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Herman Miller
built 200 days ago
The Herman Miller furniture company, based in Zeeland, Michigan, was one of the dominating forces in the spread of American mid-century modernist style, and continues to be an anchor and innovator in the furniture industry. From the 1930s onward, the company began taking bold steps like employing designers with a new, and sometimes even startling, vision of how the modern home should be furnished and decorated. Designers like George Nelson and Gilbert Rohde, each of whom served for a time as Design Director, Charles and Ray Eames and Verner Panton helped establish the reputation the company enjoys for the quality and pioneering energy of the pieces they produce.
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One of the best examples of design for the environment at Herman Miller is the Mirra Chair. By looking into the de-construction of the product after its life cycle had ended, the initial design was deliberately planned to be more environmentally effective.
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By all accounts, Herman Miller has reason to crow about its first-quarter results. Sales of $492 million grew 9.3%. Gross margins expanded by 20 basis points. Expenses were well-contained, growing only 6.8%. Operating earnings rose 17.5%, and EPS shot up more than 25%. All these results beat analyst expectations.
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Each of the National Design Centers is created with a comprehensive customer experience in mind, allowing Herman Miller to replicate many of the same features and encounters that a customer would have on a visit to the company’s headquarters. The Dallas showroom features window expanses and soaring 20-foot ceilings, with more than 13,000 square feet of usable space. The showroom ... features hospitality and relaxation area, as well as “discovery” zones where customers are encouraged to interact and entire into a dialogue that can help identify their own work environment needs. Human-centered solutions abound throughout the galleries that feature elegant furniture solutions, along with limitless possibilities in colors, materials and finishes.
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Herman Miller's innovative new Mirra work chair has received a Gold Award in the Best of NeoCon 2003 Competition. The Mirra chair won in the Desk/Workstation/Task category. The result of more than four years of research and development, Mirra is a high-performing, environmentally advanced work chair that sets a new reference point for ergonomic comfort, aesthetics, sustainability, and price in the mid-price office seating market. Mirra utilizes an innovative combination of both passive and active seating adjustments to deliver natural performance and long-term comfort for a wide range of body types and postures. Passive adjustments automatically respond to each user's body shape and movements to provide outstanding support; active adjustments give users the ability to fine-tune their sitting experience for even greater comfort. Mirra's NeoCon Gold Award extends Herman Miller's legacy of leadership in design innovation.
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ZEELAND, Mich., Sept. 19 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Herman Miller, Inc., today announced results for the first quarter ended September 1, 2007. Sales increased 9.3% from the year-ago period. Improvements in both gross margins and operating expenses as a percentage of sales drove an expansion in operating earnings to 10.9% of sales from 10.2% in the prior year period. Net earnings for the quarter were $33.5 million, an increase of 17.5% over net earnings of $28.5 million for the same period in the prior year. Earnings per share of $0.54 increased 25.6% over last year's first quarter performance.
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