The fuel crisis of the early to mid 1970’s launched the concept of working from home, but the technology of the time was prohibitive. Sure an employee could have more than one telephone line and work away at an electric typewriter, but then what? Send reports via snail mail? Maybe carrier pigeon? Despite the availability of party lines, communication was problematic; both for the employees trying to stay on top of important developments, and for the employers trying to make certain their employees were doing more than watching The Love Boat all day. But that was then.

This is now. Instead of “working from home” it is called “telecommuting.” And not only does the technology exist, but things like voice over data Internet protocol, fax machines, PDA’s and even the dreaded webinar make telecommuting a viable option for many companies. In fact, virtual private networks allow employees to be anywhere in the world where there is Internet access and dial into a company’s mainframe enterprise platform, which not only grants them to access information, but also lets employers track performance. These technological advances, combined with an increasingly tech-savvy workforce, have changed the way business is done. It has allowed entrepreneurs to start endeavors out of their living rooms and larger regional companies to signifi cantly reduce their real estate portfolios.

It is precisely this target market, made up of entrepreneurs, sub -100 employee businesses and Fortune 1000 companies sending people home, that Bush Industries, Inc. has in mind when developing their unique quick-assembly commercial office furnishings. ANSI/BIFMA international statistics report the entire U.S. office furniture market, including RTA, to be right around $12 billion for 2008. According to Bush Industries Inc. CEO Jim Sherbert, about a quarter of that goes to companies with less then 100 employees and of that, about $700 million of the market share is telecommuters. Bush’s easy, fast and affordable office solutions use furniture and logistics technologies to meet needs of those markets.

Meeting Technology with Technology

Bush understands what is important to the sub-100 employee customer base. Whether in a home or office setting, small businesses are typically busy businesses that maximize time and space. Few people can dedicate several hours of professional time to tearing open a box containing 100 pieces, unfolding a road map of instructions in three different languages and assembling a complicated RTA project. Durability and aesthetics are important, particularly for clients who literally have to live with their offices, but purchases have to make sense economically. “Small business owners have lots on their minds,” explains Mike Evans, Executive Vice President of Business Development for Bush. “They often think of funds as their money, not like they come out of an abstract budget. Affordability is crucial.”

Every business, no matter the size, is a big business in the eyes of the person doing the work. It has to be, any job worth doing is worth doing well. With this in mind, Bush engineers their modular office casework and desking to live up to the user’s expectation of quality. In the spring of 2009 they launched three new collections of Work@Home ANSI/ BIFMA certified professional home office furnishings for the telecommuter, and expanded their Quantum, Milano and Enterprise commercial series. Bush uses quality hardware combined with proprietary panel processing technology to make office solutions that have the look and feel of premium custom furniture, but at a fraction of a cost. At the end of the manufacturing line, their carefully designed packing process allows the light-assembly products to be sent via UPS to any zip code in the U.S.

EASY

While divisions of Bush do sell big orders to larger corporations, the typical telecommuter or small business only needs a few pieces at a time. Bush believes that this segment of the market still deserves easy access to quality goods, and has a multi-faceted sales model to provide that service. According to Sherbert, sales in this market break down approximately like this: 1/3 the employer does the purchasing and has the furniture delivered, 1/3 the telecommuter does the purchasing and the employer reimburses them in full or in part, and the remaining third act on their own behalf.

Ed Bonner, Bush’s Senior Vice President of Commercial Sales, says Bush sells its commercial products through dealers, online furniture re-sellers (e-sellers) and via the contract side of offi ce super stores such as Staples, Offi ce Depot and Offi ce Max. This diversifi ed approach helps Bush to reach customers telecommuting from outlying areas. “For the companies that send people home, we build a couple of standard solutions, and then we will actually create a brochure for the individual company, with their logo, and if applicable, the reseller’s logo. It explains how to order and receive the furniture. The employees pick from that selection, and get a discount that makes it a little better than if they buy it themselves,” says Bonner. Bush is also working on intuitive, shopper insightsbased Internet tools that will facilitate this customized buying experience on the web.

FAST

Speed relates to Bush office solutions in terms of delivery and installation. Once an order is received it typically ships the next business day, either from Bush’s 1.1 million square foot assembly and distribution center in Erie, Pennsylvania or the west coast distribution point in Reno, Nevada. Orders are shipped via UPS directly to any zip code in the U.S. By engineering components and packaging that is UPS-able, a unique feature for large pieces of furniture, Bush is able to deliver product in 3-5 business days.

Products arrive in easy -open cartons, and with a pull of the zip tab, the components are available, packed in the order necessary for assembly. Flat surfaces (top, back and side panels) are fl at packed, while drawers,pedestals and overhead storage pieces come in a box. Bush furniture uses a combination of quick-assembly fastening solutions called Install-Ready™ , that makes the light assembly as easy as possible. With a half turn of a few cam-locks the components come together with a secure dowel and groove joint. If lightassembly is prohibitive for a customer for any reason (time constraints, stairs etc.) then Bush has a solution for that too. A contracted third party installation company will bring the furniture to the location, assemble it, polish the furniture, clean up and remove the packaging.

No matter who performs the installation, orders can be tracked from any point of origin through delivery and follow-up via an EDI (electronic data interchange) system between carriers. “We have eliminated or minimized the customer service issues that can occur when distributing small lot sizes,” says Sherbert. “We have a consumer group that takes care of pre- and post calling, as well as punch list resolution, so we are able to give even small businesses the feel of big business installation and customized service.”

Affordable

People who work from home spend a lot of time at their desks, and they want to be able to do the necessary tasks without worrying about scratching the finish. Worse yet is a work surface that does get nicked, and the flaw becomes a distraction. What people want are large, durable work surfaces that will look good in the long term.

Bush Industries has been manufacturing casegoods for 50 years, and has spent the past decade developing a proprietary Diamond Coat work surface process. The resulting product provides a very cost effective solution that is one of the most durable surfaces in the furniture industry. Independent testing shows that the Diamond Coat has up to ten times the scratch resistance of competitive products. It also gives furniture featuring the specially engineered surface superior clarity, depth of visual and smooth feel normally associated with high-end custom furniture. Combining the Diamond Coat surface with TFM, laminate and full extension ball bearing slides, allows Bush to offer beautiful and functional office solutions at very affordable prices.

To create the Diamond Coat, Bush initially used a robotic spray line in their Erie, PA manufacturing site. This line applied a UV cured poly coating to MDF substrates with recoatable paper laminates. Most recently, significant enhancements in the process were achieved when Bush reached an agreement to use the latest European decorative laminate treating process. The resulting patented method is now being used for the first time on furniture. It features a micro-encapsultation technology that suspends specifically engineered particulates in a melamine resin layer. Key suppliers in the process include Tafisa, Uniboard, Panolam, Süddekor and Langboard. When Evans started with Bush 11 years ago, the DiamondCoat was his first assignment. “The new process is working so well that we can get a flooded finish with extremely good clarity of the décor paper, which is something that does not always happen with melamines,” says Evans. “We have developed specialized press plates that give the surface the optimal smoothness without being high-sheen or glossy, which is not ideal for a work surface that people have to look at all day.”

Bush manufactures panels in its 450,000 square foot facility in Jamestown, NY. This facility features a Grecon laminator, Schelling panel saws, over a dozen Homag edge treatment lines, Homag BAZ CNC router, band and boring centers, Morbidelli boring machines and Koch door lines. To maintain efficient production of the many components and finishes offered within the commercial and Work@Home lines, Bush runs relatively small lot sizes on a frequent basis. Complete unit SKU’s are manufactured to stock and shipped to order, usually the within one day.

Working For the Telecommuter

According to Forrester independent technology and market research company, more than 34 million adults in the U.S. telecommute at least occasionally. That number is expected to increase by 43% to 63 million telecommuters by 2016. Already Bush Industries receives around 10,000 individual commercial orders a month, and considering the advancing fields of communications and collaboration tools, business is likely to increase. At the moment Bush employs around 500 people (and yes, some of them telecommute) at the three North American manufacturing and distribution facilities. The combined efforts of those people make it possible for every telecommuter to order high-quality office solutions and have them installed within 3-5 days.

If you are one of those millions of telecommuters, maybe you are reading this feature in the digital edition on Surface & Panel’s new website. The site launched early in November 2009, and is designed to be an integrated on-line resource center for materials, technology and design. The site is ever-evolving, so visit www.surfaceandpanel.com often for supplementary information, links and image galleries. Feel free to join our digital community and post feedback in the forum. Then get back to work.