Egan Visual acquired Exact Furniture, a Toronto-based manufacturer of custom furniture for the professional AV market, a compliment to Egan's existing products and a boost into a growing industry segment.
Exact is sold primarily for education, office and other professional environments, primarily through professional audio video integrators and resellers. The brand currently does not have much of a presence in the contract office world, but according to Egan Visual President and Chief Executive Officer Sean Brown, they have a nice line that is highly customizable on short lead times.
“I'm certainly aware, as I'm sure you are that a lot of contract office dealers have started to forge alliances, or even partner with formally or informally, professional AV dealers or integrators and we're excited about this because it gives our dealers easy access to a proven line of professional AV furniture,” he said.
Exact, which has been in business for 15 years, has a line that includes lecterns, static and height-adjustable tables and desks, credenzas, and other products, many of which are designed for, and can be customized for, technology integration.
Egan, of course, is known as a producer of high design whiteboards, glassboards, and other products that drive engagement. It has always offered a line of lecterns and centers. That is now significantly enhanced; the entirety of the Exact product range is now available to all Egan dealers as the Egan Exact line and are also included in the INDEAL program.
Exact will continue to serve customers through its nationwide network of Pro AV Integrators. These resellers benefit from Exact's new access to Egan production capabilities, sales support, marketing programs, and Egan capabilities in industrial design.
“The primary motivation for Egan is responding to the needs of our existing contract office dealers,” Brown said. “We were getting asked more and more for furniture that would address needs like this — that the lecterns and podiums that we would sell could be customized in some way for room controls and other AV equipment. Exact is a great fit. It's dealer based and then user/customer based in the pro-AV world, so no major changes happening in that side.
“All Egan dealers will now have access to this line through Egan. They don't have to call Exact and find out who their Exact rep is and set up an account with Exact — none of that. The bullet point there is exactfurniture.com has information on line. It's not currently integrated to egan.com yet, but Egan dealers can direct your inquiries on anything they see at exactfurniture.com to Egan or to an Egan rep.”
Brown said all Egan products are built to inspire and offer specifiers and end users three important things: Innovative design, deep option sets for easy configuration, and an ability to customize – on short lead times and typically with no minimum order quantity.
Exact isn't a tech company, but it does understand its role in the digital world. Its furniture supports the technology created by AV tech companies like Crestron and AMX. Exact is sought after in the industry because Brown said the company understands how to build and customize that furniture properly so the integrator can easily put tech into it.
“When you think about the Egan value proposition, it makes a lot of sense. So if we take glass as an example, which is obviously a hot product in the contract office world: If you look at our glass line today, we have a larger offering of glass products than any company on the market, even glass specialists,” he said. “Our ability to customize on short lead times with no minimum or quantity is really key. I was thinking about the service and how you make life easy for the dealer and make life easier for the end user. That really is the difference. Having a good product isn't enough anymore. Innovative products that are built well is the starting point.”
In June at NeoCon, Egan announced that it would go from 10 standard glassboard colors to 1,050 standard colors. All 1,050 of those standard colors are available on a 14 day lead time, which Brown said is unmatched in the industry. He said it shows the kind of response that Egan and Working Walls and Exact together are bringing to the marketplace, to make life easier for the dealer and their specifier and end user.
The acquisition of Exact follows the recent Egan acquisition of Working Walls, a 30-year manufacturer of acoustical panels that are available in a wide array of commercial fabrics. Like Working Walls, the Exact acquisition complements the existing Egan line in a way that is sure to please specifiers, dealers, and end user clients, Brown said.
“The driver for this is to improve the product offering for Egan contract office dealers,” he said. “We want them to have access to this product and it's a nice fit for Egan. We already have a furniture line and it's consistent with the Egan strategy, which is innovative design, deep option sets for easy configurations, and an ability to customize on short lead times, typically with no minimum or quantity
“There are companies who aren't specialists in contract office furniture and when customers approach them, what we hear is that they just don't know how to speak the language or understand the needs. That's always been an Egan strength. It's a strength with Exact and we're excited to make this line available to customers to help dealers, and specifiers, and end users solve problems quickly.”
At NeoCon 2018, Egan unveiled a new showroom in the Mart (10-151) to celebrate Egan's 50th NeoCon appearance. Working Walls and s