A.H. Beard reveals secrets behind 125 years of mattress making success
PARTNER CONTENT: From a half-sovereign investment in 1899 to crafting 20,000 mattresses monthly, A.H. Beard's remarkable family legacy continues to provide jobs for Aussie workers.
A.H. Beard has experienced generational success as an Australian mattress manufacturer.
The fifth generation of the Beard family is now involved in running the 125-year-old business, but a family history also extends to the workers employed in its factories.
This article is part of the Back Australia series, which is supported by Australian Made, Harvey Norman, Westpac, Bunnings, Coles, TechnologyOne, REA Group, Cadbury, R.M.Williams, Qantas, Vodafone and BHP.
“We have families who’ve been with us for three generations – it’s provided secure work that’s allowed them to grow and build their lives around,” says chairman Garry Beard.
A.H. Beard currently employs 420 people across seven sites. Its journey began in 1899, when Mr Beard’s great-grandfather, Enoch William Beard, started supplying mattresses and other basic furniture to immigrants.
After a fire destroyed his building, he decided to endow each of his sons the funds – half a gold sovereign – to start their own business.
Mr Beard’s grandparents, Albert and Ada, chose to start making mattresses, based on a bet to make six beds in a week. Their enterprise – now under the guidance of Garry, his brother Allyn and other family members, including Garry’s son Matthew, who is chief executive – makes more than 20,000 pieces a month.
Over the years, A.H. Beard mattresses have been slept on by guests at major hotel and motel chains, including Rydges, Shangrila, Accor, Hilton and Intercontinental.
They have been sold through iconic department stores Waltons, Grace Brothers, David Jones and Myer and today can be purchased from 562 stores, including more than 190 Harvey Norman and Domayne stores across Australia and New Zealand.
“I can honestly say Harvey Norman are among the strongest and most dedicated supporters of Australian-made manufacturers,” Mr Beard says.
“We started with just two people and grew into a team of more than 500 at our peak. Without their dedication, A.H. Beard wouldn’t be what it is today.”
With no nationally accredited apprenticeship program available, A.H. Beard created its own cadetship program to skill its workforce, while professional development pathways have also helped employees rise from the factory floor to leadership positions.
“We have people who’ve been with us for 40 years – highly skilled tradesmen, or as we like to call them, sleepsmiths,” he says.
“We have one young team member who joined us from Samoa at just 16 years old – he’s now an operating officer at our Queensland plant.”
A.H. Beard staff scour the globe for insight into sleep best practice and manufacturing innovation and then work with retailers to develop products for the Australian market as well as for export.
All its mattresses are handmade to order at factories located in Sydney, Brisbane, Melbourne, Hobart, Adelaide, Perth and Auckland.
A.H. Beard was an original member of the Australia Made campaign in the 1980s and Mr Beard hopes consumers will ask where products are made and what it can do, in addition to their questions around price.
“Too often, people judge a mattress by price rather than by where it’s made or how it supports quality sleep,” he says.
This article is part of the Back Australia series, which is supported by Australian Made, Harvey Norman, Westpac, Bunnings, Coles, TechnologyOne, REA Group, Cadbury, R.M.Williams, Qantas, Vodafone and BHP.
Originally published as A.H. Beard reveals secrets behind 125 years of mattress making success
