Haworth (company)
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| Type | Private corporation |
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| Genre | Office furniture |
| Founded | 1948 (as Modern Products) |
| Founder(s) | Gerrard Wendell (G.W.) Haworth |
| Headquarters | Holland, Michigan |
| Products | Office furniture and office systems |
| Employees | 6,000 |
| Website | http://www.haworth.com/ |
Haworth designs and manufactures adaptable workspaces, including raised floors, movable walls, systems furniture, seating, storage and wood casegoods. Family-owned and privately held, Haworth is headquartered in Holland, Michigan in the United States. Haworth serves markets in more than 120 countries through a global network of 600 dealers. The company had net sales of US $1.4 billion in 2005. More recently, 2010 sales came in at US $1.21 billion. It employs nearly 6,000 people.
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[edit] History
The company began in 1948 as Modern Products. In 1954, the focus of Modern Products shifted toward office environments, in response to the development of modular office partitions, the predecessors of today’s panel systems.
In 1976, Modern Products’ name was changed to Haworth. and the company began focusing exclusively on office furniture systems. In the early 1980s, when office seating was added to Haworth product offering being built at the Allegan, Michigan Haworth Plant, the company continued its movement toward providing complete workspace solutions. Later in this decade, Haworth pursued an aggressive expansion in North America, Europe, and Asia. During the next two decades, Haworth developed several industry firsts — from the first mobile office system to panel-to-panel cabling systems. Haworth also earned awards for its business and design practices, such as environmental sustainability, leadership, community service, and member job satisfaction.
In 1996 Steelcase was found at fault in a patent infringement suit brought by Haworth in 1985. Steelcase was ordered to pay $211.5 million in damages and interest.[1]
The company reached $1 billion in annual revenue in 1994, and passed the $2 billion mark in 2000. Later that year SMED of [Calgary] was bought out by Haworth.[2] In 2003 the Interface AR of [Grand Rapids, Michigan|Grand Rapids/MI] was acquired by Haworth.[3] The acquisitions of SMED and InterfaceAR further strengthened Haworth’s workspace solutions.
Founder Gerrard Wendell (G.W.) Haworth died October 25, 2006 at the age of 95. He was an alumnus of Western Michigan University and the namesake of its business school.
[edit] Ownership
Haworth, Inc. is a privately owned company. Based on estimated sales, it is the second largest manufacturer of office furniture behind Steelcase.
[edit] References
- ^ "$211.5 Million Award in Patent Lawsuit". The New York Times. 1996-12-31. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9503EFD61030F932A05751C1A960958260.
- ^ Haworth to Acquire SMED. Wood & Wood Products. Tuesday, February 1, 2000
- ^ SMED, Interface AR Take Haworth Name Floor Daily. September 20, 2004
