Fancher Chair continues strong into its third century

FALCONER, N.Y. — As an OEM supplier to both the residential and contract side of the furniture industry, Fancher Chair Company has stayed under the radar for much of its history.

Yet the company’s profile has risen in recent years as other furniture manufacturers — from Jamestown Sterling and Crawford Furiture to Harden Furniture — have ceased operations.

These storied companies, too, were once based in New York state, where furniture manufacturing once held a prominent role in the local economy before shifting to Grand Rapids in the Midwest, North Carolina and Virginia in the South, and ultimately Asia.

But the 211-year-old Fancher Chair remains in business. This makes it one of the oldest standing furniture manufacturers in the U.S. and certainly this region that also remains home to Stickley and contract specialist Bush Inds.

Fancher Chair, as the name implies, specializes in the production of chairs, benches, lounge chairs and other types of wood frame seating for residential, contract and hospitality applications such as churches, universities, courthouses and libraries.

But some 50% of its business is residential furniture, namely wood frame dining chairs. Over the years, it has supplied chairs to some of the most well-known names in the industry, including Stickley, Bernhardt, Ethan Allen, Cochrane, Vaughan-Bassett and Copeland Furniture, said Pete Scheira, president. It also supplies American Leather, Thayer Coggin, La-Z-Boy, Design Within Reach and Eustis Chair, among others.

Although the company dates back to 1807, it got its start as a sawmill, producing lumber and later other products such as beekeeping supplies, toys and washing machines.

According to a company history posted on its website, the company produced occasional tables from 1930 to 1977 and bedroom furniture from 1949 to 1960. In 1977, it began producing chairs, including then popular Queen Anne and Chippendale style frames with upholstered seats. Chairs and other seating remain its core product category.

Today, Fancher Chair employs 140 workers, a steady number that the company has maintained for the past two years, Scheira said. For years, the company employed between 90 and 100 workers, Scheira said, noting that steady and improving business has helped boost the figure.

The company produces chairs in a roughly 125,000-square-foot plant in Falconer, a town of about 2,500 people just south of Buffalo and north of Jamestown, the base of Bush Inds. The company also has another 14,000 square feet in three separate buildings for both storage and manufacturing.

One of the reasons for its longevity and success is the ability to serve two distinct markets, residential and contract.

“We have started to divesify into some different markets, so when one is down, one is up, and it keeps the flow going,” Scheira said, describing overall business of late as “very steady to strong.”

In addition, the company continues to invest in technology that produces a variety of chair frames, a niche category that most case goods producers avoid as it requires different equipment and skill levels than to make beds, dressers and chests.

“In the past 10 years, we have tried to invest at least a half a million a year on average,” Scheira said, noting that it has several different machining centers set up in different configurations that produce specific chair parts. He added that such investments are not meant to reduce head count but rather to boost efficiency.

“When we buy five axis machine centers, we don’t buy them to replace people,” he said. “We buy them to keep them busy and to increase capacity.”

The plant also is well-positioned geographically to take advantage of a large supply of North American hardwoods used in its finished product. These include walnut — probably its most important species at this time — as well as white and red oak, cherry and maple. The company also uses a lot of European beech, which is currently its second most popular species after walnut.

In addition to production of chair frames, the company also finishes chairs on site, using a polyurethane conversion varnish. Workers upholster the chairs on site, using both COM and performance fabrics such as Sunbrella.

“We are a full-service operation,” Scheira said, noting that the company builds chairs to the specifications of individual clients.

Its biggest challenge moving forward? Finding qualified people who want to work in a furniture manufacturing environment.

While the company has a solid work force, with 60% having about 20 years’ experience (some have been with the company 40 years; others 40 days), Scheira said that recruitment can be difficult.

“We have the same problems that everybody in the country has,” he said. “We are more than willing to train them, but they have to be willing to learn.”