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..."
