verification . please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources . unsourced material may be challenged and removed . april 2010 learn how and when to remove this template message haworth inc. type private industry office furniture predecessor modern products modern partitions founded holland michigan united states 1948 1948 founder gerrard wendell g. w. haworth headquarters holland michigan united states number of locations 75 area served worldwide key people matthew r. haworth chairman franco bianchi president & ceo products reside desking improv chair lim lighting power base teccrete revenue us 1.8 billion 2014 number of employees 7 000 2011 divisions north america europe asia pacific website haworth.com footnotes references 1 haworth inc. designs and manufactures adaptable workspaces including raised floors movable walls systems furniture seating storage and wood casegoods . founded in 1948 by g. w. haworth haworth is a privately held family owned corporation headquartered in holland michigan united states . haworth serves markets in more than 120 countries through a global network of 600 dealers . in 2010 haworth s worldwide sales were us 1.21 billion . haworth employs nearly 7 000 people worldwide in 20 wholly owned factories and 55 sales offices . contents 1 history 2 ownership 3 references 4 external links history edit the company began in 1948 as modern products . in 1954 the focus of modern products shifted toward office environments in response to the development of modular office partitions . to reflect this new focus the company changed its name to modern partitions 1 in 1976 with the founder s son richard now in charge the company took its current name haworth and the company began focusing exclusively on office furniture systems . richard haworth patented the first cubicle wall panels with internal wiring . 2 in the early 1980s when office seating was added to haworth product offering being built at the allegan michigan haworth plant the company continued its movement toward providing complete workspace solutions . later in the 1980s haworth pursued an aggressive expansion in north america europe and asia . during the next two decades haworth developed several industry firsts from the first mobile office system to panel to panel cabling systems . haworth also earned awards for its business and design practices such as environmental sustainability leadership community service and member job satisfaction . in 1996 competitor steelcase was found at fault in a patent infringement suit brought by haworth in 1985 . steelcase was ordered to pay 211.5 million in damages and interest . 3 haworth reached 1 billion in annual revenue in 1994 and passed the 2 billion mark in 2000 . in january of that year haworth purchased smed of calgary . 4 in september 2003 haworth acquired interface ar of grand rapids michigan . 5 the acquisitions of smed and interfacear further strengthened haworth s workspace solutions . the company purchased italian furniture group poltrona frau for 270 million in 2014 . through the acquisition haworth gained a majority stake in several iconic italian design brands including cappellini cassina and alias . 6 ownership edit haworth inc. is a privately held family owned corporation . haworth had sales of 1.8 billion in 2014 7 making it the third largest manufacturer of office furniture behind steelcase and herman miller . references edit a b haworth bio pdf . dukcevich david 2000 richard haworth prefers not to take stock forbes.com september 29 2000 . retrieved august 24 2016 211 .5 million award in patent lawsuit . the new york times . 1996 12 31 . haworth to acquire smed . wood & wood products . 2000 02 01 smed interface ar take haworth name floor daily . 2004 09 20 haworth buys poltrona frau to create major global furniture brand . dezeen . 6 february 2014 . retrieved 6 february 2014 . http www.mlive.com business west michigan index.ssf 2015 02 haworth reports 2014 revenues.html funding universe page about haworth haworth at a glance external links edit official north american web site official european web site official asia pacific web site retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title haworth company & oldid 736001005 categories companies based in michiganholland michiganhidden categories articles needing additional references from april 2010all articles needing additional references navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version languages deutschfran aismagyar edit links this page was 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