Officeinsight6 22 09 Ahrend Allsteel New Relationship
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06.22.09 companies Allsteel and Ahrend are moving forward with their five-year alliance, but reshaping it in response to their experiences in the global markets in which they have been working togeth- er. The two companies will continue to partner closely on global opportunities – including those in the united States – supporting and servicing their respective global custom- ers. They will no longer maintain their exclusive distribution relationship. ahrend is now an open line in the u.S. and will be car - ried by some allsteel dealerships and by others with whom ahrend may find a match. Ingrid Narvaez is ahrend’s u.S. contact for a&D, corporate clients and existing or interested contract furniture dealers. She was part of the ahrend team in the u.S. before the ahrend/allsteel alliance. Ms. Narvaez can be reached at [email protected]; T: 973.652.4357. Importantly, allsteel and ahrend will continue to develop their global relationship in order to better position them- selves to serve their global accounts and to compete more effectively on a&D-based projects throughout the world. Perhaps because each of these companies is over 100 years old, we see an unusually mature and sophisticated approach to managing and building upon existing relation- ships. Here we see systems thinking and sustainability at work, as each company – at appropriate intervals – reas- sessed its activities and recast them according to its experi- ence and the relevant markets, building on what has worked and discarding what hasn’t. Not throwing out the baby with the bath water is just another way of avoiding waste. You can call it sustainability, you can call it lean thinking, or you can just say that it is the way to success. In this way, we can see that sustainability is a core con- cept of ubiquitous application. Paradoxically, sustainability, a state of systemic stasis, or equilibrium, requires constant change. It was likely from the beginning of the allsteel/ah- GIVING VOICE TO THOSE WHO CREATE WORKPLACE DESIGN & FURNISHINGS PAGE 22 OF 32 Allsteel/Ahrend Relationship Bears Fruit by Brad Powell
Transcript of Officeinsight6 22 09 Ahrend Allsteel New Relationship
06.22.09
companies
Allsteel and Ahrend are moving forward with their five-year alliance, but reshaping it in response to their experiences in the global markets in which they have been working togeth-er. The two companies will continue to partner closely on global opportunities – including those in the united States – supporting and servicing their respective global custom-ers. They will no longer maintain their exclusive distribution relationship.
ahrend is now an open line in the u.S. and will be car-ried by some allsteel dealerships and by others with whom ahrend may find a match. Ingrid Narvaez is ahrend’s u.S. contact for a&D, corporate clients and existing or interested contract furniture dealers. She was part of the ahrend team in the u.S. before the ahrend/allsteel alliance. Ms. Narvaez can be reached at [email protected]; T: 973.652.4357.
Importantly, allsteel and ahrend will continue to develop their global relationship in order to better position them-
selves to serve their global accounts and to compete more effectively on a&D-based projects throughout the world.
Perhaps because each of these companies is over 100 years old, we see an unusually mature and sophisticated approach to managing and building upon existing relation-ships. Here we see systems thinking and sustainability at work, as each company – at appropriate intervals – reas-sessed its activities and recast them according to its experi-ence and the relevant markets, building on what has worked and discarding what hasn’t. Not throwing out the baby with the bath water is just another way of avoiding waste. You can call it sustainability, you can call it lean thinking, or you can just say that it is the way to success.
In this way, we can see that sustainability is a core con-cept of ubiquitous application. Paradoxically, sustainability, a state of systemic stasis, or equilibrium, requires constant change. It was likely from the beginning of the allsteel/ah-
GIVING VOICE TO THOSE WHO CREATE WORKPLACE DESIGN & FURNISHINGS PAGE 22 OF 32
Allsteel/Ahrend Relationship Bears Fruitby Brad Powell
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companiesrend relationship that not all allsteel dealerships would be well-placed to capitalize on the ahrend product line. Former Knoll dealership that had joined the allsteel team could be expected to exploit existing contacts, while others, limited by their market positions and existing relationships, might have a different focus, but still, the opportunity was there. On balance, once things sorted out, the general u.S. distribution of ahrend through all-steel dealerships seems to have been mutually beneficial.
For allsteel, the ahrend line provided additional world-class product as the company continued to develop and upgrade its own product portfolio. This had to be a great benefit to those allsteel dealerships that, in a previous incarnation, carried top brands such as Knoll. This will remain the case. “allsteel remains committed to working with its dealers here and abroad who carry the ahrend line and who are fulfilling design needs with these work-place furnishings.” said Jeff Lorenger, president of allsteel.
“allsteel has helped expand ahrend product distribution across the united States in the first five years of the business association between both companies,” said Peter-Paul Hendrikx, the senior ahrend executive who has overseen u.S. operations. “ahrend, for its part, has assisted allsteel in being brought into corporate projects in eu-rope, other countries and continents, for mutual benefit.”
existing or new dealerships in the u.S. carrying ahrend will purchase di-rectly from ahrend at established pric-ing and discount structures. electronic
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ALLSTEEL: AHREND: PHILINK ALLSTEEL: JACq DE BRUIN
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downloadable and printable product information and specification data are available, and all inquiries and orders also can be processed electronically.
The international cooperation overcomes many potential difficul-ties. global companies want to be served wherever they do business, and vendors who do not have that capabil-
ity often do not make the early cut. In addition, even where both ahrend and allsteel do business, the portfolio of one company or the other might lack a capability without which the company would not be further considered for a project, perhaps due to local regula-tion, custom or price point. Here, the expanded two-company product selec-
tion can be invaluable. each company, of course, has it geographical strength: ahrend in europe, including its recent expansion into Central and eastern europe, the united States, Russia and the Middle east; allsteel in the united States and asia, with its fairly recent acquisition of lamex in China. (allsteel, of course, is part of the HNI Interna-tional offering.)
In the past five years, both compa-nies have significantly expanded their product portfolios. allsteel has intro-duced the acuity, Scout and Sum task chairs and, at NeoCon WTF 2009, the new landscape product Stride.
ahrend will be introducing to the u.S. market its recently launched the Ahrend 360 pull-up chair of magne-sium derived partly from seawater, and the philink polymorphic linking work/meeting tables.
Visit ahrend at www.ahrend.com. T: 973.652.4357.
allsteel has Resource Centers in atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, New York, San Francisco, Santa Monica, Washington, D.C., and Toronto, ON. www.allsteeloffice.com, T: 888.255.7833 n
ALLSTEEL: AHREND: 360ALLSTEEL: STRIDE
ALLSTEEL-AHREND: PHILINK: SHAPES
