In March 2011, leaders from La-Z-Boy Contract Furniture met with Industrial Woodworking Corporation to begin discussions on the design and development of a casegoods product line. In a few weeks, La-Z-Boy Contract had a unique patient room casegoods line that launched at NeoCon 2011 in June.
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La-Z-Boy Contract Furniture offers an extensive line of recliners, sleep chairs, sleep sofas, patient room chairs, waiting room seating and bariatric furniture for the healthcare environment.
La-Z-Boy Contract Furniture identified a need for a casegoods line for the patient room environment to complement their attractive assortment of seating options. In March 2011, leaders from La-Z-Boy Contract Furniture met with Industrial Woodworking Corporation (IWC) to begin discussions on the design and development for a casegoods product line.
“We felt very comfortable working with IWC because of their past history of engineering quality product lines for other companies and their history of on time delivery.” stated Richard Franey, Vice President of Sales and Marketing for La-Z-Boy Contract Furniture.
In a few short weeks La-Z-Boy had a unique patient room casegoods line that they could go to market with.
“Having the ability to offer casegoods will enable us to sell more of our seating,” stated Franey.
Prior to the March meeting, IWC had designed, engineered and was marketing hospital overbed tables under the Knú Healthcare brand. These distinctive and innovative tables helped hospitals address the issues of patient satisfaction, infection control, hospitality aesthetic, space and storage. In June 2011 La-Z-Boy Contract Furniture purchased Knú Healthcare from IWC and decided to change the name behind La-Z-Boy Contract Furniture to Knú, LLC. IWC will continue to manufacture the patient room furnishings and overbed tables while Knú, LLC and their reps will market these products under the Knú Healthcare name.
“We are excited about the branding opportunities and anticipate significant use of the Knú brand name in connection with expanded product offerings,” said Franey.
La-Z-Boy Contract Furniture was created as a division of La-Z-Boy Incorporated in 1971 to bring a reclining office chair to the marketplace. In 2005, the La-Z-Boy Contract Furniture business was purchased by a family-owned enterprise with nearly 50 years’ experience in the furniture industry. In addition to healthcare furnishings, La-Z-Boy Contract Furniture’s offerings include task, operational, and executive seating as well as lobby seating and tables for offices.
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