Woodworking Manufacturer Builds Customer Base with Army and U.N.

While housed in an 1800s mill building in downtown Keene, Whitney Brothers is a woodworking manufacturer for the 21^st century, carefully carving a spot for itself in the children's furniture marketplace. The 108-year-old company recently received its largest single order ever last fall-more than 3,000 cribs-from the U.S. Army, a contract valued at $866,000. The cribs will be placed in child development centers worldwide.

Specialty projects are proving to be a lucrative niche for Whitney Brothers, which landed a contract with a New York architect for woodwork in the childcare center at the United Nations building in Manhattan. The work is not only more high-end, providing employees with a chance to do more sophisticated work, but comes with higher profit margins. (Specialty jobs make up less than 5 percent of Whitney Brother's volume.)

Whitney Brothers employs 40 people, 15 of them brought on after it received the U.S Army contract in May. Besides the military, clients include schools, childcare centers, libraries and churches. The company makes cribs, furniture, storage products and educational toys, with about half of sales coming from public institutions.

We have competition from the Far East, competition domestically, there are no shortage of people who want to do our type of product, says President David Stabler.

Whitney Brothers is doing well, but it's still down from a peak employment of 60 to 70 people before the recession, during which the company downsized 40 percent. While products for schools has been its sweet spot, We do want to explore other possible markets to help us with these ups and downs, Stabler says, adding that CNC machining and the ability to adapt are key to the company's future success.

Cribs are Whitney's top seller thanks to a 2011 U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission report requiring public and private day care centers to upgrade cribs to safer models, specifically ones without drop rails. But Stabler knows that business will die down once institutions have complied with the new rules.

That's why diversification is important. The company makes 350 individual products, many sold under private label. The majority of business comes from furniture sales. The company has also made store displays for Douglas Toy in Keene, Cabela's stores, and The Mountain T-shirt store in Keene.

Looking ahead, Stabler is realistic. Manufacturing is a tough business and I don't sugarcoat it to anyone. You've got to have the market and you've got to have a fairly sophisticated organization with CNC machinery, he says, adding that also means finding skilled operators, which he says is a big challenge.

For more information, visit www.whitneybros.com.