生产系统
一直以来，办公家具行业饱受漫长的交货期、不可靠的配送承诺的困扰，很大程度上这是因为多数工业产品都是针对每个客户的特定订单生产的；同时，许多产品都包括独有的潜在功能和饰面选件，产品的排列组合方式数以百万计。再加上该行业传统加工实践的复杂性和低效率，严重阻碍了可靠性、客户服务和盈利能力的提高。
作为企业战略的组成部分，几年前，Herman Miller即着手大力推进运营重构工作。其中一个重要举措是与业界唯一的Toyota供应商支持中心建立了卓有成效的关系，借助这一行业独特关系，我们采纳和实施了世界级的精益制造流程。此后，我们缩小了生产占地面积和库存，同时大大提升了销售额和盈利能力。标准的产品交货时间平均从八周缩短到四周，许多产品基本在十个工作日即可交付。
在单独的相关计划中，我们现在实现了Herman Miller与供应商之间的实时数字交易，所有工厂随时都可生产单个客户的订单。我们的ERP系统可在所有设施间协调生产场所、零件、人员和设备。我们的运营重构工作成果斐然，而这个过程才刚刚开始。
Innovation
Hard pressed to stay in business during the Depression of the 1930s, D.J. De Pree gambled on contemporary furniture designed by Gilbert Rohde. The merits of that gamble became so evident that by 1945 Herman Miller phased out its traditional furniture to concentrate on contemporary, soon to be known as "modern," furniture.
In 1960, inventor and researcher Robert Propst, as director of the newly formed Research Division in Ann Arbor, Michigan, began exploring the real work needs of the office worker and the organizations depending on them. He and his researchers, recognizing office productivity as a major business concern for the future, focused on the integration of people, machines, and changing work processes. The open-plan office system, called Action Office, resulted from that research and was brought to market in 1968.
Such innovation is a result, not a goal. Innovation results from thoughtful research into the complexities of our customers' needs, exploration into materials and processes, and designs responding to social and economic trends in the global market. Of course a designer adds his or her inspiration to the mix. Charles and Ray Eames' molded plywood chair, Bob Propst's Action Office, Bill Stumpf's Ergon and Aeron chairs, and Ayse Birsel's Resolve system all resulted from this combination of forces.
Another aspect of innovation--risk-taking--is just as important. Herman Miller tries to maintain its appetite for risk. As we have grown larger and become responsible for more equity, the pressure to minimize risk has mounted. Nevertheless, getting behind promising new products--that sometimes become innovations--remains a risk we are happy to embrace.
