Office Furniture Maker Joins Rivals in Cutting Jobs

December 10, 2008  by in UnCategorized   

By Home Furnishings Business in economic news on December 11, 2008 Faced with forecasts of a worsening office furniture market, Holland, Mich.-based Haworth announced Wednesday it is cutting 350 jobs and will close its Allegan chair factory by the middle of 2009.

In a statement, Franco Bianchi, CEO of privately held Haworth, said "Haworth has not been immune to the unprecedented economic turmoil that has assailed our nation's and the world's economy. We have been proactive in planning for these difficult times and our members have performed admirably in their efforts to increase sales and constrain costs."

Recently, Steelcase said it would cut as many as 900 jobs after scaling back its third-quarter sales projections to about $805 million from $840 million. Herman Miller has also said it is eliminating 450 jobs or more by the end of January and also cut its sales expectations.

A recent forecast by the Business and Institutional Furniture Manufacturers Association said 2008 shipments are down 1.8 percent—after three years of growth—and the organization said 2009 shipments could decline 11.6 percent.