The Chicago International Casual Furniture & Accessories Market™ in September will go on record as being a key factor in distinguishing Veranda Classics by Foremost as a major player with both indoor and outdoor specialty retailers looking for innovative marketing strategies and creative designs with mass appeal. Danny Jelley, senior vice president of product design and development, outdoor division, for the company, says, “We scored well beyond our ambitious goals. Every person at Veranda Classics gets credit for the results. It was truly a team effort that brought our entire plan into perfect focus. The continuing momentum following Casual Market—and…

HNI Corp. and its Hearth & Home Technologies business have acquired Vermont Castings Group, a leading manufacturer of freestanding hearth stoves and fireplaces. Vermont Castings Group has annual revenue of approximately $100 million.

Stan Askren, chair, president, and CEO of HNI Corp., says, “We’re excited about Vermont Castings Group joining HNI Corp. as part of our hearth business. Its unique brands, strong customer relationships, and quality products are a great fit with our hearth strategy and hearth-brand portfolio.”

Brad Determan, president of Hearth & Home Technologies, says, “We look forward to working with the entire Vermont Castings team…

RH Peterson Company (City of Industry, California) recently added a 2015 S2G box truck from Freightliner, fueled by clean-burning LP, to its delivery fleet. Tod Corrin, executive vice president of RH Peterson, says, “This is a first-ever factory purpose- built, medium-duty, propane box truck. This purchase speaks to RH Peterson’s commitment to being an environmentally friendly company.”

Built on a proven platform, the 26-foot truck has an 8-liter LP engine, 339 horsepower, 495 pound-feet of torque, and a gross vehicle weight rating of 33,000 pounds. According to RH Peterson, the truck will be used to make local deliveries in…

Innovative Hearth Products (IHP), manufacturer of Astria, IronStrike, and Superior brand fireplaces, stoves, inserts, and accessories, held a grand reopening ceremony for its Russellville, Alabama, facility in late October. The ceremony commemorated the company’s renovation and expansion of the facility, which involved a 14-month, $14-million investment that has resulted in 225 new jobs for the local and surrounding communities.

To address manufacturing and sales growth, IHP enlarged the original 105,000–square-foot operation to 320,000 square feet. The company acquired new state of-the-art equipment, as well as transferring necessary equipment from its Union City, Tennessee, and Santa Ana, California, facilities to…

Dan Maddox, a veteran of the hearth industry, passed away on September 30, 2014, in Centerville, Ohio, after an extended illness. He was 87. He founded The Maddox Company in Columbus and Products Marketing Group in Dayton.

In 1989, Maddox founded a manufacturing business designing and producing outdoor firepits and controls for gas log fireplaces. This company became Hearth Products Controls (HPC) in 2001. Maddox also served on the board of directors and as president for the MidStates Hearth, Patio & Barbecue Association (MSHPBA). In 2011, he was named board member emeritus of MSHPBA for his many contributions to…

A new partnership has been announced between two leaders (in outdoor furniture and accessory rugs) that will complement outdoor-furniture collections found in the stores of both traditional and specialty brickand- mortar furniture retailers and casual-furniture specialists. Agio-USA (Virginia Beach, Virginia) has made an exclusive arrangement to sell nuLOOM rugs through its sales and distribution network. nuLOOM, a leading manufacturer of both indoor and outdoor rugs, will continue its existing online-commerce business with its own sales force.

Agio-USA wanted to find a company at the top of the field in the category. nuLOOM, which is primarily focused on online sales…

ProCom Heating Inc. (Brea, California) has a long history in the heating industry, dating back to the early 1980s. During that time, ProCom was the first Chinese manufacturer of heating products to export to the United States. Now, much of the California company’s manufacturing is transitioning to the United States.

In the early 1990s, the first U.S. corporation was started; it would become Universal Heating in Yorba Linda, California. Universal Heating was sold to Desa International in 1998, and a joint venture was created with Desa that lasted until 2001. That end was the beginning of Continental Appliances, dba…

Hearth & Home Technologies recently formed a strategic partnership with Clayton Homes, the largest U.S. home builder. Clayton Homes has selected Hearth & Home Technologies’ Heatilator®brand as its brand of choice for fireplaces. The partnership brings together two industry-leading brands: Clayton Homes has been building homes since 1956 and has received multiple awards for design and construction along the way, and Heatilator is the number-one preferred brand of builders, known as the first name in fireplaces, the company says.

Andy Morgillo, vice president of the purchasing division for Clayton Homes, says, “Heatilator has a long legacy of dependability and…