Ashley Furniture says it plans to open 1,000 retail stores in Asia. That would be more than double the 460 stores it operates in the U.S.

But to compete there, the $4 billion manufacturer, by far the largest furniture maker in the U.S. (bigger than Furniture Brands at its height), must cut its wood manufacturing costs relentlessly.

Ashley Furniture is doing just that. According  to a March 6 profile in the Wall St. Journal, Ashley is producing its own cutting tools, which it says it can produce for $10 each versus the $18 it pays on average. It maintains its own fleet of 800 trucks which speeds delivery of furniture to its own retailers and independent dealers.

And it also pays many of its 13,000 employees based onproductivity. As it aggressively pursues retail sales in China, Ashley is adapting its U.S. designs to meet the growing middle class preferences. It is also changing designs in the U.S. to include more of the trendy looks favored by young urban consumers.

"We're now going to be part of the fashion world as well as the value world," Kerry Lebensburger, president of Ashley's U.S. furniture sales, told Wall St. Journal.