One of my last new products debuts

kmead

kmead

Old enough to know better
As many of you know I am a product designer working for Steelcase a large office furniture manufacturer. Most years we preview new products at Neocon which is a large furniture show in Chicago.

During Covid my job changed substantially from supporting new product development to supporting Steelcases “specials” organization which accounts for around 25% of sales. The main difference between these is the scale and duration of projects and investment levels to produce solutions. The other is that it is mainly making adjustments and additions to existing product lines versus creating things that are new to the world. My experience and skills make me very adept at making those modifications to meet customer desires and needs.

Which brings me to the point of this post, two years ago I was working on a product when my job changed. I worked through the remaining elements of the product as I was also picking up my new job


Everwall has now been shown publicly at Neocon. This is likely my last new product to be introduced during my career at Steelcase. From here on it will a variety of customer specific solutions and what’s we refer to as specials to standard products.

We are also showing one of my specials to standard products which is a double glazed butt joined glass wall for our Light Scale Glazing product line which I worked on last year.

www.steelcase.com

Everwall™

Everwall is a pre-fabricated wall system offering just the right balance of acoustic performance, aesthetic options and price. It combines design freedom with incredibly fast installation to delight both designers and installers.
www.steelcase.com www.steelcase.com

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Boring stuff I know but it’s what I do :)
 
Karl,
This office space has a beautiful design. Anyone would find it energizing and you can be proud of it. I know from my own career that what seemed boring to me at the time was fantastic to others and in retirement I look back fondly on my accomplishments. Way to go!
 
NeilMc said:
Karl,
This office space has a beautiful design. Anyone would find it energizing and you can be proud of it. I know from my own career that what seemed boring to me at the time was fantastic to others and in retirement I look back fondly on my accomplishments. Way to go!
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Thank you, you are very kind.
 
kmead said:
As many of you know I am a product designer working for Steelcase a large office furniture manufacturer. Most years we preview new products at Neocon which is a large furniture show in Chicago.

During Covid my job changed substantially from supporting new product development to supporting Steelcases “specials” organization which accounts for around 25% of sales. The main difference between these is the scale and duration of projects and investment levels to produce solutions. The other is that it is mainly making adjustments and additions to existing product lines versus creating things that are new to the world. My experience and skills make me very adept at making those modifications to meet customer desires and needs.

Which brings me to the point of this post, two years ago I was working on a product when my job changed. I worked through the remaining elements of the product as I was also picking up my new job


Everwall has now been shown publicly at Neocon. This is likely my last new product to be introduced during my career at Steelcase. From here on it will a variety of customer specific solutions and what’s we refer to as specials to standard products.

We are also showing one of my specials to standard products which is a double glazed butt joined glass wall for our Light Scale Glazing product line which I worked on last year.

www.steelcase.com

Everwall™

Everwall is a pre-fabricated wall system offering just the right balance of acoustic performance, aesthetic options and price. It combines design freedom with incredibly fast installation to delight both designers and installers.
www.steelcase.com www.steelcase.com

View attachment 62750

Boring stuff I know but it’s what I do :)
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Anything but boring! This is awesome!
 
Daniel, those offices won't work as garages, where would we throw our tools when pissed without breaking the walls? How would we attach old kitchen cabinets to the wall? But they would make nice "display" garages for all those $20,000 BaT X1/9s.

Mentioning Steelcase brings back work memories for me, I worked on many of their patent applications during my too long career at the US Patent and Trademark Office.
 
Kmead, that looks great and perfect timing for this post. At my office, we are still dealing with Hurricane Ida flood damage and debating on whether or not to use our old workstations. Common complaint was that it was too dark in the work area. This looks like a very elegant solution and everyone I showed this to loved the idea.
 
carl said:
Daniel, those offices won't work as garages, where would we throw our tools when pissed without breaking the walls? How would we attach old kitchen cabinets to the wall? But they would make nice "display" garages for all those $20,000 BaT X1/9s.

Mentioning Steelcase brings back work memories for me, I worked on many of their patent applications during my too long career at the US Patent and Trademark Office.
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You would be surprised how tough tempered 10mm glass is. Even 6mm is surprisingly hard to break.
 
kmead said:
As many of you know I am a product designer working for Steelcase a large office furniture manufacturer. Most years we preview new products at Neocon which is a large furniture show in Chicago.

During Covid my job changed substantially from supporting new product development to supporting Steelcases “specials” organization which accounts for around 25% of sales. The main difference between these is the scale and duration of projects and investment levels to produce solutions. The other is that it is mainly making adjustments and additions to existing product lines versus creating things that are new to the world. My experience and skills make me very adept at making those modifications to meet customer desires and needs.

Which brings me to the point of this post, two years ago I was working on a product when my job changed. I worked through the remaining elements of the product as I was also picking up my new job


Everwall has now been shown publicly at Neocon. This is likely my last new product to be introduced during my career at Steelcase. From here on it will a variety of customer specific solutions and what’s we refer to as specials to standard products.

We are also showing one of my specials to standard products which is a double glazed butt joined glass wall for our Light Scale Glazing product line which I worked on last year.

www.steelcase.com

Everwall™

Everwall is a pre-fabricated wall system offering just the right balance of acoustic performance, aesthetic options and price. It combines design freedom with incredibly fast installation to delight both designers and installers.
www.steelcase.com www.steelcase.com

View attachment 62750

Boring stuff I know but it’s what I do :)
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Fantastic! Thank you for posting, very interesting gig.

Cheers, Dave
 
As a first line supervisor at the USPTO, I would have loved glass offices ("cubicle" is such a negative term) for my examiners so I could walk the halls and easily check on them. Yes, old school working environment, a supervisor never trusts his employees.
 
DanielForest said:
Putting 2 cubes together would make a nice garage! 🙃
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I have thought about that many times. The issue is gasketing for interior use is very different from what is needed for exterior use along with water draining schemes.
 
carl said:
Daniel, those offices won't work as garages, where would we throw our tools when pissed without breaking the walls? How would we attach old kitchen cabinets to the wall? But they would make nice "display" garages for all those $20,000 BaT X1/9s.

Mentioning Steelcase brings back work memories for me, I worked on many of their patent applications during my too long career at the US Patent and Trademark Office.
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You may have worked on some of mine. I think I am now up to 90 patents, unlikely to add many more at this point.
 
Do these workspaces have provisions for glass ceilings, too?

I have a Steelcase lateral filling cabinet filled with trade journals and machinist magazines in my workshop. Now, I’ll think of you when I see it 😀
 
carl said:
you can get creepy and check out the primary examiner listed on the patents but why ruin a perfect Fiat relationship.
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Well, I did go back and look at a few patents and guess who I found was an examiner on a number of them? :) Amazing how small this world is.

Yes Steelcase has pretty decent lawyers.

I do draw the line at glass as a ceiling though if it was mechanically fastened with some form of capture it would like do just fine :)
 
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