Collins

Ron and Melinda Swann, founders of the current Collins Manufacturing Company, were living in and raising their three sons in their hometown of Cookeville, TN. Ron was managing a local foundry and feared he would be required to transfer to a new location. About the same time, Melinda was desirous of re-entering the workforce after being at home with... their small children the previous 8 years. Ron happened upon a classified ad in the Tennessean for a small upholstery business for sale in the Nashville area that predominantly served the beauty industry - re-upholstering and manufacturing dryer chairs for the local beauty distributors. They met with Mr. Collins and proceeded to purchase the small business to provide Melinda with work and give them a fail-safe if Ron's transfer fears came to fruition. As it turns out, Ron continued managing the local foundry for another 11 years (helping Melinda in the evenings and on the weekends) while she began building and developing Collins Manufacturing Company into a healthy, growing business adding complete salon seating needs to their product offering. In 1994, Collins had grown to be a successful small business that needed more attention from Ron and Melinda than ever. Ron left the foundary and joined Melinda in day to day management of Collins. Even though the seating lines had become successful, they realized that in order to continue to grow - they would need to add salon cabinetry to their product offering. After just recently purchasing a 12,000 square foot manufacturing facility in 1987, they completed the first addition to the building in 1994 to accommodate the new production line. With the new product lines and with Ron focusing all of his efforts on the business, Collins began growing quickly. Over these years, they also added outside sales people in MN and PA - both of whom had served the beauty industry for many years prior. Then they added on to their facility once again in 1999, which they quickly grew out of; and they began leasing another manufacturing ...Read More