Tucked away in the back of one of Steelcase’s Grand Rapids, Michigan, plants is Work Lab, a cavernous, no-frills space that features a variety of prototype working environments, so Steelcase customers and their architects and interior designers can kick tires...and imagine possibilities.

As customers recognize how much a well-designed working environment can contribute to both individual and organizational performance, they’re inclined to roll up their sleeves and work directly with their designers and Steelcase people to figure out what’s best for them. Work Lab provides a great setting.

It may be our customers’ favorite Grand Rapids hangout.

This is a question we’re exploring at Steelcase, in concert with our colleagues at IDEO in Palo Alto, California. The goal is to establish centers that conduct product innovation projects and seminars for small groups of our customers’ product development people. If it works, everyone benefits.

 

Today, what typically

differentiates our

products and services

is the knowledge

we build into them.

To reflect this,

we’ve decided to call

our expanding, evolving

portfolio of interior

architecture, furniture,

worktools and technology

products “spaceware.”

Who knows? Someday it

might designate a new

industry: the work

effectiveness industry.