"We are confident this reallocation of resources, combined with the many changes we have made to our production processes, will continue to strengthen our operations," Darrow said. "We regret the impact these moves will have on the families and lives of those employees affected and greatly appreciate the contribution of each employee and thank them for their years of dedicated service."

Darrow said the move of domestic cut-and-sew operations to Mexico left the company with extra floor space at six facilities, "and with our manufacturing facilities dedicated solely to production, we determined we could service our existing and future demand with one less facility. Importantly, our remaining facilities will be able to increase their capacity utilization as a result of this change."

La-Z-Boy cut 500 jobs last year after shutting down three plants in the United States. After the Tremonton plant closes, the La-Z-Boy's upholstery segment will have a total of 5.5 million square feet of upholstery manufacturing space in North America, including 4.8 million in the United States and 700,000 square feet in Mexico.

La-Z-Boy's Upholstery Group companies are Bauhaus, England, La-Z-Boy and La-Z-Boy UK. The La-Z-Boy Casegoods Group companies are American Drew, Hammary, Kincaid and Lea.

La-Z-Boy Upholstery's announcement Wednesday came after financial markets had closed. La-Z-Boy stock rose 16 cents during the day to close at $8.85 per share. During the past year, the price has ranged from $5.31 to $12.99 per share.

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Contributing: Bloomberg News.
E-mail: bwallace@desnews.com