Introduction
It is a great pleasure to be here with you this afternoon to perform the official opening of Haworth Ireland’s new showroom.
Haworth is a highly successful company. The world's second largest manufacturer of office furniture, it has over 8,000 employees. And like so many success stories, the company started from humble beginnings, with G.W. Haworth producing wooden display units in his garage. The company's founder evidently saw his small business as a means to finance his children’s studies. However, it is obvious that a pioneering, entrepreneurial spirit was there from the start. And it is this which led Haworth, in time, to have a presence in over 120 countries, with development and production facilities in China, Europe, India and North America.
Needless to say, Haworth today are doing a lot more than turning out wooden display units. The term "office furniture" does not really do justice to Haworth's product range, which includes moveable walls, access flooring, modular systems furniture, desking systems, seating, storage, tables, electrical and cabling support systems - and much more besides!
More and more companies are recognising that putting their people first is the best way of maximising productivity and performance. Creating the right workspace is very much a part of this and Haworth is a world leader in the design and manufacture of high quality and adaptable workspace environments. Adaptability is, of course, very important because, as the example of Haworth shows in a very spectacular way, organisations change over time and their requirements change with them.
Haworth have long had a presence in Ireland, being represented here from 1982 by John Sisk & Son. Haworth Ireland was formed in June 2006, leading to the development of these new premises and marking a new chapter in the Company's engagement with Ireland.
Ireland has, of course, a great deal to offer to a company like Haworth. The office furniture market in Ireland has been very buoyant in recent years, with a 25% increase in sales between 2002 and 2005, to €1.7 billion euro. This reflects the strong growth we have enjoyed in international financial services, computer technical support centres, international call centres and software development companies, as well as associated legal, accountancy and taxation services.
I have no doubt that the opening of this new showroom, part of a major showcasing drive by Haworth around Europe, will help increase your share of this market in the years ahead.
Being placed 95th place on the Forbes list of owner-managed companies is a huge achievement. I suspect a lot of it is down to the fact that, as your chairman Dick Haworth has put it, for your company, “every single customer is a special person” - and that your objective is to provide goods and services that exceed your customers' expectations.
The concept of “putting the customer first” is often lost in the fast paced and hectic world of business today. Often, in going for the “quick buck”, businesses can neglect good customer services and relations - and in doing so, miss opportunities for business in the future. It is in the staying power of companies such as Haworth that you can see the value in the old fashioned values.
And you can see it too in Haworth's client portfolio. World class companies like Microsoft, The Hartford, Hewlett Packard, Vodafone, Glaxo SmithKline and others expect a world class customer service. And, clearly, Haworth is delivering it to them.
I have no doubt that Haworth's openess to world trends, its appetite for learning and its commitment to innovation in design also plays a very big part in the company's success. This is something which we are seeking to encourage - through Enterprise Ireland - in the furniture sector here, so as to enable companies to compete effectively in the home market and to develop export markets.
In closing, I would like to thank Willie Vance, your key Account Manager, for inviting me here today. I wish Haworth Ireland every success in helping to provide "great spaces" for the future and I now declare this showroom officially open.
Thank you very much for your attention.
ENDS