by Brianna Crandall — July 5, 2017 — The services, settings, and furnishings Herman Miller displayed at NeoCon 2017 in June demonstrate the globally recognized provider of furnishings and related technologies and services’ belief that it is possible to create naturally human workplaces where people are happier, healthier, and perform at a higher level. The result is workplaces that, according to the company’s research, better help an organization achieve business objectives. Herman Miller launched a new digital platform and other services, among several furniture introductions. Two new products were recognized with awards during the prestigious Best of NeoCon Competition (see FMLink article): the Prospect work system and Geiger’s Taper Chair both brought home Gold.
Suite of services and support
The company’s focus this year on services and support begins with the LiveOS digital platform, which enables the office to be as smart as the building. Live OS is touted as the first human-centered, enterprise-ready system of connected furnishings to enable the workplace to more deeply engage with people. A subscription-based service, Live OS includes an app and dashboard that offer data-based insights to help organizations understand employees’ ever-changing needs in the workplace.
LiveOS dashboards offer insights that help control operational costs, improve space utilization, and enhance employee well-being.
Once the app has been paired with any connected desk, Live OS provides data and insights through the cloud via a secure, cellular gateway that works independently from the corporate network so organizations can measure, manage, and optimize their workplaces. Dashboards capture real-time, anonymized data from sensors throughout the office — insights that help control operational costs, improve space utilization, and enhance employee health, performance, and happiness.
Live OS also allows an individual to set preferences for the amount of time they want to spend sitting and standing, for the height of their desk, and other smart settings. Working together, the app and furnishings remind people when it’s time to change postures, helping them achieve goals for increasing activity. Regular movement can make people more engaged, efficient, and productive at work, notes the company.
Technology partnerships and prepackaged settings
To create settings that deliver the best experience for people and right-size technology spending for organizations, Herman Miller has partnered with industry-leading technology and tool providers. These partnerships allow the company to provide everything from cloud-based scheduling that helps groups find and reserve the right meeting space and provides usage data to facilities managers (Robin) to a digital workplace platform that allows remote or in-person teams to meet, create, and collaborate in real time using any device (Prysm).
In addition to its technology partnerships, Herman Miller is also featuring prepackaged settings for organizations that seek comprehensive solutions, but may not have the resources to explore all the options of a custom solution.
Performance environments service analyzes and optimizes
Using a strategic combination of data, human insights, and a proven place-making framework, Herman Miller’s Performance Environments Group offers Herman Miller customers workplace strategy and consulting services that result in custom solutions for the total experience of work. In the NeoCon showroom, Performance Environments experts will talk about the results of research conducted with customers before, during, and after the implementation of Living Office.
New products featured at NeoCon
Visitors to the showroom will have the opportunity to talk to experts and see examples of settings that have purposeful variety, i.e., have been designed to align the activities people do and the surroundings, furnishings, and tools needed to do those activities in each setting. Here are the products being introduced at NeoCon.
Herman Miller
Prospect, winner of the Best of NeoCon Gold award in the Furniture Collections for Collaboration category, is a work system consisting of semi-circular, freestanding furniture made of strong, lightweight aluminum and designed to foster individual and team creativity in an office or learning environment. The portfolio acts as either “a solo sanctuary” or “mission control” for small to medium-sized teams, complete with whiteboards and tackable surfaces for brainstorming, pinning, and visual thinking.
Gold winner Prospect is a work system consisting of semi-circular, freestanding furniture designed to foster individual and team creativity in either an office or learning environment.
Designer Richard Holbrook struck a balance between intimacy and openness, while reducing visual and audio distractions with soft, sound-absorbing surfaces and adding just the right amount of comforting privacy. Prospect’s round shape puts everyone inside on equal footing, notes Holbrook. The table’s height and easily stowable stools encourage people to move between sitting and standing and engage with one another.
Aeron ergonomic desk/task chair has been remastered from the casters up to meet the needs of today’s work. With the help of original co-designer Don Chadwick, Aeron has been thoughtfully updated based on the latest research around the science of sitting, and advancements in materials, manufacturing, and technology. Updates include a more refined tilt mechanism, adjustable PostureFit SL, and 8Z Pellicle suspension.
Aeron ergonomic desk/task chair has been remastered from the casters up to meet the needs of today’s work; updates include a more refined tilt mechanism, adjustable PostureFit SL, and 8Z Pellicle suspension.
ColourForm Sofa Group is a collection designed by Stefan Scholten and Carole Baijings that builds welcoming lounge landscapes from a vocabulary of pieces that support the way people want to work and live today.
Ubi Work Tools Portfolio is based on research into organizing principles. Individuals can arrange and rearrange the portfolio’s assortment of tools to suit their personal preferences and work styles.
Ollin Monitor Arm supports a range of monitors, laptops, and tablets that weigh from under one pound to 20 pounds. It has fingertip screen control and a wide range of motion, encouraging a healthier posture whether the person is sitting or standing.
Verus is a family of seating solutions that marries ergonomics and economics. Modestly priced, it offers long- and short-term comfort and proper ergonomic support; patented PostureFit sacral support is standard.
Geiger
Taper Chair (Best of NeoCon Gold in the Seating: Ergonomic Desk/Task category) is an executive chair that combines Herman Miller’s depth of knowledge in ergonomics with Geiger’s core strength in quality and craft in one clean, sophisticated design. The result delivers the same high-touch, high-comfort, high-performance experience that business leaders might enjoy while driving to work in a luxury automobile.
Layer Tables is a collection of glass-topped occasional tables designed for Geiger by BassamFellows that complement a range of soft seating.
Solene Collection (textiles) was inspired by traditional Scandinavian household linens and upholstery.
Nemschoff
Repose by Nemschoff provides individualized comfort in a single unit, with built-in configurations for sitting and lounging so guests can work, converse, or rest while remaining at the patient’s side.
For more information and photos, visit Herman Miller’s NeoCon 2017 launch page.
