By Joe Boomgaard | MiBiz
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ZEELAND — Many companies would like to have the kinds of problems OMT-Veyhl USA Corporation has been struggling with.

Zeeland-based OMT-Veyhl USA Corporation, a maker of table legs and bases, will more than double the size of its operations once its current expansion is complete by the end of the year. The addition will make way for $2 million in new equipment to support the company’s growth. PHOTO: JOE BOOMGAARD

For each of the past three years, the office furniture manufacturer has seen 80-plus percent growth despite the national economy being gripped by a major recession. What started as a 14-person operation in 2005 grew to 33 employees in 2010 and more than doubled to 72 in 2011.

The 44,000-square-foot facility OMT-Veyhl built in 2008 could no longer accommodate the company’s growth spurt, so it is working with Lakewood Construction Inc. to add another 61,000 square feet. The addition will make room for $2 million in new machinery set to be delivered by the end of the year.

The 50/50 joint venture by German manufacturers OMT and Veyhl makes table legs and table bases for mostly North American OEM customers. The company does most of its own metal fabrication and powder coating and specializes in height-adjustable products.

“Our parent companies in Germany have always had the same business model. We like to be the development and engineering partner for our customers. We like to develop the product with them and then be the manufacturer of that part,” said Lars Reuter, the company’s president. “We’re not a lot in the business of the ‘me, too’ stuff they can buy from 20 other suppliers.”

Reuter said customers typically customize standard OMT-Veyhl products, creating a new product line under the customer’s brand. Other times, OMT-Veyhl helps OEM customers develop new products specifically for end users.

“End users are getting more and more to where they want to have their own corporate-wide furniture — based on some sort of a standard. Our customers try to match that as (well) as possible in their new product showrooms, but the big customers get what they want, and that’s very often not standard,” Reuter said.

The increasing prevalence of custom orders adds some volatility to the mix of orders, but Reuter said the company has learned to use its high-tech equipment, such as a laser cutter that helps speed the process of building prototypes, to be more flexible.

“You have to be prepared and understand [what customers are looking for], and in some cases say goodbye to 100,000 to 200,000 pieces per year of the same part. You’re lucky if you get 20,000 to 30,000 of the same part — and there are 10 options for that part,” he said. “We adjust our business model internally to support that flexibility, to support short lead times.”

Dan Shaw, VP at OMT-Veyhl, said shorter lead times and increasing transportation costs sparked the two companies to create the joint venture in the United States. The companies had been shipping product from Europe but found it was becoming too expensive to do business that way. Moreover, the company found it tough to connect with North American OEM customers because they immediately assumed German-made goods were too expensive, Reuter said.

Once the joint venture became established, a number of factors worked in its favor, Reuter said.

• While some customers believed European furniture designs wouldn’t sell to American users, design tastes changed in the last five to six years to be more accepting of OMT-Veyhl’s products.
• The products the company had always sold in the U.S. market, especially the height-adjustable bases, increased in popularity.
• Being located in the West Michigan hub for office furniture manufacturing helped the company secure more business, in part because the proximity to customers allowed it to achieve quicker turnarounds.
• The trained local workforce fit well with the company’s team mentality that demands its employees identify themselves with the company.

Reuter said the company embodies a “from everything, something” mantra in that it believes it must invest in its equipment and its people because investing in one part will not achieve the desired profit or growth results.

OMT-Veyhl owns 12.5 acres in case growth continues and the company has more reason to expand.

“We definitely want to grow more and, at the end of the day, be a supplier of choice for whomever when they think about tables or steel. We want them to first think about OMT-Vehyl,” Reuter said.