Herman Miller Action Office 2 - My Favorite System

I love working with Herman Miller Action Office Series 2 (AO2) as a used option. The reasons are endless.

- Huge Installed Base
- Easily Refrabricated
- Wood Panels can be easily cut
- Clone product is available
- Easy and fast to install

There are probably more AO2 stations in existing inventory than any other system. This is because Action Office has been continually manufactured since 1968. AO2, with the fixed, four-circuit electrical base, has been in service since the 80s. All action office components work with AO2 no matter what generation or when they were made. So product compatibility is assured.

AO2 is easily refabricated. You can change the fabric on AO2 quite easily. There are many people in almost every major U.S.
city who can do the remanufacturing. So if you have some, you can always get more to match without buying new.

You can cut down AO2 panels. Almost every other cubicle system has panels with metal frames. If you want to cut one to a lower height or a narrower width, you need a blowtorch and a welder. With AO2, you just need a saw. I recently had a client that loved some 6x8 AO2 cubicles I had, but their space was not quite big enough. Solution: we cut panels from 48 wide to 42 wide and made them 6x7.5.

Third Party clones exist for AO2. When the patents expired for Action Office several years back, several folks started making components that work with Herman Miller’s AO2. Called clones by the industry, these parts are less expensive and can often be purchased from existing stock. Also, anyone who makes good quality laminate worktops can make them for the stations as well.

Some of the clone folks have even come up with add-ons not made by Herman Miller. Window inserts of various sizes and materials, unusual heights, white board panels, 120-degree connectors, even a door that slid into the panel, called a pocket door. The pocket door was so popular that Herman Miller bought the patent and discontinued the manufacture of it, killing a competitor.

Recently Herman Miller lost a 300 station job to one of these clone manufacturers. They couldn’t compete on price.

There is even a green version made from locally sourced and re-used components with fabric from plastic bottles called GQA.

Finally, the system is by far the fastest and easiest to install. No tiles, no special tools and the panels are light to carry. No wonder installers also like AO2 the best.

Tips for buying used cubicles?

With the business climate mired in a recession, anyone looking for furniture these days is asking the used furniture question. Many times I have heard the statement “There must be a lot of used furniture available with all of these companies laying people off or going out of business.” This is true.

There is a lot of used furniture available. Much of it is old or junky, because a lot of furniture was purchased in the late 90s and early 2000s during the boom. Or it is in dot-com colors like purple or yellow or orange. But there is a lot of good furniture as well.

How do you take advantage of the great price advantage of used furniture in your company’s facility? Here are some tips.

Be flexible – Be flexible about what you want. Most cubicles are 8x8 or 6x8. Most are also taller heights like 66”. Everyone wants smaller cubicles with lower panel heights these days. Those inventories are more rare and therefore more expensive. So when I get a call saying, “I want 48” tall 6x6 cubicles in light beige with glass elements.” I tend to suggest refurbished or new furniture.

Think Long Term – Unless you know you are outfitting a space for less than a year, look for something that you can add to later that will match. Either that or plan your space so that you fill it up and by all you will need for the full space. Buying matching furniture later is always more expensive than your original furniture. Some people don’t mind having the second set of furniture not match. This is the very cost effective.

Set a realistic budget – Decent used cubicles (Like the Allsteel Terrace shown at the top) in this market cost from $500 to $800 per station. Cheaper cubes are available, but they will be older and possibly in bland or nasty colors and finishes (Like the cube shown below). This price does not include installation charges. And no, you cannot install them yourself. Installation for a bare bones crew in an easy access building will cost $150 to $225 per station. If you have to have weekend or after hours access, require union labor or a stair-carry is required, add more money.

Plan ahead – Give yourself as much time as possible to determine your plan in advance and then look for the right inventory. Get a plan from your landlord. An AutoCAD (.dwg) file allows your vendor to plan the space to scale so you know what can fit. Do a block plan in 6x8 and 8x8 cubicles and see if the counts work for you. Then go look for the size you want. Think about what height panels you want. Full privacy is 62 to 70 inches. Seated privacy height panels are 47 to 56 inches. Open plan heights are below 47 inches. You can mix the heights too. Don’t get too specific though. (See point 1)

Find a vendor you trust – If you commit to one reputable dealer before you start, they will work harder for you. Ask for two or three names from your real estate broker or colleagues. Interview them and then select someone as your top choice. Be open about what you are doing and tell them if you are talking to others. If you see something else from someone else, show main partner vendor. Odds are they can find something similar or even get you the same furniture. Be aware that dealers may show you inventories that they do not own. This is okay and will get you a look at more product. A true partner will show you more and work harder to get you what you want. Give your partner the last look before you buy.

Good luck shopping.

SRK

I Don't Want My Back To The Door

"I hate having my back to the door." This is a constant refrain I here from cubicle dwellers. Gunslingers like Clint Eastwood's Man With No Name never liked doing it in the old west. And according to Dragon Feng Shui, "Facing a wall can make it seem as though you will never get ahead, as your progress is blocked." They recommend a mirror. But we can show you how to face the door without using mirrors.

With a few extra planning steps. It is a snap to configure your cubicles so that you can work on the computer and not have your back to the opening.

Just place the corner on the wing panel as shown in the first photo of Steelcase Answer cubicles. As an added benefit, this configuration results in more workspace for the person using the cube than the standard back-to-the-opening configuration. You will need to figure out how to bring power out to the corner. This can add to the expense. Of course, a cheap solution would be a long plug strip.

If the cube is at least 8x8, you can use a 36" corner and a 24" return surface to get workspace to the right of the corner. This still leaves a three-foot opening.

Another idea is to use a curved straight surface that is slightly wider on the end nearest the opening. This work especially well in smaller cubes like 6x8. In these days of flat screen monitors, you really don't need the depth of a corner worksurface to accommodate the monitor. See the second photo of Teknion Leverage cubicles.

If you can't reconfigure your cube, Dragon Feng Shui has more tips.

SRK

Open versus Collaborative Environments

Whenever I am planning spaces for customers the issue of privacy versus openness comes up. Do we want our people to collaborate in an open environment? Or do we want more privacy so people can concentrate and do their work?

This often comes up as an issue of tall panels versus short. But it also incorporates, cubicle size, station orientation (Do I sit with my back to the opening or facing the opening?), who gets private offices and common areas like conference rooms, "all-hands areas" and informal "bean bag" areas.

Mark Erickson from Mark Erickson and Associates says it involves hi-tech versus hi-touch. "People often think they are communicating, when they are really only talking through their computers. The contact with other people is often missing."

With Mark's help, we came up with three phrases, probably not original, that describe the scenarios we see most often.

CAVE - where private offices and/or large cubicles, 8x8 or larger, with tall walls of at least 66 inches in height are used. Conference rooms are available for meetings as well.

CAVE and COMMONS - with tall cubes or mixed-height cubes where open areas are liberally interspersed throughout the space. These can be both formal conference rooms and informal areas for ad-hoc meetings.

OPEN COLLABORATIVE - with typically smaller cubes with height of less that 53" so that you can see throughout the space when standing. These may also include areas just loaded with tables. Open Collaborative spaces often have lot's of conference rooms for private meetings as well. (Above; Photo of Teknion workstation at Zazzle.)

I will be profiling different users in future blogs to point out the plusses and minuses of each design. Stay tuned.

SRK

Fight Terrorism While Buying Cubicles

The U.S. is under severe pressure to reduce its dependence on foreign oil. This isn't just to keep prices down at the pump. It directly affects world politics with regard to the support of terrorism by Islamic Fundamentalists like Al Qaeda and the Taliban. Every time we buy oil from the Saudi's, we are shipping money to them. They in turn fund these groups by financing Islamic fundamentalist madrassas (schools) in Pakistan and Afghanistan. Many of these schools are where young people are taught the fundamentalist teachings which later make them more likely to join these terrorist organizations.

These ideas are outlined in great detail in the books Hot, Flat and Crowded by Thomas Friedman and Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson and Oliver Relin.

As Americans, every purchase we make has an effect on the world. If you want to choke off the supply of money going to these organizations, the best thing you can do is buy items that use as little petroleum in their transport and manufacture as possible.

Most office furniture these days is manufactured off-shore, primarily in China. The manufacturing process alone is petroleum intensive. But the transportation of those items to the U.S., is also petroleum based.

By purchasing previously-used furniture locally, you can eliminate almost all of the petroleum consumption. Another option is to purchase locally refurbished product, eliminating the long-haul transportation and most manufacturing.

One new line of furniture, GQA Furniture, is produced from over ninety percent repurposed content. Cubicles are recovered with fabric made from recycled plastic bottles. Pedestals and all other metal are repainted using water-based environmentally sound painting practices. Worksurfaces are used surfaces that are turned upside-down and re-laminated. They are then edged with polypropylene edge banding. All the work is done locally to reduce transportation costs. Right now GQA is just being rolled out in Northern California, with plans to expand to the larger market soon.

Whoever thought you could be a Patriot while buying a cubicle?

SRK

What is a remanufactured cubicle?

Remanufactured or refurbished cubicles typically have a combination of new and used components. Typically, you can expect that every thing you can see is new, been repainted or has new fabric. Normally, a fully refurbished cubicle will cost 20 to 30 percent less than used.

Advantages of refurbished cubicles are:

1. Quick lead time - usually 2 to 3 weeks
2. "Green" solution - re-used panels and other components
3. Choice of colors, finishes and fabrics
4. Cost savings from new
5. Similarly priced add-on components for future use
6. Any size and height available

There may be a few disadvantages to refurbished versus new. For instance, the price differential narrows or disappears on larger jobs as the manufacturers of new cubicles get more aggressive with pricing. Also, there are limited choices available for refurbishing. Newer systems are not available in ample quantities to be used as raw materials for refurbishing. The most common systems available include:

1. Herman Miller Action Office
2. Haworth Unigroup
3. Steelcase Avinir
4. Teknion TOS

What components are typically new, used or refurbished?

1. Panels - New fabric.
2. Panel Trim and Top Caps - Repainted or new.
3. Base trim - Repainted, new or occasionally used
4. Overhead Cabinets - New Fabric, Repainted or new
5. Lights - Repainted
6. Pedestals (filing) - Repainted or new
7. Worksurfaces - New or Used
8. Electrical - New or Used

Make sure to ask your refurbisher what items are new, used or refurbished. The more used (or as-is) components there are, the more you will need to see the product before purchasing. Also, the lower the price should be. Some try to just put new fabric on a used cubicle and call it refurbished. I call this a "refabricked" cubicle.

Finally, ask to see an installation before you buy. This can give you a good idea of the quality of the vendor's work.

Scott R. Kline
Smart Interiors, Inc.

New vs. Used Cubicles

What are the advantages and disadvantages of buying new versus used cubicles? There are several advantages with new and just a few with used, the biggest being substantial cost savings, usually between 75 and 50 percent discount from new. Just remember that installation costs are the same or maybe even higher with used. The product may have to be pulled from a warehouse or trailer and transported to site.

Advantages of Used Cubicles:

1. Significant cost savings
2. Immediate availability
3. Local source saves freight costs
4. More "green" - Reusing existing material rather than burning natural resources.

Advantages of New Cubicles:

1. Choice of finishes and fabrics
2. Any size and height available
3. Additional matching cubicles available in the future at similar cost
4. Manufacturer's warranty
5. Up-to-date aesthetics
6. Easier to reconfigure in the future due to product availabilty

Of course, there are always refurbished cubicles. I will discuss this in another post.

Scott R. Kline
Smart Interiors, Inc.