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Events

1 - 47 of 47

Date	Title	Category
03/16/1912	MOFC Incorporated The Metal Office Furniture Co. is incorporated after Peter M. Wege moves to Grand Rapids, Michigan. With the help of 11 investors, Wege's dream of competing in "The Furniture City" amongst wood furniture... View	Company
1914	Victor Wastebasket Introduced The introduction of the Victor, a steel wastebasket, is a win-win for all parties. This fireproof product quickly becomes a top seller for Metal Office Furniture Co. Due to the low manufacturing costs... View	Products
1914	Bent Steel and Resistance Welding Demonstrated A demonstration of the combination of bending steel at a right angle and resistance welding in both the Victor wastebasket and a series of file cabinets. The combination enables file cabinet drawers to... View	Products
1915	First Desk Sale Our product line offerings in 1915 are safe deposit vault equipment, lockers, strong boxes, steel shelving, and wastebaskets. However, this doesn't stop Metal Office Furniture Co. from submitting a bid... View	Products
1921	The Birth of the Brand Turner Advertising in Chicago promotes the Steelcase® trademark to emphasize the durability of Metal Office Furniture Co. products and adds the tagline, “Found Where Business Succeeds”— an advertising... View	Company
1927	On Board with Lucky Lindy Metal Office Furniture Co. makes and installs a custom-built desk aboard the Tri-motor plane that Charles Lindbergh uses for publicity tours around the United States after his transatlantic flight. The... View	Products
1932	“Century of Progress” Desk The "Century of Progress" desk is designed for the 1933 World's Fair in Chicago. It introduces the island base. View	Products
circa 1932	Specialty Desk Introduced The growing office industry creates new demands for worksurfaces. Metal Office Furniture Co. introduces the Burroughs machine desk, designed specifically to accommodate the Burroughs adding machine.... View	Products
1937	Frank Lloyd Wright-Designed Furniture for S.C. Johnson Wax Building Metal Office Furniture Co. manufactures office furniture for the S.C. Johnson Wax Building designed by Frank Lloyd Wright in Racine, Wisconsin. As a result of a two-year design and production partnership... View	Products
1946	Multiple 15 Desk Introduced Metal Office Furniture Co. introduces a postwar desk that has been in design since 1942. “Multiple 15” is designed on 15-inch dimensions, allowing for better space planning in open offices. By 1960... View	Products
1952	Convertibles Introduced Metal Office Furniture Co. introduces Convertibles. These products provide users with more storage space, wider knee-space and greater stability for electric typewriters and calculating machines, while... View	Products
1953	Sunshine Styling Color an Industry First Metal Office Furniture Co. expands the palette for metal office furniture with Sunshine Styling. The new colors, inspired by David D. Hunting’s trip to Arizona, are Desert Sage, Blond Tan, Mist Green,... View	Products
1954	First to Add Typewriter Auxiliary Unit Metal Office Furniture Co. is the first to replace the standard box drawer for the typewriter with an auxiliary table or shelf. The 41-ATT and 41-TS auxiliary units attach to pedestal desk, and are designed... View	Products
1954	Steelcase Canada Ltd. Founded Fred A. Bell founds Steelcase Canada Ltd. in Don Mills, Ontario (a suburb of Toronto), the first operation located outside of the United States. The facility includes 15,000 square feet of showroom and... View	Company
12/01/1954	Company Name Change: Steelcase Inc. The Company name officially becomes Steelcase Inc., differentiating it from competitors who use variations of “metal office furniture” in their names. This change allows us to capitalize on our successful... View	Company
1956	Flight Line Desks for the Office of the Future Steelcase introduces the Flight Line of desks – square-cornered, contemporary-designed steel desks with one-inch square tubular legs exposed top to base. Flight Line reflects the Space Age zeitgeist... View	Products
1958	1300 Line Desks Introduced Steelcase introduces the 1300 Line of contemporary desks, credenzas, and cabinets. The 1300 Line is the first desk to offer either a stainless steel binding on the top edge or a Textolite self-edged top.... View	Products
07/1961	Acrylic Paints Introduced Steelcase begins to use acrylic paints on products, a first within the industry. A water-based paint, acrylic is more environmentally friendly than the oil-based paints previously used on our lines. View	Sustainability
1963	Steelcase Coordinated Offices Introduced A national advertising campaign introduces Steelcase Coordinated Offices (SCO). The message: Steelcase can meet all office furniture needs, including color coordination and installation. View	Products
10/03/1966	Broadsides Lateral Files Introduced The 860 Series Broadsides Lateral Files are introduced. This is an industry first, beating out a competitor who claims to have been the first with lateral files in 1967. Soon Broadsides will be incorporated... View	Products
1968	World’s Largest Manufacturer Steelcase is designated the world’s largest manufacturer of office furniture. View	Industry
1968	Mobiles Introduced Steelcase introduces the Mobiles office suite – merging Multiple 15, Sunshine Styling and Convertibles. Coupled with Movable Walls (panels that efficiently divide space for workers in an open office... View	Products
1973	Series 9000® Introduced Steelcase introduces Series 9000®, soon to become the world’s leading systems furniture line and garnering multiple awards. With the explosion of the "white collar" worker and computerized offices,... View	Products
06/15/1973 - 11/30/1973	Sears Tower Installation Steelcase executes the largest single shipment in the industry: 43,565 pieces of furniture in 400 truck loads for 7,000 Sears & Roebuck employees in over 44 floors of Chicago's Sears Tower. The Sears... View	Company
06/19/1974	430 Chair Introduced The Series 430 office chair, called "The chair that loves people," is introduced at NeoCon. It sets a new standard in office seating design through the use of comfort contouring, driven by the increasing... View	Products
08/05/1974	Steelcase/ Strafor S.A. Joint Venture Formed Steelcase, in a 50% joint venture agreement with Strafor-Facom (a division of Forges de Strasbourg), forms Steelcase/ Strafor S.A. This new arrangement allows for the manufacture of Steelcase chairs in... View	Company
1977	Begin Testing Speech Privacy The Acoustics Lab opens in Grand Rapids – making Steelcase the first to test speech privacy in simulated open office conditions. View	Industry
1978 - 1989	Opinion Surveys on Office Environments Conducted Steelcase is first in the industry to commission opinion surveys on office environment issues. From 1978-1989, we commission five surveys to better understand and provide for the needs of the contemporary... View	Industry
1982	Support Services Offered for Designers The Steelcase Environmental Support Services (ESS) department is established and software is developed to help position us as The Office Environment Company. The ESS Survey Analysis collects and analyzes... View	Industry
1983	National Environmental Award Our engineers pioneer a high solids paint process that earns the Company a National Environmental Industry Award for Excellence in Air Pollution Control, jointly from the President's Council on Environmental... View	Sustainability
1986	Sensor® Chair Introduced The Sensor® chair is introduced at NeoCon. An ergonomic chair scaled in three sizes, Sensor is designed to sense and support the body’s movements. Developed in concert with West German designer Wolfgang... View	Products
1987	Meyer May House Opens Steelcase opens the fully restored Meyer May House, located in Grand Rapids, Michigan, to the public. Designed for Meyer S. May by Frank Lloyd Wright in 1908 and completed in 1909, the house is an outstanding... View	Communities
1995	Personal Harbor Wins IDEA Gold Award Personal Harbor (introduced in 1993) wins the Gold Award in the 1995 Industrial Design Excellence Award (IDEA) competition. Featured in Business Week’s 1995 Best Product Designs of the Year,... View	Products
1996	WorkLife Center Opens in NYC The first Steelcase WorkLife Center opens on Four Columbus Circle (4CC) in New York City. The Center is devoted to helping customers address workplace issues and create environments that can help achieve... View	Company
1999	Leap® Chair Introduced Leap®, a revolutionary, high-performance task chair, is introduced. Leap seating technology has 23 issued and pending patents. Because of revolutionary LiveBack® technology that separately supports the... View	Products
2000	Steelcase University Learning Center Opens The Steelcase University Learning Center opens. A former manufacturing site, the facility is a showcase for our products and insights about learning, collaboration and increasingly mobile work. View	Company
02/08/2001 - 04/22/2001	Workspheres Exhibit at MoMA The Steelcase Advanced Concepts Research and Development group partners with the MIT Media Laboratory to present "Atmosphere," a piece in the Workspheres exhibit at the Museum of Modern Art. Atmosphere... View	Products
10/2001	First U.S. LEED-Certified Manufacturing Plant Opens Our wood facility in Caledonia, MI opens and becomes the world's first manufacturing plant to receive LEED Certification for Environmental Excellence by the U.S. Green Building Council. Silver certification... View	Sustainability
2002	BlueSpace Developed Steelcase partners with IBM to create BlueSpace, a "smart office" that combines advanced technology, architecture, and furniture. It was designed as a "prototype of the future." View	Products
2003	Eliminating VOC Emissions Steelcase reaches a key environmental milestone by eliminating the emission of almost all volatile organic compounds (VOCs) from its metal finishing operations based in Michigan. This is the result of... View	Sustainability
2004	Think® Chair Introduced The Think® chair is launched at NeoCon in the U.S. and at Orgatec in Germany. Marketed as "a chair with a brain and a conscience," this 99% recyclable chair is developed by a project team made up of Steelcase... View	Products
2008	Energy Credits Purchased Steelcase purchases renewable energy credits from the Wege Wind Farm in Texas. The Farm includes eight giant wind turbines that generate enough energy to power 2,925 homes for a year. Over five years we... View	Sustainability
05/2008	Coalesse Formed Responding to blurring distinctions between office and home as places for work, Steelcase launches Coalesse, a new premium brand that provides products for work/life settings. It’s a... View	Company
2009	Collaboration Solutions Introduced Steelcase launches a set of collaborative solutions including: c:scape®, media:scape® (pictured), i2i®, and cobi®. These products are designed to help people connect more easily with each other and... View	Products
06/2010	node® Chair Introduced The node® chair, a collaborative effort between IDEO and Steelcase, launches. The first product from Steelcase Education Solutions, it is an active learning classroom solution by enabling mobility and... View	Products
08/16/2011	WorkCafe Opens The WorkCafé at Steelcase Global Headquarters opens. This is the first renovation of the cafeteria since the building opened in 1983. It is designed for work and nourishment, and has quickly become a... View	Company
03/16/2012	Steelcase Celebrates 100 Years Steelcase completes a century of industry, innovation and expansion. From simple beginnings as a manufacturer of safes and files for the Macey Company, to the designing and creation of our own metal and... View	Company