Capability Statement – ChairSolutions

Australian Capability Statement

AUSTRALIA’S LARGEST AND SEATING

LARGEST OFFICE CHAIR MANUFACTURER.

MESSAGE FROM OUR DIRECTOR

As we pass 20 years in business, I reflect on the success that Chair Solutions has seen and recognise the Chair Solutions family that have been a large part of that success. From 2001 to today we have grown to become the largest office chair and seating manufacturer in Australia and have recently been awarded our Australian Made® certification and logo.

Our focus remains on adding local value through customer-focussed product design, building in-house capability, investing in our people, and disrupting the importation of finished office furniture. To adapt our solutions to local markets, each CS factory can provide locally made office furniture with customer-led design choices. The fingerprint of each location allows us to support our customer and our commitment to advancing Australian manufacturing

Looking to the future, Chair Solutions will continue to adapt through the use of automation and innovative systems, building the capability of Australian manufacturers and suppliers to deliver ‘in-country’.

We are also expanding our efforts to give back to our community, suppliers and country through knowledge and capacity sharing. From novel partnership approaches with YINDI Manufacturing to use of novel machinery to streamline production, Chair Solutions will continue to support Australian businesses, supply chains and communities wherever we can.

DON’T MESS WITH AUSTRALIA –

Hand in hand with our commitment to empower Australian-made manufacturing and reduce reliance on imports; we are driven to continuously improve our sustainability, reducing the environmental impact of our work.

OUR VISION, SUSTAINABILITY AND MISSION.

Our purpose is to manufacture seating that makes work better for everyone, everywhere — every worker, every organization, and every community around Australia.

Our mission is to disrupt the importation of finished office furniture, advancing Australian manufacturing capability through the development of sovereign capability and supply chains. While we source some components from our partners worldwide, our genuine commitment is to manufacture the highest-quality local product.

Our focus is on adding local value through product design, in-house upholstery, our own CS-foam, our workers and minimising the importation of finished office furniture by our competitors.

With 20 years of success behind us, we are now looking farther afield to better support Australians and our environment. Our Australian Made, ISO14001 and GECA certifications are credit to our systems and dedication to these goals. In recognition of our global responsibility, Chair Solutions has also aligned our efforts to Goals 9, 11 and 12 of the UN Sustainability Goals.

In keeping with our commitment to Australian communities and manufacturing, Chair Solutions is currently working with Reconciliation Australia to develop our Reflect RAP. We look forward to setting real targets and more actively supporting outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders.

WE ARE LOCAL

Chair Solutions was founded on the vision of creating an Australian-owned furniture company that would challenge the imported office chair market.

Since our founding in 2000, Chair Solutions has grown to 6 locations across Australia and New Zealand.

Over this time, we have built our reputation as a trusted provider through quality, ontime delivery and collaborative design to support and meet customer needs.

Chair Solutions has the experience, financial strength, qualified personnel and capacity to deliver bespoke product orders that exceed expectations in safety, quality, finish and value.

WHO WE ARE

For over 20 years, Chair Solutions has held ourselves to a simple ‘why’ – Australia works and we can empower our workforce. We are working to have every part of our supply chain, from our frames to our foams sourced, supplied, transported, and manufactured by Australian businesses.

Since our inception, Carl and Chair Solutions have consistently taken risks for their customers to deliver the quality and product specifications they need.

We place great importance on local and community services, the environment, and the positive relationships with our network of businesses. It is our mission to supply adaptable and affordable solutions to improve local Australasian organisations.

OUR ADVANTAGE

Our family’s culture of quality

Represented on paper by our ISO9001, ISO14001, GECA, AFRDI, FSC, BIFMA, CATAS and Australian Made certfications, Chair Solutions’ culture of quality runs deeper. Without the dedication of our team of ‘family’, we wouldn’t have the success we do today.

By promoting from within we create opportunities for all workers and are proud to have many long-serving team members (10+ years) and female Managers and Factory Supervisors who support our focus on quality for the customer.

Designed for you

Chair Solutions adaptable products allow for a consistent aesthetic throughout a fit-out. Our product range evolves with market input to constantly changing standards and needs.

Through our customer-first approach to consultation and interchangeable components, we can adjust most models to accommodate customer needs with over 1000 combinations.

Supporting Australian Made

Recently, we have been awarded the mark of Aussie authenticity “Australian Made”, celebrating our products, purpose and company.

OUR CORE CAPABILITIES

Through our six manufacturing facilities we have full capability for moulded foams, ply frame construction, cutting, sewing, upholstery, assembly, and dispatch.

Across Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, Western Australia, and New Zealand, we can manufacture over 220,000 pieces of furniture per year, as well as nearly 100,000 moulded foam components through our Victorian Foam Factory.

OUR CAPABILITIES

At the core of our value offer is our adaptable made-to-order approach. Recognising the individuality of customers and people who use our furniture, Chair Solutions embedded customisability within our ethos from the start.

For customers, this offers interchangeable components within our product ‘families’ to ensure that each customer and individual can get the right fit.

All this is backed by our assurance of Australian Made quality in every product, guaranteeing customer freedom alongside the quality they expect of a Chair Solutions product.

In addition to our core manufacturing capabilities, we deliver value for customers through:

• An in-house Design Studio – able to render furniture layouts, design styles and modular dimensions using customer’s floor space to assist our clients to procure the right fitout.

• Innovative Distribution – locally focused with the ability to deliver throughout Australia and New Zealand, ensuring all service and products are made by your local CS factory. Backed by our CSXPRESS offer, we offer a unique method of shipping semi-assembled products anywhere in Australia (next day in Metro) meaning customers can assemble their product in less than 30 seconds.

• A single supplier with the right systems to fill any size order with a range of customisation options. The ability to order from a single supplier streamlines customers’ procurement, further enhanced by our labelling and ordering systems which enable customers to visualise products before buying.

In addition, Chair Solutions back ourselves through a 10-year warranty for major customers, giving confidence in the longevity of use.

OUR PRODUCTS

We are first and foremost an upholstered task chair manufacturer [Height Adjustable Swivel Chairs].

We complement our task chairs with:

• Desks and Workstations

• Visitor Seating [Fixed Height Chairs]

• Soft Seating and Accent Furniture (Including Ottomans)

• Privacy Booths

Task Seating for focussed work

At the core of our business, Chair Solutions has a range of over 22 Task Seating products to suit the needs of any customer.

From our Team Air to our Orthopod series, all our products are made locally in our factory floors from all Australian-sourced materials. Available through authorised retailers as well as direct contracts made-to-order, we have a product solution for any workplace.

Visitor Seating to collaborate

Our range of visitor and guest seating ensures flexibility of design, size and will suit any commercial business fit-out, ensuring flexibility of design, size and price

Soft Seating to fit your space

Through our relationship with Italian design partners our own internal design team, Chair Solutions has 18 contemporary styles of ‘soft seating’ available. Our designs can be upholstered in a range of colours, fabrics and patterns to suit any customer’s needs.

INNOVATION THROUGH TECHNOLOGY

Our in-house foam manufacturing plant in Victoria gives Chair Solutions the ability to meet customer and local needs on every contract. Making our own foams means we can easily manufacture moisture resistant, UV resistant or even bacterial barrier cool-gel foams at customer request. Moulded, self-skinning foam also enables us to have a clean finish on the upholstery of our ranges.

INNOVATION THROUGH TECHNOLOGY

Our technology focus has seen us invest in a Pathfinder M-Series fabric cutter. Integrating into our production line, this asset will significantly improve our ability to mass-produce customer product-lines.

Our stock CS Black house fabric features water-repellent, wipeable durable, helps repel liquids and block stains without changing the look and feel of the fabric, meaning the surface can be wiped clean before the mess sinks in.

Combined with our inherent design customisation, customers can interchange an increasing range of chair components to suit a huge of individual needs. Importantly, we never compromise quality for customisability, with all our components being AFRDI certified before being made available.

Our goal over the next five years is to further onboard specialised manufacturing capability to ensure price stability for Australian markets and be more competitive against imports. Investing in process automation and machinery such as Plastic Injection Moulding would enable us to further diversify and sure up local supply of components such as under seat plastics.

The Pathfinder has improved cutting productivity by up to 80%.

QualityManagement.ISO900 1

PRIDE IN DELIVERING SUCCESS

Quality is not just a buzzword for us at Chair Solutions. Over our 20+ years, we have never sold a product we wouldn’t buy ourselves. This commitment underpins our recent acquisition of the Australian Made badge of honour, as well as our ISO9001, ISO14001, GECA, AFRDI, FSC, BIFMA, and CATAS accreditations.

QUALITY AND CERTIFICATION

ISO 14001 + ISO 9001 Certified

Our ISO9001 and ISO14001 certify Chair Solutions’ commitment to quality, leadership, systems and environmentally sustainable process across our operations.

GECA Certified Products

GECA standards are rigorous, scientific and relevant to key Australian industries. Designed to reward top performers, GECA is internationally recognised through the Global Ecolabelling Network.

FSC Certified Materials

Forest Stewardship Council certifies forests against the highest environmental and social standards. Products made from FSC forests are marked with our ‘tick tree’ logo.

FURNTECH-AFRDI is a governmentauthorised non-profit organisation which certifies furniture to Australian and New Zealand standards.

Since being founded in 2002, we have been a proud Australian business. Recently, we have been awarded the mark of Aussie authenticity “Australian Made”

Independently tested by Furntech

Proven success from Perth to New Zealand

Our success is perhaps best evidenced by our customer’s satisfaction, working with many of Australia’s Government departments, agencies, and the Defence force. We have proven our success from Perth to New Zealand work with:

• Government Department– manufacturing and delivering 500 Team Air, 350 Jubel (fully upholstered) Quiet Lounges, and 200 acoustic screens and booths in under 3 weeks.

• Victorian Comprehensive Cancer Centre – manufacturing and delivering 4,500 Team Air chairs with division-specific customisability.

• Land 121 Unit Sustainment Facilities (Defence) – to manufacture and deliver Task chairs, lounges and our Ascend (sit-stand) desks to 8 Defence sites across Australia.

• Services Australia – manufacturing and delivering 5,000 Rexa Task chairs.

Proven capacity to deliver scale

In addition to this range of Government and Defence customers, large bespoke projects that we have recently delivered include:

Sunshine Coast University Hospital

Chair Solutions was responsible for delivering over 10,000 task and visitor chair units for the Sunshine Coast Uni Hospital. Working with SCUH to understand the diverse requirements of each district, room or use-case, we provided chairs made-to-order from three of our ranges.

All elements of the project were scoped, designed, manufactured and delivered with 10 weeks, using all Australian supply chains.

Delivered 10,000 units in 10 weeks.

Guaranteed 5-year warranty for SCUH

Designed for the client, by the client

Project: Virgin Australia Terminal Brisbane

We were contracted to outfit the Brisbane Virgin terminal with over 1000 sleek, contemporary, comfortable beam-seats that would accommodate the diverse nature of use within an airport terminal.

From specification, through design to manufacturing and delivery, we worked closely with the customer to deliver a solution tailored to their needs. Regular iteration and reporting milestones ensured the customer could track our progress throughout.

A diverse scope to ensure multi-use capacity

Project: Lady Cilento Children’s Hospital

Similar to our work with the Sunshine Coast University Hospital, Chair Solutions was contracted to deliver over 6,000 task and visitor chairs for the Lady Cilento.

As a general medicine, research and consultation hospital, the Lady Cilento required a diverse range of chairs and furniture to suit the requirements of each wing and room. Working closely with hospital staff, Chair Solutions ensured that the product ranges met the ergonomic, physical, and aesthetic demands of medical, research and administrative staff alike.

By the final delivery, we had created a truly customised suite of chairs, based off our Team Air, Chill Lounges and Venice line of heavy-duty visitor seating.

OUR PEOPLE, FAMILY, LEADERS

Over the last 20 years, Chair Solutions has endeavoured to create a family rather than just a workforce. We nurture and grow alongside our team, promoting internally wherever possible and developing the kind of culture that we can be proud of.

Family Values

Founded as a family business in 2000 by the Dawson, Davies and expanded by the Muszi family, as a collective each family brought their expertise, Chair Solutions has remained true to our family values since. We believe our diverse and inclusive culture makes us stronger. It reinforces our positive social impact, while helping us attract and retain talented people and engage with our local communities.

As the ‘man at the front’, Carl still firmly believes that families are the primary carrier of values and can weave their values into the very fibre of an organisation’s culture. Through shared values of trust, ‘a fair go’, and a can-do attitude, the Chair Solutions family has collaboratively set the expectations for all.

This has given us a framework for the whole business to plan and develop a foundation for success in both our outputs as well as the development of our team. We are proud that our head office has 12 multilingual employees and is represented by a family of 8 different cultures.

Diversity

For Chair Solutions, diversity is about understanding our individual differences and valuing the knowledge, skills and perspectives people bring to the workplace. Our commitment to inclusion has two core elements of:

• Creating a culture of inclusivity where everyone is respected for the merit of their actions

• Promoting diversity of thought and enabling innovation through our people.

Focussing on these two core tenets ensures that we support individuals for their own values, abilities, qualities and perspectives; which also drives better outcomes for our customers. As we have grown, Chair Solutions has continued to develop our diversity and inclusion strategy to be more effective and encompass elements such as flexible work, gender equality and disability inclusion.

For example, we are actively seeking to promote Indigenous businesses and apprentices wherever we can, training Indigenous apprentices where possible. Brendan Ward-Anning (pictured), a Yidinjdji man from the tableland region in Far North Queensland has recently completed his apprenticeship with us in Manufactured Textile Products.

We also support Indigenous businesses to grow and deliver in the manufacturing industry, such as our partners Madji Furniture, and YINDI Manufacturing. Chair Solutions partner with these and other businesses, offering our range, facilities and expertise which can be modified to include Indigenous art for the fabrics or other customisations.

CS NZ (+64) 04 567 3100

1/77 Port Road, Seaview, Lower Hutt 5010 sales@chairsolutions.co.nz

CS NSW (+61) 02 9624 1733

1/21 Foundry Road, Seven Hills, NSW 2147 salesnsw@chairsolutions.com.au

CS QLD (+61) 07 3267 6233

57 Raubers Road, Northgate, QLD 4013 sales@chairsolutions.com.au

CS VIC (+61) 03 9357 5765 40-42 Merola Way, Campbellfield, VIC 3061 salesvic@chairsolutions.com.au

CS WA (+61) 08 9456 3322

14 Tacoma Circuit, Canningvale, WA 6155 saleswa@chairsolutions.com.au

CS FOAM (+61) 03 9013 0339