ZEELAND, Mich., March 28, 2020 /PRNewswire/
-- Herman Miller, Inc.
(NASDAQ: MLHR) is providing an update on how the COVID-19 pandemic
has affected its business and operations, and how the company has
been developing proactive strategies to manage through this
challenging time.
"Herman Miller is taking
significant steps to keep our employees safe and healthy while
ensuring a return to form as a thriving company once this global
health crisis has passed. Our strong capital position is an
important foundation for our efforts to navigate the path ahead. We
are grateful to all our employees for their dedication, and we will
continue to respond to this dynamic situation with the health of
both our employees and our company top-of-mind," said Andi
Owen, President and CEO of Herman
Miller.
Employee Safety and Health
While Herman Miller's
manufacturing plant in Dongguan,
China, experienced the initial impact of COVID-19, it is now
back up and running near full capacity. Lessons learned from that
first interaction with the virus led to a number of employee safety
measures to contain the spread of COVID-19, including domestic and
international travel restrictions, work-from-home practices,
extensive cleaning protocols, and ultimately the closure of our
showrooms and retail outlets to the public.
Customer Focus
Our customer service, sales, supplier, and dealer teams are
working closely with customers to meet current and shifting project
demand. Sales teams are meeting with customers remotely
via video calls and by leveraging virtual reality to continue the
design and specification process that would normally take place in
a showroom. Customer service representatives are working
remotely to stay connected to customers regarding order status and
projected delivery dates.
Manufacturing and Operations
As a global manufacturer,
Herman Miller is responding to
shelter-in-place and similar government orders in various locations
around the world.
In Michigan for example,
Governor Gretchen Whitmer's "Stay
Home, Stay Safe" executive order required all non-essential
businesses to close for three weeks until April 13. As Herman
Miller serves the health care industry and the federal
government, among other critical sectors, the Company anticipates
bringing back approximately as much as 30% of its manufacturing
employees by next Monday, March 30 to
help support customers who are actively engaged in the COVID-19
response. In an effort to support the thousands of medical workers
on the front lines of the battle against COVID-19, this work will
also include transforming a portion of its manufacturing footprint
to fulfill the immediate need for medical and personal protective
equipment. We continue to monitor similar executive orders to
understand the potential impact on our operations in other
areas.
Elsewhere in the U.S., Nemschoff, which also serves the health
care industry, continues operations at full capacity in
Sheboygan, WI. Distribution
operations at Maharam, based in Yaphank,
NY and Geiger, in both its Fulton,
GA and Hildebran, NC
locations, also remain open.
Internationally, outside of China, Herman
Miller's manufacturing facility located near
Bangalore, India is
temporarily closed until April
14 under a government order. In the United Kingdom, manufacturing and distribution
operations at the company's Portal Mill facility in Melksham,
England are suspended until
further notice due to a government-issued nationwide lockdown. In
Brazil, the company's
manufacturing and warehouse facilities, which serve the
Latin America region, are running
as normal.
Retail Operations
Design within Reach (DWR) and HAY
retail studios and stores across the US are currently closed to the
public, but the company's distribution center in Batavia, OH is still operational. Freight
carriers are delivering to every market domestically but changing
policies and procedures daily that may affect distribution. In some
markets we are unable to offer white glove delivery at this time,
but we can coordinate with the customers to deliver product to
their door. Despite the studios and stores being closed, its
eCommerce platforms are operating, and many account executives are
working from home to help meet customers' needs via digital chat
and video capabilities, email and phone. Across those platforms,
demand for home office products is helping to ease the transition
of office workers who have been forced to work from home and
digital marketing strategies have pivoted to highlight our ability
to address that customer need.
Capital Position
In addition to steps taken to protect
its workforce and manage business operations, the company has taken
actions to safeguard its capital position. At the end of the third
quarter of fiscal 2020, the company had a well-positioned balance
sheet and liquidity profile to weather these temporary disruptions,
with $111 million in cash on hand, a
leverage ratio of 0.9x and availability on its revolving credit
facility of $266 million. Since the
end of the quarter, the company withdrew $265 million on its revolving credit facility as
a precautionary measure to provide additional near-term liquidity.
The company is also closely managing spending levels, capital
investments, and working capital, and has temporarily suspended
share repurchase activity as part of managing cash flows during
this period.
While the longer-term economic impact cannot be reasonably
estimated as the duration of this disruption is unclear, the
Company is taking important steps to maintains its financial
strength in the current environment.
About Herman Miller
Herman Miller is a globally recognized provider
of furnishings and related technologies and
services. Since its inception in 1905, the company has
relied on innovative design to help people do great things. The
global design leader has evolved into Herman Miller Group, a family
of brands that collectively offers a variety of products for
environments where people live, learn, work, and heal. The
family of brands includes Colebrook Bosson Saunders, Design Within
Reach, Geiger, HAY, Maars Living Walls, Maharam, naughtone,
Nemschoff, and Herman Miller. For
more information visit www.hermanmiller.com/about-us
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SOURCE Herman Miller, Inc.