A Florida-based manufacturer of mattresses and other bedding has selected Reno as the site of a new plant.
IBC Group will employ 50 to 75 people when it opens for operation this summer, said Kevin Sirop, the company's chief financial officer.
Sirop said the company will serve markets in the Northwest from the new manufacturing facility.
Those customers currently are served from an Arizona facility which is running at capacity.
Reno's central location as a distribution point as well as its transportation infrastructure were important to IBC, Sirop said.
Reducing freight costs is a key piece of the company's strategy.
Most of IBC Group's customers are retailers and mass merchants, although the company also serves the hospitality market.
Its brand names include Europa Luxury Mattresses, Miralux and MiraRest.
Gary Baker of Lee & Associates, who represented IBC in its search for a plant site, said the company signed a seven-year lease for 63,750 square feet at 555 Quail Manor Court in Southwest Commerce Center.
That's near Longley Lane in southeast Reno.
Sirop said fast-growing IBC Group uses state-of-the-art computer technology and other innovations to keep its production costs low.
IBC operates eight manufacturing and distribution facilities in the United States as well as one in China.
IBC Group was launched in the United States in 1973.
The privately held company says its sales have grown each year.
Sales of the mattress industry are closely tied to housing starts, says the International Sleep Products Association.
Industry sales last year totaled $5.04 billion a 5.8 increase over the previous year.
The number of mattress and foundation units shipped by U.S.
manufacturers rose 1.8 percent last year from 2002 figures.
