After 71 years of making furniture, things are finally starting to look up for Sauder Woodworking Co. in Archbold.

That's up as in a ceiling overhead.

Two years ago, the nation's largest manufacturer of ready-to-assemble furniture began brainstorming other ways to use its expertise at making wood laminates.

The result was Sauder's patented WoodTrac Ceiling System -- inexpensive laminate panels that attach to standard drop ceiling frames.

"They make it look like a real wood-beamed ceiling is installed. It looks real sharp," said John Waterbury, a sales associate at Gordon Design Center in Perrysburg, one of three area dealers carrying the WoodTrac system.

Since it was launched two years ago, WoodTrac has generated just $65,000 in sales, but 2011 is on pace for $100,000 sales.

Sauder officials say they recognize their fledgling product isn't likely to take off for five years until word of mouth and other endorsements give it more exposure and credibility.

"It's a new market, and what we've learned through our sale of [funeral] caskets is it takes five to seven years to develop a new market like this. So it's going to be a while before it develops, but it's going to go," said Dan Sauder, company vice president of engineering and new markets.

"It's fun and a little scary. As you get into these markets you don't know what you don't know," he said.

The Archbold company decided to diversify its products after an internal debate over whether Sauder Woodworking was merely a furniture company.

"We had a lot of conversations about that," Mr. Sauder said.

"When we burn it down to our core, we are a manufacturer of laminate products -- and more than just a furniture company."

It was decided that the Fulton County firm should look toward other businesses where wood is used but where laminates could be substituted, he explained.

Ceilings were the first idea.

WoodTrac is offered by 45 dealers, mostly lumber yards or home design stores.

The large home-improvement chains such as Home Depot or Lowe's -- which carry Sauder furniture -- have been unwilling to carry the new Sauder ceiling system.

"They want a product that's proven with a track record," Mr. Sauder said.

The new product made is on the company's ready-to-assemble furniture lines which make cabinets, dressers, tables, and other furniture.

It has two full-time employees.

By comparison, Sauder Woodworking's funeral casket division, which has been around for five years, had sales of $500,000. The furniture division has annual sales of $310 million, with 1,600 employees. Overall, Sauder Woodworking has $450 million in annual sales and 2,000 employees.

Wood-Trac sells for $3.50 to $4 a square foot, compared with $15 to $30 for real wood ceilings and with $2 to $5 for traditional drop-ceiling metal, plastic, or mineral fibres panels.

Contact Jon Chavez at: jchavez@theblade.com or 419-724-6128.

First Published October 27, 2011, 4:30 a.m.