American Seating's new innovation helps customers become LEED certified

In the fixed-seating sector of the furniture industry, American Seating is "ahead of the curve," according to Deb McDermott, VP of marketing and business development.

After a year of development, American Seating became the first North American fixed-seating manufacturer to produce chairs with curved plywood backs that are not only Forest Stewardship Council (FSC)-certified, but also contain no added urea formaldehyde (NAUF).

McDermott says that "curved plywood has been a challenge for furniture makers" because plywood backs require a strong adhesive to hold their original shape. For years, glues containing added-urea-formaldehyde resins have been used to fill the need for this strong adhesive.  

After new NAUF glues were developed, American Seating began testing them and quickly found them to be an effective solution to the challenges they were facing in the manufacturing process.  

With the addition of this new innovation, American Seating is able to help their customers in the LEED certification process. Currently, American Seating NAUF curved plywood-back products have been installed at Wyoming National Guard headquarters, Tryon Palace in New Bern, N.C. and  Brocade in San Jose, CA.

Source: Deb McDermott, American Seating, VP of marketing and business development
Writer: John Rumery, Innovation and Jobs Editor.