HOLLAND, Mich. - Office furniture giant Haworth - number 7 on the FDMC 300 - reported sales of $1.81 billion in 2020, a nearly 20 percent decline from 2019.
The family-owned company remains optimistic however, saying its move to diversify its products softened the blow.
“Haworth responded to the events of 2020 by leveraging our differentiation and global reach. The effect has been very different across our business segments with commercial interiors being hit less than originally expected,” said Franco Bianchi, president and CEO of Haworth.
“Diversification between commercial interiors, lifestyle design and performance technology further enhanced our financial performance and, more importantly, all sectors learned to engage their market through digital experiences. We have entered 2021 with optimism, especially for the second half of the year.”
Haworth recently shut down a longtime North Carolina manufacturing plant as part of a consolidation effort.
The company said it took many steps to curb its 2020 losses, including offering a virtual showroom and implementing a comprehensive website redesign. It also offered new products, including a lounge chair, the new sub-architectural workspace Pergola, and work-from-anywhere items such as height-adjustable tables and BeHold storage.
Haworth is the seventh largest woodworking operation in North America. The company operates 17 manufaturing plants throught North America and Europe. It employs 7,500 workers and saw sales of $2.25 billion in 2019.
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