Tay Huah Computer Desk Awarded IFFT Silver Prize

Since its founding in 1984, Tay Huah Furniture Corp., one of Taiwan's leading manufacturers of furniture, has been dedicated to designing desks and chairs focused on safety, user comfort, and multifunctional applications.

Tay Huah is one of the few local manufacturers of computer and children desks and chairs that have kept their development and production operations in Taiwan. The company says Taiwan has a huge pool of talented designers to help the local furniture industry innovate and stay competitive.

Thanks to its long-term efforts in the design of high-end furniture, Tay Huah won a silver award at the International Furniture Fair Tokyo (IFFT) 2002 for its "Comf-Pro" children computer desk, which is patented in Japan.

Equipped with a Germany-made nitrogen gas-lift mechanism, the award-winning desk can be set up in 20 seconds. No electric power is used, ensuring safe operation for children. The company says the product can handle more than 100,000 height adjustments without damage to the desk structure. Adjustments can be made in only two seconds.

Chen Chao-ken, general manager of Tay Huah, says a connoisseur at the IFFT highly praised the design of the Comf-Pro desk because it can be used from kindergarten through university.

The computer desk is made of high-pressure erosion resistant melamine. The desks use E1 and E0-class environment-friendly glue instead of urea, which contains environmentally harmful ammonia.

Tay Huah says it is a Taiwan pioneer in making stackable gas-lift office chairs. Based on its decade of experience in this segment, the company began developing height-adjustable children's computer desks and chairs that grow with their users.

Chen says his company can make 8,500 sets of the children computer desks and chairs per month, compared to only 200 sets just four years ago.

At present, the company exports 60% to 70% of its output, mainly to the U.S., Germany, Switzerland, United Kingdom, Japan, Australia, Singapore, Hong Kong and Russia.

The U.S. is one of the company's most important export outlets. "We have a customer in the U.S. who is a big buyer of our office chairs and computer desks on OEM terms," says Chen.

Based on its strong design ability, the company has focused on items that are unique in the marketplace. "Taiwan has lost ground to the developing nations for the production of mass-produced furniture," laments Chen. "What we can do here is to raise our design ability to roll out special items that can attract the interest of international buyers."

Chen believes that the future survival of Taiwan's furniture industry will depend on boosting production flexibility to fill niche orders for specialty items. "Thanks to our long-term dedication to focusing on R&D work, we can now fill a foreign order in two months, from design to delivery," Chen boasts.

Chen says that his company conducts feasibility studies at the design stage to ensure that production bottlenecks are avoided. "If the study shows problems will emerge at the production stage, we will talk with the customer to adjust their idea to smooth the production process. It takes a lot of design and manufacturing experience to know what revisions are needed."

Chen says his company is always developing new designs for multifunctional desks and chairs. At present the company is developing a new-style children's desk, Chen says.