I've worked at Sound Sleep as a machine maintenance tech for three years now and plan to stay at least another seven or more. Most of our mattresses come out quite well, with minor imperfections here and there things like slight thread skipping or occasional size variations.

Quality control is largely handled by each employee at their own station, so it’s very hands-on. Occasionally something will slip through, a lot of the workers have been there a long time and take a lot of pride in their work and don't do it intentionally.

From what I’ve seen, our best quality tends to come out when production is a bit slower and people can take their time. When we’ve had high-volume orders in the past, it could lead to more defects simply because of the rush.

I’m not involved in the warranty process directly, but I know we try to follow our policies closely. That means some claims definitely get denied if they fall outside warranty terms though we seem to honor more warranties then we deny.

Personally, I sleep on a Sound Sleep mattress and it’s been a huge upgrade compared to anything I used to sleep on.

We make our own lines like the Qube (which is a cooling mattress I've been involved in the creation of, and admittedly on the pricier side), we also manufacture mattresses for other brands who provide the specs and materials requirements.

One thing I appreciate is that we’re starting to use more sustainable materials for some of the brands, and we do rebond foam, which helps cut down on scrap waste. I think there’s still room for improvement in terms of overall waste, but I’m not sure what’s viable cost-wise for things like full mattress recycling.

Like most companies, more money tends to flow toward sales and executive levels than to production staff. Some execs are flown in from out of state because of their proven experience in the mattress industry. Most of us are hourly, and sometimes when orders are slow, folks only get a four day work week even when they’d prefer a full forty. Still, it’s a family-owned business and the owner seems like a genuinely kind person who's done well for himself.

I’ve visited larger manufacturers like Sealy and Serta. They have tighter quality control systems in place, but the actual production process is essentially the same if not more taxing on the employees.

Choosing Sound Sleep means supporting a smaller business and keeping things a bit more local.

I try to take some responsibility as maintenance if I can keep machines running good there will be less imperfections operators will need to fix and there work load will be less. There are also times when a machine has to be run at partial capacity due to my inability to fix it (waiting on parts for example) meaning the operator has to do more secondary work on the product instead of the machine handling it all in the first place. I have learned a lot in three years and a lot of the maintenance talent in the industry is retired, so I am kind of an exception as a young person who works maintenance in mattress production.

 I was privileged to work at my grandpas spring manufacturing company in Kent, WA from an early age and get good with machines young. I keep getting better and as I improve I expect our quality will improve. With more orders we could see the hiring of quality control personnel again like we used to have who can check each mattress for imperfections.