Allsteel's Stride Recognized for Good Design (Again)

Allsteel Inc. continues to be recognized for their innovative design, earning two 2010 GOOD Design awards from the Chicago Athenaeum and The European Center for Architecture Art Design and Urban Studies, for expansions to their Stride Workstation platform.

Awards were earned for its Stride Benching System

and for Stride's unique Sit to Stand application, which can be integrated into any of Allsteel's workstations:

I still find that a lot of my clients equate today's open plan workstations to Dilbert's cube. Those days are long gone, and the spaces being designed today look nothing like the cube farms of yesterday.

If you haven't seen current workstations (2007 and newer), click (HERE) to check out the Stride website and to see what good design is all about.

Factory Orders Up - Office Furniture Mfgs Up

New factory orders increased 0.7% in November, reversing an identical 0.7% drop in October. Not coincidentally all of the "major" office furniture manufacturers reported sales increases for their most recently reported quarters:

• Steelcase: + 9% year over year revenue growth for Q311
• Herman Miller: +19.9% year over year revenue growth for Q211
• Knoll: + 12% year over year growth for Q311
• HNI (parent of Allsteel): Forecast + 10-12% for Q410

Look for pricing to begin returning to normal (read that as prices will go up), as factory capacity starts to fill, and the cut-throat discounting that has been present for the past two years starts to recede.

Top Office Furniture Vendors to the Federal Government

From the pages of the Monday Morning Quarterback, the office furniture industry's trade publication, comes the top suppliers of office furniture to the federal government (based on 2009 sales).

(all figures in millions)
1. Knoll $121.5
2. Federal Prison Industries $103.4
3. Herman Miller $94.4
4. KI $91.3
5. HNI (Allsteel, HON, Gunlocke) $71.7
6. Haworth $70.1
7. Steelcase $63.1
8. Kimball $44.2
9. Misc. Foreign contractors $27.2
10. Teknion $25.1

In addition to the list, the article also pointed out that the annual purchases by the federal market had nearly tripled over the past decade. Growing from $515 Million in 2000 to $1.3 Billion in 2009.

Q2 Mixed Results for Office Furniture Manufacturers

Some mixed Q2 results for two of the key office furniture manufacturers.

 Going Up: - HNI Corporation (parent company of Allsteel Inc. & HON Company) posted a 6.3% increase in Q2 2010 revenues, reporting sales of $398.2M. HNI CEO Stan Askren stated, "I am encouraged by the strengthened demand across our businesses..." Asken went onto say that "office furniture demand improved across the board..."

Going Down: - Knoll Inc. posted a 4.9% decrease in Q2 2010 revenues, reporting sales of $192.3M. Knoll reported that the decrease in sales was experienced across the majority of product lines, with Systems continuing to decline at the largest rate when compared with prior year.

In my personal experience, Knoll has been discounting extremely aggressively over the past 4-5 months, which makes sense in light of their slowing sales. As sales slow, manufacturers increase their "discounting" off list price. This effectively lowers the cost of product to the dealers, who are then pushed to drop their prices to the end-users in the hopes of increasing sales.

Future Office Furniture Trends

A good article in Contract Magazine offers a nice summary of the current thinking in office furniture design. Some highlights:

• 4 Generations in the same workplace - Creates major challenges of "blending" workstyles together (Boomers desire private offices, Gen-Y'ers have no use for them)...
• Personalized Furniture - We can currently "personalize" our ergonomic chairs, workers desire that same degree of personalization across the board.
• Bye-Bye Walls - Space and furniture needs to be designed to promote collaboration and team-work, and allow for heads-down work. This means lower walls and panels, but smarter designed workstations.

Allsteel Stride

• Technology Integration - Current furniture allows for basic technology (power-voice-data), near future furniture is being designed to accommodate a much broader range of technology (I-Pods, various smart phone compatibility, etc...)
• Sustainability - LEED is today - beyond LEED is early tomorrow morning... with manufacturers and designers taking a deeper and broader look at issues such as life cycle assessment and non-obsolesence.

To read the complete article click (HERE).

The Office Furniture Breath Holding Competition Continues...

The past week has provided further evidence of what a brutal year it has been for the office furniture industry:

• Steelcase: The world's largest office furniture manufacturer, closed out their fiscal Q4 with a loss of $65.7 million, and closed out fiscal 2010 with a loss of $13.6 million on total revenue of $2.3 billion. This number came in lower than the companies estimates, primarily due to increases in tax valuation, lower than expected revenues, and additional restructuring activities.
• Knoll: Announced last week that they are closing their Kentwood MI. plant, cutting approximately 100 unionized employees.
• Herman Miller: Announced Q3 2010 results with sales declining 7%, however net quarterly earnings were $8.3 million...
• HNI (Parent company of Allsteel): Had an "unofficial" furlough week for a number of employees in Muscatine IA. (their longtime home city). As reported by the Muscatine Journal, employees "could take the week off as a paid vacation if that's how and when they wanted to use their vacation days..."

The actions of the major manufacturers listed above, reflect the brutal reality that the last quarter of 2009 and first quarter of 2010 have been particularly sloooow, with very little project activity. How long can you hold your breath???

Fortune's Most Admired Companies - Office Furniture Edition

Fortune Magazine has released their list of the World's Most Admired Companies, and three of the top 5 office furniture manufacturers have made the list.

Rated under the category of Home Equipment, Furnishings; Herman Miller, Steelcase, and HNI (parent company of Allsteel), all made the top 10. Herman Miller came in (again) at #1, Steelcase slipped four spots to #6, and HNI slipped five spots to end up at #9.

Allsteel brings home the Gold from: Dubai??

Proving that international trade is alive and well, Allsteel Inc. brought home the gold from the inaugural Office Exhibition, sponsored by Hewlett Packard, and held at the Dubai World Trade Centre. Promoted as the "only exhibition of its kind in the Middle East", the show featured exhibitors from 25 countries, including the USA, Italy, Spain, the UK, and Germany.

Allsteel won Gold in the Furniture Systems category for its newest furniture system; Stride and Silver in the Seating category for the Acuity executive task chair.

Stride from Allsteel

 Acuity from Allsteel

In addition to taking home the Gold and Silver, Allsteel's Sustainability Program Manager, Keri Luly, gave the keynote speech .

Office Furniture Industry down 30% vs 2008 -

Full year 2009 results for the furniture industry are starting to trickle in, and boy are they ugly. Knoll announced a Q42009 sales decline of 33.4%, and full year sales of $780 Million, representing a decline of 30.4%. It was reported in industry trade journals that Haworth (which is a privately held company), announced sales of $1.1 Billion, representing a decline of 32%.

The Business and Institutional Furniture Manufacturers Association (BIFMA) released their December 2009 market statistics, estimating an overall decline in orders and shipments of 30% (compared against slight decreases in 2008, and slight increases in 2007).

To reset the "hierarchy" of office furniture manufacturers (based on previous 4 quarters revenue):

1. Steelcase: $2.4 Billion (-30% vs. 2008)
2. HNI (parent company of Allsteel and HON): $1.56 Billion ( -25% vs. 2008)
3. Herman Miller: $1.34 Billion (-32% vs. 2008)
4. Haworth: $1.11 Billion (-32% vs. 2008)
5. Knoll: $780 Million (-30% vs. 2008)

I predict that HNI will rebound the strongest in 2010. My reason for this prediction is that HNI's largest operating company, HON, serves the small business niche. With the current focus of Washington on small business, HNI is well positioned to take advantage of any government aided small business expansion.

(Full disclosure, my dealership is aligned with Allsteel, also one of the HNI operating companies).

Allsteel introduces a "better" height adjustable worksurface

Allsteel has added an elegantly simple height adjustable worksurface to its award wining Stride product line.

Operated by a simple pneumatic lift that raises and lowers the desk surface, users can easily adjust the surface height from a common sitting height of 26 to 32 inches, to a standing height of  40 to 46 inches. The worksurface mounts directly to the panel frame, requires no electricity, and unlike other adjustable desk systems, there are no obtrusive mechanics, freeing the space beneath the worksurface for storage, footroom, and a greater range of motion.

The surface is designed for use with a range of worksurfaces sizes, and conforms to the BIFMA GI-2002 Ergonomic Guidelines and can withstand a total load of 250 lbs. in a fixed position.

For more information on the Stride worksurface, click (HERE).

Is your furniture certified green?

The Business and Institutional Furniture Manufacturer's Association (BIFMA), has been implementing its "level" sustainability standards program since mid-2009, and has now certified over 200 office furniture products, according to a recent article on greenerbuildings.com.

As defined on their website, the level program is "a multi-attribute, sustainability standard and third-party certification program for the furniture industry. It has been created to deliver the most open and transparent means of evaluating and communicating the environmental and social impacts of furniture products in the built environment." In plain English, level was developed to implement an industry standard by which to measure and verify manufacturer's claims of product and practice sustainability. This will also go a long way to cleaning up the "green-washing" or misleading claims regarding the "green" story of certain products and manufacturers.

Industry leaders such as Allsteel, Gunlocke, Herman Miller and Steelcase, have already had a full range of products certified. If you are a specifier, or purchaser of office furniture, make sure to ask if the products you are looking at have been level certified.

For a list of products that have received certification, click (HERE), and to view the level website, click (HERE).

Allsteel's Stride Receives 2009 Good Design Award

Allsteel Inc. earned a 2009 GOOD DESIGN Award from the Chicago Athenaeum and the European Center for Architecture art Design and Urban Studies. Allsteel was honored in the furniture category for Stride, a new workplace solution designed by Mitch Bakker.

Allsteel Stride

Stride is Cradle to Cradle certified, Indoor Advantage Gold Certified and compliant with the 2008 passage of BIFMA Design for the Environment. To see all the 2009 GOOD DESIGN award recipients, click (HERE).

To learn more about Stride - visit the interactive website (HERE).

Ouch.... The last quarter takes a pound of flesh from the Big 4

The recession may be technically over, but you wouldn't know it by reviewing the most recently reported quarterly results from the largest domestic office furniture manufacturers:

• HNI (Parent company of Allsteel): quarterly sales down 31.5%
• Herman Miller: "Consolidated" (read slashed) another 150 jobs in October, and announced their quarterly sales down 32.4% 
• Steelcase quarterly sales down 35.9%
• Knoll quarterly sales down 36.1%

What does this all mean? Continued deep discounting on large (and not so large) projects, and a feeding frenzy over any project on the street.

Case in point, there was an estimated 40 people representing 29 different office furniture dealers and/or manufacturers at a mandatory project walk-through this past Monday.  For the time being, I don't think I'm going too far out on a limb to say it remains a "buyer's market" for office furniture.

Allsteel Honored with 2009 Green Good Design Award

Consistent with our strong beliefs about supporting sustainability, both Sam Clar and CSG are proud to be partnered with Allsteel, a 2009 recipient of the Green Good Design Award from the European Center for Architecture Art Design and Urban Studies and the Chicago Anthenaeum.

Allsteel's Corporate H.Q. in Muscatine Iowa

Winning under the Corporations category, Allsteel was recognized for their corporate commitment to sustainability, and for implementing sustainable work processes into their everyday manufacturing.

To learn more about Allsteel's sustainability practices, visit their Sustainability website at All Together Now, or email me at: john@samclar.com.

New Task Lighting Options from Allsteel

One of the areas that has become increasingly important from both a LEED perspective, and an employee "comfort" perspective, is work area lighting.

Thankfully the old days of having to settle for the standard overhead "florescent" lights are just about gone. Today we have a lot of different options to choose from when looking for task specific lighting.

Allsteel is in the process of introducing Reed, their newest undershelf and freestanding task light:



Reed is available in two standard lengths (18"W & 36"W), offers 50,000 hours of usable life, and can attach either magnetically or with a screw mounting option. Reed contains no mercury, and is made with 100% recyclable materials.

Task lighting factors into LEED projects by contribututing to IEQ (Indoor Environmental Quality) Credit 6.1 Controlability of Systems, Lighting.

For more information on Reed, Allsteel, or to learn how lighting can contribute to improving the environment of your next office, contact your Sam Clar or CSG Account Executive, or email me at: john@samclar.com.

Allsteel's 2nd Quarter Results... No Joy In Mudville

Allsteel's parent company, HNI Corporation, announced 2nd quarter 2009 results down 37%, with a net loss of $1.4 million for the quarter. Allsteel's results are pretty consistent with the overall industry (Knoll reported a quarterly sales drop of 30% last week).

HNI CEO Stan Askren actually had some glimmers of hope for the 3rd quarter; "Market conditions remain difficult, but we are seeing signs of stabilization, particularly in our office furniture businesses. We expect our historical seasonal demand patterns to hold and drive third quarter revenue above second quarter levels" Askren said.

On a more positive local note, Allsteel and one of our esteemed local Allsteel competitors won a LARGE project for a LARGE tech company in the South Bay. I don't have any specifics, other than it is rumored that the project will be in excess of $6 to $7 Million dollars over the next couple of years.

Office Seating and Weight - A Heavy Topic...

In the course of recommending and selecting office chairs, we often have to deal with a delicate and very personal subject, "how much does the user weigh?"... As sensitive as this question is, the answer is critical to insuring that we provide a healthy, safe, and appropriate chair.

Almost every commercial or contract grade office chair (this excludes most chairs from Ikea, Staples, etc... which are typically for home-office use) is designed for a "typically" sized office user. My experience has shown that a "standard" chair works for people between 5'2" and 6'2" and 105 lbs to 250 lbs.

Recently, we are seeing a growing group of users who fall outside the "typical" range - and it is this population that requires a more "specialized" solution. Here is why:

Below 5'2" or 105 lbs: The chair seat width is too wide, the arms (even adjustable width) don't adjust enough, the seat height doesn't go low enough to the ground (which can be solved by using a foot rest). The biggest issue with smaller users is that they physically have a difficult time adjusting the chair. This is because most current chairs are set to adjust based on weight, and smaller users don't weigh enough to actuate the chair properly.

Above 6'2" or 250 lbs: Users in this category will have almost the exact opposite problems of those listed above. The biggest risk with larger users is that the chair will mechanically wear out quicker, and in cases where a user greatly exceeds the weight level (250 lbs), the chair may catastrophically fail (breaking at the chair control mechanism or chair back) which can lead to physical injury.

What are the options: Manufacturers have been a bit slow to keep up with our evolving body types, but there are options available. For brevity sake I'm going to show one "small" option and one "large" option - in general the "smaller" model chairs will be equivalent in cost, while the "larger" model chairs will run about 10% to 15% more.

Allsteel's SUM chair (SUM-MA) is a great model for smaller users:

Global's Concorde provides a comfortable option for larger users:

Summary: If you have users in your employee population that fall outside the "typical" user range, take a minute to review this information with your furniture provider. It may not be the easiest topic of conversation, but it will ultimately mean a happier and much more comfortable employee.

For more information on this topic, please feel free to contact your Sam Clar or CSG account executive, or email me at: john@samclar.com

Allsteel's Stride Sit to Stand Worksurface - Sustainable AND Ergonomic

I've written about the sustainability features of Allsteel's newest workstation introduction Stride, but one of the coolest and most useable features is Stride's Sit to Stand worksurface:

To See Stride Adjust - Click HERE:

Stride offers a cost effective alternative to the typically expensive Sit to Stand adjustable height worksurfaces (which isn't to say it is cheap). The surface can be placed at any 1" increment on the panel, and then infinitely adjusted within a 14" range. The surface is designed to move easily, and to adjust within the BIFMA G1-2002 ergonomic guidelines.

The worksurface is not "freestanding" (it integrated into the panel system) - but for companies looking for a sustainable furniture product that also provides great ergonoimcs, Stride is one of the best new solutions we have seen.

Allsteel's Stride is Cradle to Cradle Certified Silver, SCS Certified Indoor Air Advantage Gold and Sustainable Choice Gold, and won Silver for the 2009 Best of Neocon.

Feel free to contact us at Sam Clar or CSG for more information on Allsteel's Stride.

More People Comfortably into Less Space

Every project is different - but one central theme that has been running through all of our projects lately is "we need to (comfortably) fit more people into less space". Over the past two years we have have had great success using Allsteel's Reach to accomplish this task.

Reach integrates all of the required workstation storage into the central spine. This eliminates the need for any undersurface storage, and thus makes the entire worksurface usable (in a typical workstation you lose the 18" to 21" where the filing pedestal sits). With more useable work area, we can actually reduce the overall size of the station footprint WITHOUT making the space feel smaller.

Use Allsteel's "space and savings calculator", to see what you can save by using Reach
(click HERE for the calculator).

In addition, because panels are not required to hang overhead cabinets, we can lower the overall panel height, which allows more natural light into the station (a LEED criteria).

See if Reach is the right solution for your next project - feel free to contact us at CSG or Sam Clar for more information.

Options for your Used Office Furniture

One of the questions we are consistently asked by our clients is; "What can we do with our old office furniture?"

The answer to this question depends on the age, condition, and configurations of the product. If the product is less than 5 years old, in average condition (or better), and was designed for a typical office, there is a very good chance that a used furniture dealer or liquidator will actually pay for the product (going rate is .07 to .10 cents on the dollar).

If the product is between 5-10 years old, in average to below average condition, there is still a good chance the liqudator will remove the product at no cost to the owner.

Product beyond 10 years old and/or in poor condition and/or in "custom" configurations, most likely the owner will need to pay a service provider to remove and dispose of the items.

One of the more popular options that has recently developed is the Re-Use/Re-cycle route for old furniture disposal. In this option, companies that specialize in "green" re-purposing of old items will take over the process. These companies generally remove the items and direct them to needy charities or schools. Items that can't be re-used are broken down and recycled, with only the bare minimum going to landfills.

Two companies that specialize in this option are:

Ireuse.com - a San Francisco Bay Area based company, and Revive, a Nova Scotia based company that has entered into a partnership with Allsteel (For information on the partnership click HERE).

For more information on what to do with your existing product, please contact your Sam Clar or CSG account executive, or email me at: john@samclar.com