Steelcase is a world leader in the production and marketing of office furniture. Their world headquarters is located in Grand Rapids, MI. Steelcase is by far the largest producer of office furniture, with 20% of the world market share. This memo will focus on the process needed to produce their Systems furniture line.
Systems is a steel based furniture line. The process starts with the purchasing of steel coils from USA and Japan. The raw material is then processed by a number of different operations including; transfer press, laser, turret press, sheer and roll form machines. Steelcase in the last two years has updated their turret presses to a laser based system. This was done for cost and flexibility reasons. The one draw back to the laser system is that form punching is not possible. Following the initial form there could be a secondary forming operation or a welded assembly operation. The welding is usually accomplished via a welding cell. The welded components will then be painted using a power coat or wet coat system. The powder coat system is preferred because the powder over spray can be used over. Where the over spray of the wet system is collected in filters and then the filters are disposed. Following painting the components are finished assembled and packaged. Packaging is done in boxed or with the uses of reusable shipping blankets.
Steelcase is always striving to improve their products and processes. This will help them stay on top and increase the market share.