HIGH POINT — In a move expected to help better control the quality and pricing of its Asian-made case goods, Stanley Furniture has partnered with case goods manufacturer Starwood Furniture Manufacturing to develop a dedicated factory for Stanley in the Ho Chi Minh City area of Vietnam.

Calling it the biggest operational announcement the company has made since the closing of its North Carolina and Virginia case goods factories between 2008 and 2014, Stanley President and CEO Glenn Prillaman said the new plant will utilize the company’s manufacturing roots to achieve better control over its Asia sourcing long-term.

The company does not have an ownership stake in the plant, nor is it a joint venture between the two companies. However, the 92-year-old case goods resource utilized its years of experience in furniture manufacturing and plant operations to design and develop the facility, which started construction last summer and started production by the end of 2015.

“Manufacturing is in our DNA and we wanted to have a differentiated strategy overseas,” Prillaman said, adding that the partnership will serve customers in three key ways.

First, he said, the plant will produce Stanley product that is priced 10% to 15% lower than the traditional line without sacrificing quality or lowering specs. Secondly, with Stanley’s own engineers, quality control, and product design and development staff working in the facility, the company said it will achieve better control over its quality.

“If we are in charge of production, then we should be able to control our quality better,” he said.

A third benefit to customers is to provide more consistent on-time deliveries.

“If you control your production, you ought to be able to control your scheduling dates,” Prillaman said. “We will schedule production and then manage that process.”

“It is hard to do all three,” Prillaman added. “But when we are in control of our manufacturing, we have been able to control all three.”

The building is part of a campus that includes more than 1.2 million square feet of production spread over 16 buildings. These facilities make furniture for a mix of well-known furniture companies including Flexsteel, Home Meridian, Hooker Furniture, Caracole, A.R.T., Home Insights, Hillsdale and Emerald Home Furnishings.

The 150,000-square-foot plant for Stanley is fully operational and currently delivering product to customers, said Thomas Luk, owner of Starwood. Luk said that as a private company, he could not divulge the size of the investment, but he noted that it was a “substantial and important investment for us.”

He added that the facility will employ 500 people and produce a step-up product when compared to the furniture Starwood produces for the other companies. It also will have a production capacity of about 200 containers per month.

“This is one of the reasons it was important for us to build an exclusive manufacturing facility,” Luk told Furniture/Today. “Operating independently from our other customers allows us to focus on training employees exclusively for the Stanley product line, bringing greater consistency, better efficiency and higher levels of quality. To us, ultimately, the benefits are that we become a better manufacturer.”

“Starwood has been successfully manufacturing furniture in Vietnam for over a decade, and Stanley has a great furniture heritage,” Luk added. “Combining our expertise in manufacturing with the product and technical knowledge of Stanley and their team, we feel together we can bring something of great value to the marketplace. For Starwood, this means future sustainable growth and increased operational stability.”

Prillaman said products introduced prior to 2015 will continue to be produced at less than 10 plants in Indonesia and Vietnam. However, new product for both Stanley and its youth division Stone & Leigh will be made in the Starwood facility moving forward.

“Our goals are aligned…on how an alliance versus a vendor relationship can better serve the needs of retailers in the U.S. market,” Prillaman said. “We couldn’t be more excited about it. We have a very capable and well financed partner.