143-Year-Old Manufacturing Company Shutting Its Doors In Inland Empire

ONTARIO, CA — A 143-year-old U.S.-based manufacturer of home products is shutting down its Inland Empire location, with 125 jobs affected.

Missouri-based Leggett & Platt is permanently closing its Ontario plant located at 1671 S. Champagne Avenue, according to a California state filing last month. The closure is expected to wrap up by Aug. 14.

The decision comes during a period of weak residential demand and ahead of a planned acquisition by Texas-headquartered Somnigroup International Inc. (formerly known as Tempur Sealy International Inc.). The all-stock acquisition is valued at approximately $2.5 billion is expected to be complete by year's end.

The Ontario plant closure is not surprising to those following the home products manufacturing industry. In early 2024, Leggett & Platt announced it was implementing a restructuring plan in response to "evolving markets." The plan called for shuttering plants and laying off more than 900 people by the end of 2025. It's not immediately clear whether the Ontario plant was on the chopping block at that time.

It's also unclear whether the 125 employees impacted by the Ontario closure have been offered the opportunity to relocate to other Leggett & Platt plant locations.

Centenarian businesses are dwindling, and Legget & Platt has rarified status. Its history dates back to the 188os, when American inventor J.P. Leggett developed an idea for a spiral steel coil bedspring. He partnered with a blacksmith and his future brother-in-law, C.B. Platt, to form Leggett & Platt. The two men patented their L&P bedspring, which became used as a durable base for then-popular cotton, feather, and horsehair mattresses.

By 1933, the company was manufacturing springs for innerspring mattresses, paving the way for a diversified product lineup that would eventually include rollaway beds, folding metal cots, bed frames, and bed rails.

The expansion continued, and in 1947 Leggett & Platt operated four plants in three states (Missouri, Kentucky, and Texas) with 500 employees.

By the 1960s, the company further expanded its offerings for the home furniture market. Leggett & Platt's stock was listed on the New York Stock Exchange in 1979, and by the end of the 20th Century the company had diversified into flooring, automotive, and other products. As early as 2012, the company had entered the aerospace market.