COR has just received the "ICONIC AWARD: Interior Innovation 2016" for its modular upholstered furniture programme TRIO, in the category "Best of the Best".(1) The German Design Council has thereby honoured a furniture design's outstanding innovative content in the context of architecture and commercial properties. The pleasure of receiving this coveted award was further enhanced by a successful business outcome: For 2015, the premium manufacturer, located at Rheda-Wiedenbrück since 1954, is expecting total sales of 36.7 million euros. Of this, 5.5 million euros are accounted for by the contract business, which has increased by 30 percent compared to last year. "This good result as we enter our seventh decade is endorsement of our commitment to investing in this international market segment; with both trained professionals as well as our new contract exhibition in the COR Haus," confirms Managing Partner Leo Lübke. "Our talent for innovation in design will surprise even the experts at the international trade fair imm 2016 in Cologne, where we will be premiering PILOTIS. We will be presenting a piece of seating furniture with an architectural periphery which will bring Le Corbusier to mind. Renewal while maintaining established values: At the same time, this is also the benchmark for the further development of our company and its production."
Manually produced seating furniture, industrially state of the art
Any association with the "good old traditions" can be ruled out at the start with a modern seating manufacturer such as COR. The company orients its production methods to a consistently high quality standard that can only be achieved by employing skilled craftsmanship. Frame building, upholstery, cutting and stitching require experienced specialists who are excellently trained to carry out their trade with passion for the product. It goes without saying that they have been using modern technology for a long time. "In 2010 we invested in a new software solution for our production and also in CAD planning tools for the office," recalls Leo Lübke. "We will remain true to our objective for the future: To produce unique furniture in Germany, mainly by hand and to a level of perfection that one would describe as the state of the art of industrial manufacturing processes.
Increasing productivity meaningfully
Under Hermann-Josef Pöhls, who has been managing the factory since January 2015, the CORians have begun to develop their manufacturing processes in view of the increasing demands from the contract business. All employees, including the entire administration team, have been trained in the meantime and are now pursuing the common goal to incorporate the appropriate lean production parameters into their work processes. They want to increase productivity so as to be able to produce more pieces of furniture with shorter lead times. "We want to deliver more, faster, with the same number of personnel and the same consistently high quality; an asset from which both end consumers and wholesale buyers such as shipping companies and airlines alike can benefit," reports the Technical Director, who already conducted the comparable planning and implementation of a lean production facility at Poggenpohl.
New, traditional value awareness
The course was set for the increase in productivity in the summer of 2015, after an audit was completed by COR in conjunction with Lignum Consulting. "The manual work will remain in the centre and will not be reduced," says Leo Lübke, "but we can further optimise the surrounding processes: processing routes, material flow, stock control and logistics. We will proceed according to the needs of each individual department and the routines of our employees, some of whom have been with us for many years. As in the past, our workforce has surprised us with their own ideas and suggestions to help the company to progress." The ambitious objective to increase capability to produce daily rather than weekly batches of product should be achieved by 2017. The CORians are less concerned with winning another award. They would rather use their capacity for innovation without renouncing their established values – the symbol of a confident company.
(1)About ICONIC AWARDS
With the new competition format ICONIC AWARDS: Interior Innovation the German Design Council has now made one of the most important competitions in the field of interior design even more significant. For many years, the established architecture and design competition ICONIC AWARDS has made sure that the whole world of architecture, combined with outstanding products from industry, is accessible to a wide audience. Now the German Design Council has extended the scope of the competition to include furniture and interiors. By presenting ICONIC AWARDS: Interior Innovation within the context of the imm international furniture fair in Cologne in 2016, a unique platform has been created for communicative networking between architects and property developers and the furnishings industry
For more information, please contact
COR Sitzmöbel Helmut Lübke GmbH & Co. KG
Berthold Strüve, Marketing Manager
Nonenstraße 12, 33378 Rheda-Wiedenbrück, Germany
t +49.(0)5242.4102-240
f +49.(0)5242.4102-940
b.strueve@cor.de
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