FSS case study; Get More for Less with Remanufactured Office Furniture
Perhaps your company is considering moving to take advantage of a better location or a better space. The rewards for the move are great, but the current process for getting there is costly and overwhelming. However, a new methodology may help you save money, buy American, sustain the environment and ease your mind all with one simple change.
When moving to a new office, many business owners opt to buy new furniture rather than move their old furniture
In the old business moving model, traditionally a major furniture vendor would hear about your plans or you would contact them. They’d walk through your facility and tell you that your current furniture won’t really meet the needs for your new office space, and quite frankly, you’d probably agree. You would see that your current furniture is old, outdated and worn. It may no longer look nice or meet the needs for your people or your new office space and even if it could, you may not see how to design it properly to make it work in the new space.
The advice to buy new furniture has been the typical recommendation and the path of least resistance, but often this recommendation is not objective and usually costs you a lot of extra money. This might not be the best way to do the job for your company, especially when you’re working on a budget.
A new furniture-buying paradigm gives business owners more options
In the new model, you still have someone come to your facility personally, but the similarities between the two models pretty much stop there. The new model is relationship-based, and the person you work with does much more than just a “one-size-fits-all” walkthrough. In this relationship-based model, you are more than just a number with a company checkbook and the representative working with you will do a true assessment of your needs so you can be given several choices and make an informed decision.
What are your goals for this move?
Will you be reconfiguring departments?
Do you need to change some work spaces, growing some and reducing others?
What is your budget for your furniture and move?
Do you have a design plan for your new space?
Working within this new paradigm, you’ll receive information that can help streamline your move. Also, because this method is relationship-based, you will have professional contacts who can help you make decisions that are effective and efficient, giving you peace of mind throughout the process.
While offering their expertise, the furniture and office space professionals you work with keep you in the driver’s seat, and a full design plan based on your decisions will be included with your service, no matter which furniture options you elect to pursue. This paradigm gives businesses more furniture options than ever before:
You can purchase new furniture
You can select from premium furniture lines
You can select from economy or value-based furniture lines
You can rent furniture for your new space
You can purchase remanufactured furniture
You can have your furniture remanufactured and sent to your future location
You can sell used furniture that you won’t be moving
You can throw out old furniture inexpensively
The brilliance of remanufactured furniture
Although the concept and idea of remanufactured goods is not new, people frequently aren’t aware of its use in the office furniture systems arena.
Remanufacturing, at its base, is taking the core of a used product and refurbishing it to new or better-than-new standards. You may be familiar with the remanufacturing of car batteries, which involves your returning your old car battery for money when purchasing a new car battery. The core of the battery will then be revitalized and eventually re-used, saving money and saving the environment, as the environmental impact to remanufacture is much less damaging.
Remanufactured furniture follows a similar process. If you choose to purchase remanufactured furniture, you’ll still be able to make decisions about the particulars, picking the fabrics, colors and configurations as if you were buying new. But on average, you’ll save 63% of the cost of new furniture.
You will also be helping the environment, saving about 93% of the environmental costs associated with buying new furniture.
Purchasing remanufactured furniture saves money, sustains the environment and supports American industry
If you choose to buy remanufactured furniture, you will not only be spared more than half the cost (on average) of new furniture and minimize environmental impact, but you also will be supporting American industry. The remanufacturing, including all refurbishing, painting and adding new fabrics to order, is all performed by local hands, so you can know you are helping your local economy as well.
One case study for the new furniture paradigm
In the spring of 2014 a business in North Florida was consolidating several of their locations to a newly renovated space. They had cubicles of different types at various locations, and most of their furniture was old and worn, but because of expense, they couldn’t consider purchasing new furniture.
They found a company who used this new methodology – a company who listened to their needs, created a space plan to optimize their office layout and gave them options, which included purchasing newly remanufactured furniture at a fraction of the cost of new. It gave the business the opportunity to save a lot of money while gaining attractive, quality furniture. As part of their comprehensive services, the company offered free space planning and gave them architectural drawings with their remanufactured furniture. They also provided relocation services.
According to a spokesperson for this company, their experience “was a ‘true, one stop shop’ and saved us tons of money without compromise and did a fantastic job managing our entire business relocation.”
For this company, this new methodology made a tremendous difference, allowing them to move their office, save a lot of money, buy American and help to sustain the environment, all because of their choice to work with a company using these new furniture options. In this scenario, all participants benefited. This case stands as a good example of how business furniture is being better managed in the 21st century.
