Displaying items tagged: Herman Miller Inc

Before Landscape Forms Inc. acquired Kornegay Design last year, the Kalamazoo-based designer and manufacturer of site furniture, accessories and lighting mulled several acquisition targets that shared its design culture and core beliefs.

New tariffs and an escalating global trade war in recent weeks have stoked fears that global manufacturers will move production outside of the United States to protect their margins. 

Industry headwinds such as steel and aluminum tariffs and new disruptors are forcing many West Michigan office furniture makers to deal with new challenges. 

Inside Chicago’s Merchandise Mart at NeoCon earlier this month, office furniture manufacturers displayed new products that both showcased and contradicted the renewed shift to more private office spaces.

Whether via acquisition or partnership agreements, West Michigan’s office furniture makers are looking to fill product holes with their recent spate of deals.

Here is the MiBiz Growth Report for June 11, 2018:

In the second investment announced in as many days, Herman Miller Inc. acquired a minority stake in a Danish furniture maker.

A West Michigan office furniture company is partnering with an investor group to acquire a Dutch manufacturer of modular walls.

A handful of West Michigan executives find that practical business experience can carry over from the boardroom to the classroom.

A member of the executive team at Herman Miller Inc. has announced plans to retire.

GRAND RAPIDS — With the new AMP Lab @WMU that’s set to open this fall, Western Michigan University wants to leverage public- and private-sector partnerships to help local manufacturers innovate and access talent.

Brian Walker will retire from Herman Miller Inc. by Aug. 31, ending a 29-year career at the office furniture manufacturer, including 14 years as president and CEO.

GRAND RAPIDS — Mercy Health’s new primary care medical practice on Grand Rapids’ west side resulted from what Ben Look calls a lot of dissatisfaction.

Office furniture manufacturers have been late adopters of automation, particularly inside their West Michigan-based factories.

Brian Walker continues to believe the overall fundamentals of the economy remain strong, but the ongoing wave of nationalism and demonstrations of military might cause him some degree of concern. The president and CEO of Zeeland-based office furniture manufacturer Herman Miller Inc. (Nasdaq: MLHR) counts on free and open access for the trading of goods for his company’s continued success. Meanwhile, the continued “geopolitical noise” from external events like Brexit only creates uncertainty, he told MiBiz at the recent Business Leaders for Michigan CEO Summit in Detroit.

Alawsuit challenging Herman Miller Inc.’s 2014 acquisition of furniture retailer Design Within Reach heads to trial in a few weeks with additional allegations.

West Michigan educators and at least one business group say the Trump administration’s plan to rescind the Deferred Action of Childhood Arrivals program already is leading to anxiety and uncertainty.

Order volatility in the office furniture industry continued to affect sales for Herman Miller Inc.

CHICAGO — When Herman Miller Inc. first introduced the Aeron chair during the dawn of the dot-com era in 1994, it took the office furniture industry by storm.

CHICAGO — After years of shifting between private spaces and open office floor plans, the office furniture industry seems to have settled on a happy medium.

GRAND RAPIDS — Over his storied career, John Berry has advocated for the benefits of incorporating design principles outside of traditional creative industries. Now, Berry is taking that vision one step further at Grand Valley State University with the new Design Thinking Academy, where he serves as director. The academy spun off from the university’s Design Thinking Initiative that launched in 2014.

When Jim Hackett retired from the corner office at Steelcase Inc. in 2014, he told MiBiz the “narrative is still being written” about what he planned to do in the next phase of his professional life.

West Michigan-based contract furniture companies have muddled through the recent period of political uncertainty and mixed international demand.

ZEELAND — A legal dispute challenging the validity of the 2014 merger between Herman Miller Inc. and Design Within Reach could head to trial in Delaware this November.

Herman Miller Inc. closed the third quarter of its 2017 fiscal year with sales down slightly compared to the previous quarter, missing analysts’ expectations.

HOLLAND — Backed by strong growth in the European market and synergies created through its residential business unit, Haworth Inc. closed 2016 with better sales growth than the company had in the prior year. 

Herman Miller Inc. will centralize its leadership and integrate functions of several business segments bid to better streamline its organizational structure and accelerate growth.

People don’t often associate West Michigan with video game design, and for good reason. 

The 2,000-plus cyclers who will pedal through West Michigan this June for the Gran Fondo event will do more than just get in a day’s ride. 

Heightened volatility in order patterns coupled with uncertainty in the global economy and geopolitical environment contributed to flat performance at Herman Miller Inc.