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No Time to Rest on Its Products, Tiger Sales GrowsSharon company makes foam cushions for seats and lumber spacers for furniture makers. With Tiger Sales Inc. looking to expand, Mark S. Cabraja has no timeto sit back and relax in one of the seat cushions his company makes.Tiger Sales serves furniture makers in the Northeast and on July 8opened a new facility in High Point, N.C., to serve that state andadjoining markets. "It's a learning process every day," says Cabraja, president of TigerSales. "I'm not here to tell you that we've made it. We learn from ourmistakes, but we are confident that we are going in the rightdirection." Tiger, based in Sharon, Pa., makes lumber spacers as wellas seat cushions.Tiger Sales was born in 1998 with four employees, all sales representatives in the furniture industry. "From 1998 to 2002, we were serving several different lines for several different companies in the furniture industry," Cabraja says. One of those manufacturers was a former maker of seat cushions in Youngstown, where Cabraja had worked.When the Youngstown manufacturer closed its doors in April 2002, Tiger Sales bought the building in Sharon, where it remains today. Instead of simply selling seat cushions, the company began manufacturing them for furniture makers. "I came here with 10 years of serving the industry when I went on our own in early 2002," Cabraja says.The company took its name from the mascot of Sharon High School where Cabraja played football.Partners with Cabraja are Joseph Savoldi, retired from a WestMiddlesex, Pa., cheese producer, and Daniel Leali, president of LealiBrothers Excavating. Tiger Sales acquired JDM Holdings Co., alogistics company with two tractor-trailers and a 24-foot box truck."With the cost of fuel and other issues, we decided it was better toown our trucks than to lease," Cabraja says.The logistics partnership is looking for designated lanes from othercompanies in need of a shipping company, he adds.It was on a trip to a lumber mill for wood for seat cushion framesthat Cabraja came up with the idea to invest in equipment to makelumber risers, also known as spacers. Spacers are prefabricated2-by-4s used to stack and bundle sheets oflumber. "I studied theitems, took one back with me, and priced it. We started out[production] slowly," he says.By using a CNC (computer numerically controlled) router and afront-end loading saw, lumber spacer production gradually rose to thecurrent 4,000 to 5,000 spacers per week, Cabraja says. JDM Holdingstrucks deliver lumber from the mills and return with the finishedspacers.But Tiger Sales is best known for seat cushions, which it ships to 50furniture makers including Pennsylvania House, Ethan Allen andStickley. Wood is cut to size and a stretchable mesh installed in thecenter. Workers place foam and mesh over the frame and a device pumps air into a latex membrane that surrounds and shapes the cushion as the foam is glued to the frame. The device gives the seat cushions consistency in their sizes and shapes. A patent is pending on the apparatus that forms the seat cushions,forming apparatus, Cabraja reports.On July 8, the company opened a distribution facility in High Point,N.C., Cabraja says. From High Point, sales manager Matthew Webberserves furniture companies in North Carolina area and adjoining areas.The company also plans to buy a second CNC router and a secondfront-end loading saw for its production in Sharon, he says.Besidesmaking seat cushions, the company will be able to make other woodproducts, such as kitchen cabinets, he says.That is bringing Tiger Sales to its expansion plans. "We want todouble production capacity in the next several years," Cabraja says. That means twice as many seat cushions and double the lumber spacers.The company is looking to build a new plant in the Sharon area, itspresident says. Tiger would move out of its 22,000-square-foot site to a facility with 55,000 square feet.Such a move would also add 12 jobs, he says, up from its work force of 21.Cabraja credits growth to Tiger's emphasis on customer service and its employees. "In serving our customers, we go above and beyond the call of duty," Cabraja says. "If it takes sticking around and working overtime, that's what we do."Tiger keeps inventory on its floor so it can be assured of meetingcustomers' deadlines. "When businesses are going to China," heexplains, "it's important that we be a service-oriented company."We've been served by a nucleus of people from Day 1," Cabraja says. Webber and Cabraja's brother, John (at right in photo with Mark) , both left good jobs to work for the nascent Tiger Sales, the president says. John, today plant supervisor, was a wallpaper hanger 18 years before joining his brother.All 21 employees have worked for Tiger Sales at least one year andseveral workers since the company's beginning, Mark Cabraja says."We've never have had an extended layoff" except for the annualshutdown in early July for plant maintenance, he says.The company's willingness to invest in equipment and productioncapacity has sent the partner to the bank for loans. "I'm told yourbest employee is the one with the most debt. You're looking at him,"Cabraja says as he points to his chest."