Bohol Furniture and Lumber Supply has risen from being a fledgling small lumber retailer to a major company, thanks to a local Filipino invention.
Cirilo Sumampong’s company in Dauis now commands a gross income of PhP 1.16 million a month after using the Department of Science and Technology’s Forest Products Research and Development Institute’s (DOST-FPRDI’s) furnace-type lumber dryer (FTLD).
Sumampong relates in a DOST release, “During our first years in the business, we were producing nothing but door jambs and air-dried lumber, and earning only Php 1,500 a month. Sales were good only between September and December each year. Now, with our kiln-dried wood, we make trusses, floor planks, doors, door jambs and all kinds of furniture – beds, chairs, dining sets. Thanks to our number one client – the hotels and beach resorts that have sprung all over Bohol in recent years – our products are in demand all the time.”
The Bohol firm decided to expand in 2012, getting a Php 1 million help from the DOST Small Enterprises Technology Upgrading Program or SETUP. By 2014, the company grossed PhP 2.5 million.
“Our product lines grew and because we knew that we were using quality materials, we gained confidence in dealing with our buyers,” shared Sumampong about their experience.
The clients of the company multiplied and the company was able to pay back the grant after one year, eventually expanding its store and showroom.
The dryer technology used by the Bohol furniture maker was also credited for helping create jobs for the community as they trained and hired operators.
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