Treasure Garden celebrates, moves forward

As it celebrates its 25th anniversary, Treasure Garden announced major logistical changes for the 2009 season.

-- Casual Living, 8/1/2008 12:00:00 AM

Oliver Ma with Buzz Homsy of Casual Classics furniture buying group.

Retailers Tom Stegman and Petey Fleischut with Margaret Chang.

Retailers Debbie Stegman and Bonnie Richins flank Oliver Ma.

As it celebrates its 25th anniversary, Treasure Garden announced major logistical changes for the 2009 season.

Founder and CEO Oliver Ma cited these changes as being necessary and driven by the current economic situation.

“Our industry has never seen tougher times,” Ma said, “and the success of everyone in this business is going to depend greatly on the working relationships between manufacturers and retailers. Both sides are going to have to make dramatic changes for the mutual good and longevity of the partnership.”

Recent studies revealed many ways in which Treasure Garden can streamline its internal and manufacturing processes to better serve its customers.

“Our customers have such a short season, and we must be able to deliver on time – without sacrificing quality,” Ma said, “and Treasure Garden will do whatever is necessary to help our dealers remain profitable and competitive.”

Treasure Garden COO Margaret Chang added, “We have spent a great deal of time analyzing our current processes, and how to make them run more efficiently. Without getting too technical, we will be shifting the tasks of our various facilities to make more sense.”

Ma said he also plans on in-depth cross-training within his factories “to allow those varying tasks to change seasonally, in order to meet the shifting needs of our short seasoned industry.”

The new processes are expected to be implemented in time for September Casual Show orders, and the transition is expected to be seamless. New personnel will be added in Engineering, Research & Development and Automation to aid in the change.

The locations of Treasure Garden's overseas facilities provide convenient access to the best seaports in China, which has always given the company a tremendous competitive advantage.

Ma points out that “the U.S. is facing difficult times in the near future with the current economic situation, but it is only temporary. Working 'smarter-not-harder' in tough times can often be the key to survival – not just for the manufacturers, but for the retailers as well.”