Summary: For over two decades, Fairway Products has been an invaluable partner to Steelcase, a leading office furniture manufacturer, offering far more than just sewing services. Serving as a comprehensive solution provider, Fairway expertly manages Steelcase’s complex supply chain, cuts down its vendor pool, and accelerates product time-to-market through seamless integration and state-of-the-art manufacturing technologies. Their collaboration epitomizes the importance of choosing the right partner for specialized needs, resulting in optimized processes, cost efficiencies, and high-quality end products that have helped solidify Steelcase’s position as a market leader.
Industry: Furniture
Category: Supply Chain Management & Product Development
Processes: CNC Fabric Cutting, Die-Cutting, Program Sewing, Vendor Management, Assembling Parts
When Steelcase came to Fairway Products, they had a history of designing their own products and determining their own textile material needs, but were in need of a partner that could sew their materials into assembly-line-ready pieces.
For over 20+ years, Fairway has been the go-to trusted solutions provider for cut and sew light manufacturing needs and vendor management.
Not only do we make sub-assembled componentry for their needs, but we also warehouse their materials, and ship the products on an as-needed basis.
THE KEY TO SUCCESS? FINDING THE RIGHT PARTNER FOR THE JOB.
Steelcase is an office furniture manufacturer that creates carefully designed premium quality office furniture great for commercial and home spaces. The company is constantly striving to find new ways to improve their products.
Steelcase needed a manufacturing partner capable of executing high-quality soft goods products at the quantity they needed, when they needed it. It was already partnered with a wide range of vendors, so they were looking for a partner to help them manage their supply chain.
That’s why over 20 years ago, they came to Fairway Products to help them solve their complex sewing needs.
Throughout the duration of the relationship, Steelcase has gotten more than a sewing partner, it got a product development and supply chain management team
that simplified the entire soft goods vendor ecosystem.
CONTROLLING CHAOS IN THE SUPPLY CHAIN
Throughout the decades-long relationship, the team
at Fairway Products has created programs for product development, taken care of managing Steelcase’s tier two and three vendors, and executed light engineering of components.
Its fluid supply chain management and efficient solutions allow Steelcase to bring its products to market faster.
The team of experts at Fairway understand the science of product development and textile uses. It’s engineers work directly with Steelcase’s engineers to develop designs that produce better products more efficiently.
This happens by assessing the product or idea, researching how it’s been done, and then vetting materials and processes until they have created a process and a product that meets Steelcase’s needs.
In creating new office furniture components, Fairway uses state-of-the-art CNC fabric cutting technology, both Pathfinder and Gerber, allowing them optimize use of the raw materials in production and as a result, produce maximum yield.
It also uses highly efficient die-cutting technology and state-of-the-art program sewing to execute the intricate patterns with the utmost precision and accuracy.
The highly-trained staff at Fairway has the expertise and the experience to operate the advanced machinery. They’re trained to manually sew with impeccable precision and can do so when needed. Its process is designed to create as many products as Steelcase needs exactly when it needs them.
Fairway Products’ system integrates with Steelcase’s electronically to maintain highly effective communication. As a result, when Steelcase has a soft goods manufacturing need, Fairway’s response time is unbeatable.
Since partnering with Fairway, Steelcase has reduced the number of vendors it’s partnered with down from the thousands to the hundreds.
THE SOLUTION: SIMPLIFY THE PROCESS
Today, Fairway Products supply over 100 different products and services to Steelcase. Some of its current programs include creating a component solution for pending products. In addition, it is currently managing its vendors, assembling parts, and shipping the components in various colors to Steelcase to use in assembly.
Together, Fairway Products and Steelcase curated the right aesthetic and performance characteristics to make the product more enjoyable for its customers, and more efficient in how the product is made and assembled.
Steelcase is a four billion-dollar company and chose Fairway Products to be responsible for millions of dollars of work annually. It helps Steelcase build better products to deliver to dealers, giving its customers access to the incredible furniture that supports them every day.
GET THE SERVICE YOU REALLY NEED
Whether you have a fully-fledged product idea, an existing prototype you want to improve, or simply an idea sketched on your dinner napkin, the team at Fairway Products is here to help you realize that dream and transform it into a reality.
