Inscape Corporation’s office furniture evolves to meet the changing needs of new generations of workers, as well the demand for green workspaces.

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As Generations X and Y collide in the workplace, Inscape Solutions is striving to provide products that will make the office environment effective and attractive for all employees, says Sharad Mathur, head of marketing and product management.

Most of the company’s products are modular so they can adapt easily to customers’ needs. “We want to give them different ways of working,” he adds.

The Holland Landing, Ontario, Canada-based company provides products such as furniture systems, movable walls, filing cabinets, storage solutions and bookcases for firms across North America. The design and style of its products are constantly evolving, he says.

“As more and more young people enter the work force, they are taking an increased interest in their work environment,” says Phil Gerlach, executive vice president of sales and distribution. “They like cooler and hipper kind of things. [Employers need to] give them a reason to go to work.”

For example, Mathur says, the younger generation prefers an open work environment as opposed to individual cubes.

“Older employees prefer more privacy, while those 30 and younger are open to people working alongside them,” he says. Also, he adds, they prefer lower panels as well as more glass and transparent materials.

“The finishes they are going for is very modern,” he says. “They also like more daylight in the office.”

Today’s companies prefer smaller filing cabinets and filing solutions because more information is stored digitally.

“There was a time companies used to file a lot,” he says. “Now, we have smaller filing products built on a 1.5-inch file drawer incremental story.”

Many of the company’s products today are geared toward smaller workspaces, as well.

“As the cost of real estate keeps going up, people are forced into smaller stations,” he says. “However, they don’t want to compromise on functionality.”

Seeing Green
Although sustainability only recently became popular, Inscape Corporation says it has had an active green strategy since the 1980s.

The company creates products that are built to last for a longer time – reuse versus recycle – thanks to their high functionality and capability to integrate with newer product introductions from Inscape, Mathur says.

Many of its products meet LEED and GREENGUARD standards.

“Customers are happy to buy products that offer sustainability,” he notes.

The company’s sustainable initiatives include:

• Sawdust from its medium density fiberboard (MDF) is used to make mulch
• Cardboard packaging, waste metal and foil are recycled off-site.
• Wooden pallets and crates are repaired and reused whenever possible.

The company optimizes the number of work surfaces cut from each MDF to reduce the amount of waste.

It also focuses on manufacturing its products from recycled material. The company estimates that 28 percent of its typical platform workstation is made of recycled material.

In addition, 27 percent of its typical office specialty products is recycled material and a typical movable wall configuration is 21 percent recycled material. Its products’ cardboard packaging is also 100-percent biodegradable, Mathur points out. “We try to use highly environmental materials that can be re-processed from cradle to cradle,” he says.