Outstanding Moments from Steelcase Company History
Milestones
1912 Peter M. Wege Sr., Walter Idema and 10 other stockholders form the Metal Office Furniture Company on March 14 in Grand Rapids, Michigan. The company has 15 employees and specializes in filing cabinets and safes. First year`s sales are $76,000.
1914 Metal Office begins diversifying with a new product, the Victor fireproof steel wastebasket.
1915 First sale of desks: 200 fireproof steel desks for Boston's first skyscraper, the Custom House Tower.
1921 Metal Office officially registers the "Steelcase" name as a trademark and adopts a new advertising slogan: "Found Where Business Succeeds."
1926 The company opens a new manufacturing plant on Division Avenue in Grand Rapids.
1937 Metal Office creates oval-shaped desks based on the design vision of Frank Lloyd Wright. They're used in the S.C. Johnson and Company building, which Life magazine calls "the most inspirational office building of the 20th century."
1945 The surrender documents ending World War II are signed by General Douglas MacArthur and Japanese officials on a Steelcase table aboard the USS Missouri.
1953 Metal Office introduces Sunshine Styling, the industry's first office furniture in colors.
1954 Corporate name changes to Steelcase, which has been a brand name for many Metal Office products.
1968 Introduces Mobiles®, the first product using concepts of systems furniture.
1971 Introduces Movable Walls, Steelcase's first comprehensive systems furniture line.
1972 Enters the wood office furniture market with the introduction of Designs® in Wood.
1973 Introduces Series 9000® systems furniture.
1974 Forms a 50 percent joint-venture interest with Forges de Strasbourg (Strafor S.A.) to manufacture seating in Sarrebourg, France.
1983 Opens new corporate headquarters building in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
1985 Acquires Stow & Davis Furniture Company, Grand Rapids, Michigan, which manufactures executive wood office furniture.
1986 Introduces Sensor®, the first office chair to sense and support the body's movements.
1987 Forms the Steelcase Design Partnership, a group of high-design, niche-market contract furnishings companies. They include Vecta, Metropolitan Furniture and Brayton International.
Completes restoration of the Frank Lloyd Wright-designed Meyer May House in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and opens it to the public.
1993 Announces Turnstone®, a new Steelcase brand to serve the office furniture needs of small businesses.
1994 Introduces lifetime warranty for Steelcase-brand products. James P. Hackett named president and chief executive officer.
1996 Announces an equity investment in IDEO, the largest independent product design and development firm in the country, based in Palo Alto, California.
1998 Becomes a publicly held company trading on the New York Stock Exchange under ticker symbol SCS. Reports record consolidated net sales and record consolidated net income for its fiscal year ending February 27, 1998.
1999 Introduces the revolutionary Leap® chair, a new seating technology aimed at addressing the correlation between back pain and worker productivity in the workforce.
2000 Opens the Steelcase University Learning Center in Grand Rapids, Michigan, which houses all of Steelcase University's programs and seminars.
2001 Opens a new wood furniture plant in Grand Rapids. The building is the first manufacturing facility in the world to achieve certification under the LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) program, receiving a silver certificate from the U.S. Green Buildings Council.
Steelcase completes Acquisition of PolyVision Corporation. This acquisition includes visual communication tools to enhance the company's technology offering.
2002 IBM and Steelcase announce global initiative to design office of the future, BlueSpace. This is an innovative work environment that integrates architecture and furniture with advanced technology.
2003 Robert C. Pew III named chair, Steelcase Board of Directors. Steelcase reaches a key environmental milestone by eliminating the emission of almost all volatile organic compounds (VOCs) from its metal finishing operations based in Michigan.
2004 Introduces the Think™ chair – a smart, simple and environmentally sustainable seating product that addresses the growing need for mid-priced ergonomic seating.
The chair earns one of seven Best of NeoCon awards at the annual trade show in Chicago. Topo, a flexible systems product from Metro, is named Best of Show.
2005 As part of its goal to build a lean, more flexible industrial system, Steelcase announces plans to consolidate West Michigan manufacturing operations on the Kentwood Complex and move toward the sale of the industrial property on the Grand Rapids complex.
2006 Steelcase International opens its new headquarters facility just outside Strasbourg, France. Known as the WorkLab, it is designed to foster innovation, support our international culture and improve employee's work experience.
Launches Nurture™ by Steelcase, a new organization that concentrates on space and healthcare environments.
2007 Acquires Ultra Group holdings Limited, a leading office furniture manufacturing company in China.
2008 Launches Coalesse, a new premium furnishings brand that brings together three companies, Brayton, Metro and Vecta, and targets inspired work. Frank Merlotti is the president.
2009 The Frank Lloyd Wright-designed Meyer May House, which Steelcase restored, marks its 100th anniversary.
The Steelcase WorkLab™ in Grand Rapids is granted Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) platinum certification by the U.S. Green Building Council, making it the first showroom in the office furniture industry to achieve the highest ranking available.
2010 Steelcase Education Solutions launches its first product: the node™ chair, which includes a variety of features to support the new ways students are learning.
Announces several new environmental milestones, including: PVC-free edge banding on 12 systems furniture products; BIFMA level™ 3 certification for the cobi® chair; EcoCradle™ packaging, a bio-based material made from agricultural byproducts, for shipping select products; and being ranked first in the industry for combating climate change by Climate Counts, a New Hampshire based non-profit dedicated to fighting global warming.