With annual sales exceeding $2 billion, La-Z-Boy Inc. (Monroe, MI) is the United States’ largest single manufacturer of furniture, and the world’s leading producer of reclining chairs.
Within a few years, the computer keyboard may go the way of the typewriter. It will be replaced by a light-projected device that mimics the look of a traditional keyboard and shines on a flat surface, such as a desk or table.
Would you notice a nanotube if you met one? Probably not. Nanotubes are extremely thin--their diameter is about 10,000 times smaller than a human hairhollow cylinders made of carbon atoms. The tiny web of atoms can be twisted in various shapes to perform different functions.
When strolling through the Muscatine, IA, headquarters of Hon Industries Inc., the word most frequently mentioned is "flexible." The company is a domestic manufacturer of middle-market office furniture. It offers a variety of style, fabric and frame choices for each customer.
Dust, gas and other finely divided materials found in many manufacturing plants can create a potentially hazardous environment before anyone realizes it.
"When supplying to the automotive industry, only the best survive. It is highly competitive. You either succeed in squeezing the last drop of productivity from your equipment, or you are thrown out of the league," says Rudolf Neidert, managing director of Kendrion Binder Magnete GmbH Fahrzeugtechnik (Villingen, Germany).