The Business of Furniture | February 8, 2017

BoFThe Business of Furniture | January 6, 2016

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Symbiote Counts on Quality Over Quantity

The Business of Furniture

February 8, 2017

FEATURES

8 UPFRONT: Kimball Sales, Profits

Continue to Increase in Latest QuarterNet sales in the second quarter of fiscal year 2017 increased 4 percent from the prior year second quarter.

13Paperworld Outlines Office of

the Future As part of The Office of the Future exhibit, there were unique spaces designed to show how modern offices must cater to a new generation of employees.

30Cover: Symbiote Counts on Quality

Over Quantity Symbiote is good at “turning the knob” a little and adjusting its products for its customer’s specific needs.

< Humanscale and The Aram Gallery have joined together to present “No Randomness” by Oscar Lhermitte, an exhibition of 15 industrial designs with a hidden rationale. pg 46

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Photo Credit: Arne Zacher

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BoFooooThe Business of FurnitureFebruary 8, 2017

DEPARTMENTS

HUTCHIndustry Funnies .........................7

UPFRONTThe Top News ..............................8

THE STREAMCuration of the news stream.....9

TOP INDUSTRY NEWSKimball Sales, Profits Continue to Increase in Latest Quarter ..10Paperworld Outlines Office of the Future ..................................13Herman Miller Announces Restructuring to Implement ‘Overdrive’ Strategy ..................16Retiring Custer Founder and CEO Reflects on 36 Years of Business .....................................17

FINANCIALIndustry Shares/Graphs ...........18

CAREER COLUMNStephen Says .............................20

GUEST COLUMNSCoLaboration - Al Everett .........22

CALENDAR & MOREWhiteboard ................................24 Places..........................................25Upcoming Industry Events.......26

FEATURESSymbiote Counts on Quality Over Quantity ............................30

FIRST LOOKSNew products from HBF, Nightingale, Source International, Magnuson, Arper & Brentano ................................38

INDUSTRY PULSEIndustry Pulse ...........................44Industry Classifieds ..................54Industry Careers .......................60

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42Contents Copyright ©2017 Bellow Press Inc.

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The Business of FurnitureBoFoooo

BoFooooEditor-in-Chief, Bellow Press Rob Kirkbride

Vice President, Sales & Marketing, Publisher, Bellow Press Melissa SkolnickVice President, Content Production, Bellow Press Todd Hardy

Workplace Guru, BoF Stephen ViscusiGuest Columnist, Industry Business, BoF Mike Dunlap

Guest Columnist, BoF Jeremy ErardGuest Columnist, BoF Al Everett

Contributing Writers, BoF:Amanda Schneider, Emily Clingman, Bruce Buursma, John Q. Horn, Jeremy Myerson,

Stef Schwalb, Gary James, Scott Lesizza, Bryce Stuckenschneider

Illustrator, BoF Jamie CosleyCopy Editor, BoF Linda Odette

Publishing Headquarters 23403 E Mission Ave, Suite 107 Liberty Lake, Washington 99019 877-BELLOW9 (877-235-5699) Email: info@bellow.press

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Business of Furniture and Workplaces magazine are the go-to sources for keeping you informed about every-thing that is happening in the industry. From trends that affect your bottom line, to new products that will help your customers work better, to stories that will help you run a better, more informed company.ROB KIRKBRIDE, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

THE BUSINESS MAKERS

Symbiote Counts on Quality Over QuantitySymbiote is good at “turning the knob” a little and adjusting its products for its customer’s specific needs.

Words by Rob Kirkbride

MAKERS

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At the same time cheap products flood the mar-ket, there is a small but strong counter movement toward robust, quality-made products. There will always be customers searching for the cheapest, but manufacturers like Symbiote are seeking furni-ture customers looking for the best.

In part, this trend toward quality stems from the maker culture, a do-it-yourself movement where a segment of society — mostly younger people — de-mand quality over quantity. It has spawned brands like Shinola, the Detroit-based, made-in-America company known best for its watches, and American Giant, a San Francisco-based manufacturing com-pany that makes American-made clothing. Other established brands, like Red Wing Shoes, are also

being rediscovered because of their quality.Symbiote falls into the latter category. It has been

around for more than 30 years and has carved out a niche in laboratory furniture based on Herman Miller’s Action Office. While Symbiote’s furniture has grown to be much more, it still has that AO DNA, at a much more robust level than anyone in an office would ever need. But the company, based in Zeeland, Michigan, is finding its furniture fits the bill in other segments as well.

Its more recent success can be explained best by looking back at the company’s history. Symbi-ote was founded by Travis Randolph, an industry veteran who was a key part of the team at Herman Miller that launched Action Office. Soon after Her-

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Some height-adjustable desks are so flimsy and underpowered they are barely able to lift their own tops, much less a computer or other office equipment. While some companies “race to the bottom” with low-priced,

low-quality office furniture, Symbiote is solidly planted in the other camp that believes customers are willing to pay for quality.

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man Miller launched Action Office, it added AO for labs and factories, in part because of the urging of one of its key customers at the time, Texas Instru-ments.

In 1983, Herman Miller discontinued its Action Office factory line. Randolph founded Symbiote a year later to serve those customers and based the company’s furniture on all the same connections found in AO. Symbiote became a go-to furniture maker for laboratory and factory furniture.

As calculators gave way to computers, Symbiote’s customer base began to change as did the labora-tories those customers worked in. Companies like IBM and Hewlett Packard evolved, and customers like Sun Microsystems grew rapidly. Sun later col-lapsed in the dot.com bust and was acquired by Oracle.

“We didn’t want to be in the (standard) electric table business, but we did want to add more value to it. Symbiote is a company with a model that is low volume, high value.”

“Wet” scientific laboratories of past generations that relied on water and gas on the testing tables literally dried up to make way for high-tech labs that didn’t need anything other than power. Sym-biote became a key supplier for those tech compa-nies and remains strong in the segment today. Still, Symbiote learned from the dot.com bust. Its busi-ness dropped 80 percent in eight months following the crash.

So the company diversified. Its business is now split in thirds between health care, aerospace and defense and Silicon Valley tech research and development. It is an important mix of segments since none of them can be outsourced, which has flattened out the ups and downs of the business cycle. Still, Symbiote remains true to its roots. It still outfits laboratories with its rock solid furniture. If a good height-adjustable desk in the office can hold a few hundred pounds, Symbiote built sit-stand desks that could hold 600 pounds.

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In 1993, the company developed its first height-adjustable laboratory bench for Boeing. The bench-es were run in long lines in the airplane maker’s factory and are used to assemble things like wiring harnesses. Its ErgoStat line was born and has be-come a key part of the company’s product offering.

Its top three customers are Apple, Google and Facebook. Symbiote outfitted the labs at Apple’s new campus with its products.

Tech companies — at least when they are launched — are all labs. So as those companies have grown, the employees who were used to working in lab environments on Symbiote products wanted them as they moved into the office as well. To address this need for solid office furniture, Sym-biote recently introduced its ErgoState Pro Electric Workstation. It is based on the designs first used on the ErgoStat at Boeing, but with a lighter scale that is more appropriate for the office. It gives the techies who have moved to the office a product they know in a form more fitting for the workplace than the lab.

That brings us full circle to the present. Symbiote believes its ErgoStat Pro Electric Workstation can bridge the gap between the lab and the office at the high-tech companies that it counts as its cus-tomers. It has a greater range of adjustability and a lighter load capacity than its lab-based cousin, but it is still a solid piece of furniture, designed with a load capacity of 250 pounds. It has a battery kit that means it can be charged and used without being next to a plug. It is set on casters with locking brakes or glides. And it has the shelves for techni-cal manuals and equipment tech workers love. Its industrial feel is popular as well.

Symbiote is good at “turning the knob” a little and adjusting its products for its customer’s specific needs, according to Randolph. “It is furniture for innovative work,” he says. “We didn’t want to be in the (standard) electric table business, but we did want to add more value to it. Symbiote is a com-pany with a model that is low volume, high value.”

So as the disposal culture makes way for one that demands quality, Symbiote finds itself in a good position to grow and expand. Not every customer wants the cheapest product possible. Some want to invest in its workers by giving them the right tool for the job, whether in the lab or in the office. Symbiote is counting on it. BoF