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Steelcase, Herman Miller Unveil New Products At NeoCon

At the NeoCon 2009 trade show, Herman Miller and Steelcase unveiled some of their newest, and improved, products that are made with recycled material, are recyclable, use less energy, take up less shipping space or help cut down on energy use.

At the NeoCon 2009 trade show, Herman Miller and Steelcase unveiled some of their newest, and improved, products that are made with recycled material, are recyclable, use less energy, take up less shipping space or help cut down on energy use.

Herman Miller's new Setu chairs are designed as multipurpose chairs - for use in places like conference rooms - but they are made for people to spend longer periods of time in. The chair is made with one continuous seat and back, and the only adjustment it has is for seat height, leaving it with fewer parts and weighing less than 20 pounds. The chairs contain 48 percent recycled content, are 92 percent recyclable, and are seeking Cradle to Cradle and Greenguard certification.

The company has also announced its Energy Manager, a system that can control two of the four circuits of power that feed into a group of workstations, providing quick and easy power management to individuals. The Energy Manager can either be programmed to only provide power at certain times or use occupancy-based controls to provide power to certain devices only when someone is at the workstation.

In the new Intent furniture line of desks, storage and shelving, reclaimed wood accounts for 90 percent of the wood content in the work surface substrates.

Herman Miller also unveiled a couple of new light products. Twist is an LED undershelf light that uses 40-50 percent less energy than traditional undershelf lights and provides 60,000 hours of light. Flute is an LED desktop light that uses 4.5 watts of energy, can last up to 100,000 hours, is 82 percent recyclable and is made from 26 percent recycled content.

Steelcase has announced a broad range of news as well. Its Nesso access floor is made with recycled materials like newspaper and fly ash, and has eliminated the use of PVC. Steelcase's Cogent Group collection of Cradle to Cradle Gold certified textiles has been expanded to include more colors and styles.

The company has also expanded the choices available for its Think chair, which now has 14 standard color options, utilizing Cogent Group textiles. Steelcase has additionally redesigned the packaging for shipping its Think and Amia chairs, reducing the amount of space needed to move them around by the equivalent of 150 Steelcase trucks per year.

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