Birth of an Association.

Robert Spelman was one of the key figures in the office furniture industry, serving as staff head for both the Office Furniture Manufacturers Institute and later, the Southern Furniture Manufacturers Assn. The following is an excerpt from a memo on the birth of the office furniture industry and the evolution of The Business and Institutional Furniture Manufacturer's Assn.

The first metal office furniture was the file cabinet. In the 1930s, metal cabinets began to replace wood in greater numbers. Soon, these manufacturers began to also make office desks, most of which were inexpensive general office desks. By 1940, this was a growing business. World War II interrupted this, but immediately after the war, the steel office manufacturers began marketing their products aggressively. The wood office furniture companies had "owned" the executive and general office business until the mid-30s. But steel furniture was cheaper than wood, and it made heavy inroads.

It soon became apparent that the large volume business belonged to steel and that the metal furniture industry had its eye on the executive office next. In 1947, some of the big volume wood manufacturers formed an association to combat steel, the Wood Office Furniture Institute. It helped stem the tide of progress steel was making because the WOFI mounted an aggressive advertising and office planing service to counter the steel trend.

But in the 1950s, though some steel people started to lose their market, others grew. Big companies targeted the executive office and began to use wood and wood-grained laminate tops and panels. By the early 1960s, it became apparent that pure wood and pure steel furniture had had their day.

In 1963, WOFI became the Office Furniture Manufacturers Institute. But due to a trade show problem and personalities, the organization changed again to become BEMA, the Business Equipment Manufacturers Institute. As staff head, I tried to organize all the office furniture manufacturers into their own association. We held a two-day seminar in Chicago in 1964, which was the first time so many office furniture manufacturers were invited to sit together. Some of the steel office people were reluctant to leave BEMA because of their considerable success.

But the seed for BIFMA was planted at the OFMI Chicago seminar. Chuck King stayed with the effort, and with Gene Eppinger and the larger steel office manufacturers, formed BIFMA in 1973.

Today, the Grand Rapids-based Business and Institutional Furniture Manufacturer's Assn. has 100 regular members, 71 supplier members, 12 service members, 24 international members and 112 independent manufacturer's representative members.