Tropitone Furniture manufactures casual outdoor patio and pool furniture, umbrellas and shades.

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When Pfingsten Partners LLC acquired Tropitone Furniture in 2007, one of the changes it made to the family owned patio furniture manufacturer was to add “Con­tinuous Improvement (CI) Training.” This is a grassroots effort to identify problems, take ownership and focus on making everyday tactical changes to improve its products and processes, Vice President of Marketing and Service Operations Tanya Stevens says. “The continuous improvement education process is really starting to take a hold of a philosophy to take ownership in solving problems,” she explains.    

Tropitone Furniture is based in Irvine, Calif., and manufactures casual outdoor patio and pool furniture, patio umbrellas, market umbrellas and shade solutions for the retail and commercial markets. It also makes patio dining tables, sling outdoor chairs and chaise lounges. Its products are made of aluminum and stainless steel, and it also offers Roto Form environmentally friendly polymer products and wooden umbrellas.   

The CI training has led to many improvements to the company’s manufacturing process, such as a new plant layout that improved process flow by reducing material handling, procedural improvements and de­creased costs through supply reduction, Stevens says. “[It has also] given employees new skill sets and more focus on the quality process,” she adds.   

The company is working on getting more of its employees CI trained. The owners hold a five-day training
session in Chicago and employees become CI-certified upon completion. Managers recommend employees who possess leadership skills to take the classes. “We want other employees to learn problem-solving skills, as well, and in turn, find ways to [improve],” Director of Manufacturing Dean Frasche says.

Continuous Improvement
Improving its manufacturing pro­cesses is an ongoing task. Tropitone looks at its manufacturing tasks from four points of view: the process, the people, the IT system and the quality system, Frasche explains. The company continuously tries to find ways to improve in all areas, he says.“We get the employees involved and tap into their ideas,” he says. “We work with people from all different departments and have cross-functional teams.   

“We also use CAPA (Corrective and Preventive Action), so that helps us make improvements and fix problems,” he adds. CAPA focuses on identifying the root cause of a problem and documenting a process to correct it. “We’re also big on documenting,” he adds. “From the people side, we believe in training and cross-training in all departments.    

“[On IT] we try to do as much as we can on the system from a routine standpoint,” he says. “Then the operation can focus on making improvements on quality and efficiency.”   

Tropitone implements lean manufacturing principles, mainly 5S. “It’s a standardized way of getting yourself more organized,” Frasche explains. “It helps provide a cleaner area, and it allows you to maintain that and look for ways to improve it.” It also is working toward being ISO compliant, he adds.    

The company also shares best practices between its facilities in Irvine; Temecula, Calif.; and Sarasota, Fla. “We have meetings between the plants, teleconferences and we send people back and forth,” he says. “By doing that, you not only see what the other plant is doing, you can actually share best practices between plants.”

‘Fashionable Furniture Fast’
Tropitone was prepared for a tough economic year in 2009. “We had to make some tough decisions [such as layoffs and consolidating departments] at that time, alter our strategic [plans] and grow our core competencies,” she says. “We positioned ourselves to withstand this year’s downturn.”   

It decided to re-emphasize its mission, which is to deliver “fashionable furniture fast,” she says. “We decided to focus on quality and service, customers’ requirements and shipping a good value product. We are maintaining our relationships.   

“We’ve improved our cycle time to ship quickly,” she adds. It has a four-week lead time, but based on material availability, it consistently ships in less time. We can handle special orders and ready-to-deliver [orders]. We’re working with suppliers to create win-win relationships to meet orders.”

‘Timeless Quality’
Bert Baker, a former engineer, purchased the Sarasota Redwood Furniture Co. in 1954 after moving to the city. “Drawing upon his experience in both furniture and aircraft industries, Baker soon switched from redwood to welded aluminum for his outdoor furniture construction,” the company explains. He also renamed the company Tropitone.    

Since the beginning, Baker was focused on providing quality, comfortable and stylish furniture at a good price. “[He focused on] timeless quality that can only come from materials, design and technology that deliver the ultimate outdoor patio furniture,” the company says. “It didn’t take long for buyers to realize that Tropitone furniture was so good, it was an excellent value for hotels and clubs, and houses and apartments.” 

The company has received numerous awards from the design community, such as the Apollo, IBD Contract, ROSCOE and the Sisel Vert French Design Award.

“Tropitone’s vision for the future is to embrace and enhance our legacy core values of superior product quality, style and comfort, and mutually-beneficial relationships with our business partners,” the company says. “We believe these core values will allow us to convince [customers] to continue buying Tropitone furniture for at least another 50 years.”