Preliminary studies have suggested that the Amish-based furniture and related products manufacturing cluster located in and around Holmes County, Ohio, uses sizeable quantities of hardwood lumber. The number of firms within the cluster has grown even as the broader domestic furniture manufacturing sector has contracted. The present study was undertaken in 2008 (spring/summer) to develop lumber use estimates specific to Amish manufacturing and provide more detail regarding the impacts of clustering on lumber consumption patterns. Results, based on 196 firms responding to a survey, suggested that lumber use ratios (bd ft per employee) differed among firms of different sizes and type of product manufactured, but in aggregate was similar to the broader US furniture industry. Red oak was the most commonly used species. Local suppliers of hardwood lumber and components were used extensively by most firms. The study confirmed that the Holmes County furniture cluster was important to regional hardwood demand, facilitated by well-developed supply chains that enable high specialization and enhance aggregate productivity among the numerous small manufacturers.

Th e Amish-based furniture manufacturing cluster in and around Holmes County, OH, is home to some 400 shops and has become an important regional driver of demand for hardwood products. Th e cluster has expanded even as the broader domestic furniture industry has declined. Clustering dynamics are seen as important to the success, but little information has been available to assess the perceptions of fi rms operating within the cluster. Th e present study asked manufacturers to rate the importance of several factors to making the Holmes County region a good place to be in business. Common actions taken by these fi rms, and the information sources most commonly used, also were evaluated. A reputation for high-quality products was rated as critical to the cluster's success, followed by access to suppliers and manufacturing services. It was somewhat common to outsource components from other local shops, to use other vendors for computer numeric control work, and to refer potential customers to other local shops when better equipped for an order. Firms within the cluster were close to their customers, as conversations with customers was rated the most common source of information to learn about furniture industry trends. Word of mouth from other local shops also was somewhat important. Th ese results demonstrated the importance of repeated interaction among the numerous shops, and also showed the importance individual fi rms placed on maintaining the reputation for high- quality products coming from the cluster. Th e unique mix of cooperation and competition has resulted in a model of competitiveness in wood furniture manufacturing.

This paper is an assessment of wood use by the Amish furniture cluster located in northeastern Ohio. The paper also highlights the competitive and demographic factors that have enabled cluster growth and new business formation in a time of declining market share for the overall U.S. furniture industry. Several secondary information sources and discussions with local manufacturers were utilized. Wood use for the cluster was estimated at 44 million board feet per year, a volume equivalent to 11 percent of the total volume of hardwood lumber produced in Ohio or 19 percent of the hardwood lumber used in appearancebased applications in the State. Although the Amish firms are highly concentrated within the Holmes County region, the typical firm is small in size (median of four employees).

Much has been reported regarding the decline of the U.S. wood furniture manufacturing industry. One segment that seems to be maintaining its competitiveness is the Amish-made furniture sector. The Amish traditionally have undertaken agriculture-related occupations (Stinner et al. 1989); however, as farmland has become increasingly scarce and expensive, and as the Amish population has grown, more are seeking opportunities in nonfarming occupations such as manufacturing (Lowery and Noble 2000, Amish.Net n.d. b). Amish-made furniture is an example of an emerging manufacturing sector, but like many Amish industries, one for which a dearth of information is available.

The role of the public sector at federal, state, and university levels in helping secondary hardwood manufacturers evaluate, finance, and obtain information about new processing technologies was investigated. A scale was developed to classify responding dimension and millwork firms as innovative or noninnovative based on the number of pre-specified processing technologies adopted. Some significant differences were found among reported levels of different types of government assistance received between innovative and noninnovative firms in both a small-firm and large-firm subsample. The perceived importance of the different types of government assistance was also investigated. Innovative large firms generally perceived government assistance as less important than did noninnovative large firms. Correlations between receipt and perceived importance of the different types of federal and state assistance were calculated. Although positive correlations were consistently found, the only statistically significant correlation was for federal assistance among large firms. The rank order of means of perceived importance of the types of assistance investigated was nearly identical for small and large firms. Tax information, safety information, and tax incentives were perceived to be the most important types of government assistance investigated among responding firms.