Haworth (company)
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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.
[edit] History
Innovation and flexibility have been the cornerstones of Haworth, Inc. since the company began in 1948 as Modern Products.
G.W. Haworth, the company’s founder, was driven by two dreams—to start his own business and to put his five children through college.
Those simple dreams have grown into more than a billion-dollar global leader in the workspace solutions industry, with quality products and customer-focused members propelling that growth often at double-digit rates.
It was in 1954 that the focus of Modern Products first shifted toward office environments. The pivotal moment came that year with the development of modular office partitions, the predecessors of today’s panel systems. With the introduction of the world’s first pre-wired modular panel in 1976, Modern Products’ name was changed to Haworth, Inc. At that point, the company began focusing exclusively on office furniture systems. In the early 1980s, when office seating was added to Haworth’s product offering, the company continued its focused, steady movement toward providing complete workspace solutions. It was later in this decade that Haworth pursued an aggressive expansion in North America, Europe and Asia. During the next two decades, Haworth continued to develop 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 1994 the company reached the $1 billion mark, surpassing the $2 billion landmark in 2000. With these many developments, Haworth continued to grow, providing increasingly comprehensive workspace solutions and continuing to stretch outward in its global reach. The acquisitions of SMED® and InterfaceAR™ further strengthen Haworth’s workspace solutions. Today the family-owned private Haworth, Inc. operates in more than 120 countries and employs nearly 9,000 members. [1]
Founder Gerrard Wendell (G.W.) Haworth passed away early in the morning on October 25, 2006 at the age of 95.
[edit] Ownership
Haworth, Inc. is a privately owned company. Based on estimated sales, it is the third largest manufacturer of office furniture behind Steelcase and Herman Miller.
