GREENGUARD indoor air quality certification for children and schools. By 2005, hundreds of the companies products were indoor air quality certified with these products accounting for 75% of the company's sales volume. With a desire to become largely waste-free, Virco also completed a transition from wet paint lines to powder by 2002.
At the local level, Virco has been recognized by the Sanitation Districts of Los Angeles County
Los Angeles County, officially the County of Los Angeles, and sometimes abbreviated as L.A. County, is the most populous county in the United States and in the U.S. state of California, with 9,861,224 residents estimated as of 2022. It is the ...
as a "Good Corporate Citizen" in limiting its wastewater discharge and maintaining their environmental equipment without any violations. At the state level, Virco has repeatedly been recognized by the California Integrated Waste Management Board
The California Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery (also known as CalRecycle) is a branch of the California Environmental Protection Agency that oversees the state's waste management, recycling, and waste reduction programs. CalRecycle ...
in their Waste Reduction Awards Program for its efforts to recycle waste and success in diverting waste from landfills
A landfill site, also known as a tip, dump, rubbish dump, garbage dump, or dumping ground, is a site for the disposal of waste materials. Landfill is the oldest and most common form of waste disposal, although the systematic burial of the waste ...
. Finally, Virco is a member of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's WasteWise program, joining as a charter member in 1994. Virco remains an active member in the WasteWise program, receiving numerous awards and being selected as one of the first three charter members in the WasteWise Hall of Fame in 2003. Virco has also received environmental awards from the United States General Services Administration
The General Services Administration (GSA) is an Independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the United States government established in 1949 to help manage and support the basic functioning of federal agencies. G ...
, Sierra Club
The Sierra Club is an environmental organization with chapters in all 50 United States, Washington D.C., and Puerto Rico. The club was founded on May 28, 1892, in San Francisco, California, by Scottish-American preservationist John Muir, who be ...
, and National Recycling Coalition.
Facilities
Virco currently has manufacturing facilities in two states, California and Arkansas
Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the South Central United States. It is bordered by Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, and Texas and Oklahoma to the west. Its name is from the Osage ...
. In Torrance, California, the company has leased a 560,000-square-foot facility since 1994 which includes the corporate headquarters and a showroom. The facility is also used for manufacturing, distribution, and warehousing. In Conway, Arkansas
Conway is a city in the U.S. state of Arkansas and the county seat of Faulkner County, located in the state's most populous Metropolitan Statistical Area, Central Arkansas. Although considered a suburb of Little Rock, Conway is unusual in that ...
, the company owns three facilities for manufacturing and distribution. The primary facility contains 1.2 million square foot and is used for warehousing, manufacturing, and office space.[ The company also owns a 375,000-square-foot factory in Conway, purchased in 1954, used for chrome plating, manufacturing steel components, and plastic molding.][ The third property owned in Conway is a 175,000-square-foot facility used for the manufacturing of hard plastic mold components and was purchased in 2017.][
]
See also
* Herman Miller (manufacturer)
Herman Miller, officially MillerKnoll, Inc., is an American company that produces office furniture, equipment, and home furnishings, including the Aeron chair, Noguchi table, Marshmallow sofa, and the Eames Lounge Chair. Herman Miller is als ...
* La-Z-Boy
La-Z-Boy Inc. (pronounced "lazy boy") is an American furniture manufacturer based in Monroe, Michigan, United States, that makes home furniture, including upholstered recliners, sofas, stationary chairs, lift chairs and sleeper sofas. The compa ...
Notes
References
External links
{{Authority control
Furniture companies of the United States
Manufacturing companies based in California
Torrance, California
American companies established in 1950
Manufacturing companies established in 1950
1950 establishments in California
Companies listed on the Nasdaq