The HON Company history

Sales from the products made from scrap in 1947 amounted to almost $20,000.

In 1949, Home-O-Nize signed a contract worth $450,000 with Associated Manufacturers, Inc. to produce a newly designed corn picker that attached directly to the front of a tractor.

The combined sales of Home-O-Nize and Prime-Mover totaled more than $600,000 at year end 1950.

By 1953, total consolidated sales passed the $1 million milestone and two years later exceeded $2 million.

Proving himself a manufacturing genius and a shrewd administrative leader, Howe shared the founders' vision of growth and had become vice-president of production by 1954.

By 1965, the company was serving about 75 wholesalers located throughout the United States, with about 35 percent of its furniture reaching dealers through this channel.

By 1969, net sales were $25 million.

Corry Jamestown of Corry, Pennsylvania, was acquired in 1972, HON's first venture into the higher priced segment of the office furniture market.

The acquisition of Murphy-Miller of Owensboro, Kentucky, put HON into the wood seating business in 1977.

J.K. Rischel Company, manufacturers of traditional wood office furniture, was purchased in 1982, and the next year, HON acquired 35 percent of Ring King Visibles, a rapidly growing office products company.

He would later become chairman of HON after the death of Max Stanley in 1984.

By 1987, under the leadership of chairman and president Stanley Howe, HON had become known as the most efficient producer in the industry worldwide, capable of producing a desk every minute, a file every 40 seconds, and a chair every 20 seconds.

In March 1990, Jack D. Michaels, formerly the president and CEO of Hussmann Corp., was named president of HON INDUSTRIES. Michaels was eventually given the position of CEO as well, while Howe remained on as chairman of the board.

In 1993, the company made record investments in new product development, new capital equipment, new business ventures, and member development.