CUSP International Succeeds With Furniture Design and Marketing Skills

CUSP International Associates specializes in the supply of office furniture and parts, using its strong design capability to develop innovative products and its powerful marketing skills to sell them in the international marketplace. Production is handled by factories in Taiwan and mainland China.

CUSP was set up in 1996 by Mike Chuang, a veteran mechanical engineer and now the company's president, and Jerry Dicks, chairman of the United States-based CUSP Office Products Co. The American company concentrates on furniture distribution in the North American market.

Dicks founded CUSP Office Products to source inexpensive, high-quality furniture parts for American manufacturers engaged in the remanufacturing and recycling of office furniture. The company has established cooperative relations with a number of manufacturers in Taiwan, and has recently moved into mainland China by setting up a subsidiary, the CUSP Ningbo Import & Export Co., in Zhejiang Province, in cooperation with a manufacturer of fabrics there.

CUSP started life by sourcing furniture parts and storage pedestals for office use, as well as lateral-file cabinets for American manufacturers of panel systems. Three years ago, Chuang says, the company shipped 4,000 to 5,000 high-end pedestals to the U.S. every month; the volume has since been halved, however, because of soaring materials costs and follow-on price rises for the product.



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To get its business growing again, the company began supplying partitions, chairs, textiles, office cabinets, and electrical wiring in the middle of last year. Today it cooperates with Taiwan's eChair Co. for the supply of eChair- and EZ2C-series office chairs. While eChair manufactures, CUSP markets.

Dicks created the design concept of the EZ2C chairs two years ago. The chairs come equipped with an LED lighting system and lumbar support in an ergonomic butterfly shape. Patents are pending for the butterfly lumbar support and the LED lighting system.

In Feb. 2005, the EZ2C chair won a 2005 ADEX Award sponsored by the U.S.-based Design Journal, an international trade publication for interior designers, architects and facility managers. ADEX stands for Awards for Design Excellence and is given annually for superior product design in furnishings and building materials marketed to the design trade.

Chuang says that NT$7 million (US$220,000 at NT$31.4:US4$1) was invested in the development of the EZ2C chairs, including the cost of mold fabrication (Chuang notes that his company pays for the development of the molds, so that manufacturers will not have to worry about sales.) He expects the chair to be protected by five U.S. patents by the end of this year; improvements continue, and headrest and clothes hanger options have been added.

The second generation of the eChair, dubbed the eChair Plus, is in mass-production and will be showcased at the NeoCon Show slated for June 13-15 in Chicago. The show brings together interior designers, architects, and specialists in the commercial and government environments, and sets the pace for the contract furniture and furnishings industry throughout the U.S.

Chuang says that products can be delivered six to eight weeks after confirmed orders are received. To keep quality standards high, the CUSP inaugurated a strict company-wide SPC quality control system last year. This system aims at defect-free deliveries exactly as specified, on time and at low cost, thereby bringing good value to buyers.

CUSP currently has four quality-control technicians in Taiwan and another 10 in Ningbo, ensuring that all products pass strict inspections before they are shipped.

One advantage of operating in Taiwan, Chuang comments, is the strong tooling support it offers. Stamping molds made on the island, for example, are good for 100,000 stamping cycles, while those made in China can handle only 40,000.

With a strong foundation already established in the North American market, CUSP is now working to widen its export markets. The North American marketing experience will be applied to other parts of the world, Chuang says, particularly in Europe.