w a t s o n f u r n i t u r e g r o u p

A contract furniture manufacturer of freestanding, adjustable office furnishings earning $15 million in annual sales with about 100 employees in the year 2000 and touting an acclaimed reputation for its environmental manufacturing practices.

Located on 35 acres due west of Seattle, Washington, Watson nurtured neighborly business relations while leveraging their ability to craft custom solutions that increased workplace productivity while decreasing costs of ownership.

Along with regional clients including the likes of Nike sportswear and Boeing aerospace, they also held a 40% national market share in the U.S. emergency dispatch and public safety, call center console sector.

Established in 1960 and thriving as a private venture, in 1990 the sole proprietor sold the company to an investor trio with an ambitious goal to compete on a world class level with the multi billion dollar, industry goliaths, such as Steelcase, Haworth, and Herman Miller.

How to realize this bold vision, though, as a rural, mid sized business?

Well . . . besides constructing a state of the art, 65,000 square foot factory and investing in the most advanced, CNC machining and automation equipment, Watson’s new owners knew that a radical, European inspired, product design transformation was needed—along with the expertise to pull it off.

Although Watson’s one, senior industrial designer had been generating outstanding, ergonomic solutions for 25 years, leading a transition of this scale would necessitate a broader set of creative experience and organizational skills.

So, with a fateful turn, the entrepreneurial spirit and ecological principles I displayed previously with LUMA, along with a more cosmopolitan awareness from recent travels abroad would now be applied with far reaching potential.

d i r e c t o r o f p r o d u c t d e v e l o p m e n t

In the new role, I formed and led Watson’s Product Development group, acquiring a design engineer from the Dispatch group to join the Desking senior designer, and hiring another industrial designer with strong, 3D computer modeling skills as a strategic asset for both development and marketing.

Among a number of tactical procedures, I created reporting processes allowing the designers independence with my periodic input, along with a scheduling tool and protocols to coordinate prototype builds with production engineering.

The position additionally involved managing external design consultants, and domestic and international vendors to concurrently coordinate the efforts of our internal design and development with marketing, engineering, procurement, and production resources to guide products from concept to customer.

Accountable for an annual budget of $450,000, I reported directly to the company president and CEO, who was an astute role model of business acumen with genuine concern for others.

Our team introduced innovative and award winning products and furniture lines that strategically elevated the Watson brand and expanded their markets while also lowering supply costs and adding new manufacturing capabilities to accrue long term profitability.

One project—a comfort control system for dispatchers—brought a recurring cost savings that nearly covered the entire, Product Development group’s annual budget.

This creative, design value was instrumental too in the company’s stability through the national, post, September 11 economic plight that severed industry leader sales by 30% and led some of Watson’s peer competitors into bankruptcy.

The well received launch of the Fusion Desking office line, along with our contributions to Watson’s dominate stake in the public safety call center sector, combined to steady the company’s overall revenues.