US office furniture and workplace solutions firm Steelcase plans to expand its consultancy business in China to boost its market share in the country.
Jason Taper, sales director at Steelcase (Central China) said the company aims to be the leading provider of professional office furniture consultancy services in China in the next five years.
China sales account for only a small part of Steelcase's total worldwide, but Taper said the company plans to expand in Shanghai, Beijing, Guangzhou and other Chinese cities.
Steelcase began in Grand Rapids, Michigan, in 1912 as the Metal Office Furniture Co. It has manufacturing facilities in over 30 locations around the world. The company came to China two years ago as a workspace consultancy specializing in high-performance work furniture.
With annual revenue of $3.1 billion this year, the company's product portfolio includes interior architectural and technology products, furniture systems, seating and storage.
Joyce Bromberg, director of WorkSpace Futures - Explorations for Steelcase, was the lead developer of community-based planning, a pioneering space-planning methodology and Web-based tool set.
"Steelcase's three-phased approach - ask, observe and experience - yields new ways to gain critical insights that help designers create environments based on how work really gets done," said Bromberg.
Steelcase's research team helps clients determine workplace solutions that are aligned with their corporate goals but remain employee-focused.
The company assesses the effectiveness of both people and space in a work environment to help boost performance, enhance teamwork and ensure organizational needs are met.
Michael Crittendon, director of workplace strategy for the Asia-Pacific region, said the firm's work effectiveness tools and techniques give architects and industrial designers a better insight into the business needs of their clients to create a tailor-made work environment.
With over 25 years' experience in interior architecture design, Crittendon has helped lead large, multidisciplinary teams to develop the strategic vision, concept development, piloting and delivery of new workplace strategies in the Asia-Pacific region for many well-known companies.
Steelcase offers services including survey tools, workshops and strategies to allow customers to arrive at meaningful workplace solutions quickly, with a high level of management and employee involvement.
The company's research team has helped many firms worldwide to design workplace solutions and understand how workspaces can be arranged strategically to help organizations meet their business objectives.
Boeing Co is one of its clients. When an earthquake destroyed one of the main buildings at Boeing's manufacturing site in Renton, Washington, the company transformed the way it works at the plant.
A 45-person engineering team moved into the plant for 90 days, tested workplace tools and processes, and began to reinvent Boeing culture. Staff thought about how their work flowed to and from others. The pilot space was a turning point - most of the 45 employees didn't want to move into the plant from their white-collar offices. But by the end of the test, they didn't want to leave. It turned into an opportunity for all Boeing staff to work together to continuously improve and trust one another to get the work done.
Boeing's bold strategy of lean manufacturing in conjunction with a more effective work environment has reduced space occupancy by 40 percent and boosted productivity by 50 percent. It used to take Boeing 24 days to make a 737. Now it takes only 12 days.
Source: China Daily
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