A note from our CEOTuesday, September 5, 2023
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Dear Stance Partners,
I am honored to lead a company that not only provides industry-leading products but is also deeply committed to improving lives by design. Today, I want to speak about our focus on company culture and community involvement; two ways in which Stance seeks to make a positive impact in the lives of the people we lead, and in the world around us.
Let’s begin with culture. Company culture is not just a buzzword at Stance; it is the driving force behind our actions and how we conduct ourselves. We firmly believe that core values are the foundation that underpins any great culture. At Stance, our values serve as guiding principles that enable us to navigate challenges, foster teamwork, and achieve excellence. They are the heartbeat of our organization, reminding us of our purpose and what we stand for.
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NEW Solid Surface OptionsTuesday, July 11, 2023
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The look of wood with extreme durability In a healthcare environment, surface areas like table tops and arm caps are a critical design aspect of a given space – they can affect everything from an area’s safety and cleanability, to its aesthetics and comfort. Increasingly in the post-COVID era, surface finish selections are a top consideration for designers and facility planners when specifying products for healthcare.
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In an industry plagued by supply chain delays and operational interruptions, Stance Healthcare’s Stratford, ON furniture manufacturing center has a formula for smooth sailing. We spoke with Shane Castle, Stance’s Director of Supply Chain Management, about what makes the Stratford factory’s 10-person team so special — and how they work together to deliver our premium quality products on time.
While navigating COVID-related supply issues, Stance acquired the Stratford facility in February 2021 to help support the company’s primary manufacturing operations in Kitchener, ON. At the time, the location was solely equipped for producing casegoods; today, Stance’s small-but-mighty Stratford team of 10 has evolved the location’s capabilities to cover virtually every aspect of manufacturing Stance’s expansive product pipeline. From the award-winning Resilia drum table, to customer favorites Kindred, Gibraltar, and Liberty lines — it’s all made here and delivered quickly, with our casegoods arriving in an impressive average of 6 weeks’ turnaround time.
“We’re nimble because our entire team is cross-trained, so everything we do really is a true team effort,” said Castle. He noted that the team has “perfected” wrapping the Resilia table and has worked to clean up and greatly improve the facility itself through new lighting and all-around better operational efficiency.
The team’s ability to scale and perform quickly is the result of both the talent of the highly-skilled staff and the environment they initially started out working in: peak COVID, with all of its workforce and supply chain issues. At a time when healthcare facilities were at capacity, Stratford answered calls to quickly produce and deliver Stance’s products, including bedside tables and beds, for pop-up facilities designed to accommodate more sick patients.
The experience of performing during COVID well prepared the healthcare furniture team at Stratford to continue thriving amid supply chain issues today. Castle credits the team’s success to their focus on true collaboration and teamwork, communication, and a fierce commitment to quality.
“Our competitors right now are generally delivering product in around 12 weeks’ time — but we’re able to stay nimble and deliver [our casegoods] in nearly half that time.”
When they’re not working together to bring award-winning products to market, the Stratford team dedicates time to giving back to its tight-knit community. Since their inception in 2021, the group has proudly supported Rotary Hospice Stratford Perth and Make-a-Wish Canada through sponsorships that support palliative-care patients and their loved ones, and grant “wishes” to terminally ill children, respectively.
“This is such a great team, Castle said. Everyone works together — and the advantage of our lean team is that we are all cross-trained and most importantly, willing to help each other. We are truly a small team that’s doing big things.”
With such a successful track record, the Stratford healthcare furniture team and Stance leadership are exploring ways to continue expanding the operation through more investment and growth. Stay tuned to the Stance blog for future news and insights about the Stratford team, and many ways it supports our company’s commitment to Improving Lives by Design.
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A note from our CEOWednesday, January 11, 2023
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Dear Stance partners,
During the holiday season, I took time to reflect back on all that we have achieved over the past few years, despite the tremendous odds presented by the pandemic and subsequent supply-chain challenges. I am grateful to say that Stance has emerged from this adversity stronger than ever before.
While our sales flat-lined in 2020, they grew quickly in the two subsequent years, and we are projecting a continued strong trajectory of growth in 2023. This is a result of many individual achievements by the entire Stance team and our network of Independent Reps. These achievements include a complete rebrand, a full-service showroom in North Carolina, several award-winning new products, a #1 ranked Behavioral Health CEU and a next-level appearance at HCD 2022 in San Antonio. To all these individuals, I wish to extend a big Thank You! Your effort and contribution to our ongoing success is much appreciated.
It is our commitment to continue to introduce innovative new products that enhance the healing experience of patients, while providing comfort for caregivers and family members. This is part of Stance’s mission of Improving Lives by Design, a mission that also extends to all members of the Stance family, and the wider community around us. Last year, we were able to support more causes than ever before, from providing clean water to a community in Africa to donating furniture to a new mental health clinic and several other impactful initiatives. We are pleased to be able to give back in this way.
Speaking of new products, 2023 is going to be another busy year for our Engineering team. With a very full pipeline of products in development, our team is working hard to bring these to fruition and we are excited about what we will be bringing to market this year for General and Behavioral Health applications.
We will also continue to strive to provide the same level of customer service that we have become known for. Our Customer Service team is passionate about setting Stance apart by offering a level of support that is second to none in our industry. Stance would not be where we are today without this stellar team.
Again, thank you all for your support. I wish you all the very best in 2023!
Sincerely,
Carl Kennedy Founder & CEO
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Engineering a Better Healthcare ExperienceTuesday, December 6, 2022
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How the Stance Engineering Team Improves Lives by Design
As industry leaders in healthcare furniture, Stance Healthcare and Stance Behavioral Health continuously strive to improve lives by design every day. That starts with having the right people in place at every stage of the design process. The talented, experienced members of the Engineering Team at Stance are the people who bring the design to life, creating hardworking, comfortable, and inviting furniture for every type of healthcare space.
From 3D CAD drawings and CNC programming to research and product testing, the multidisciplinary team works together across a number of categories to produce industry-leading healthcare furniture day in and day out. Each team member brings specialized expertise that makes this possible.
It all starts with Cesar Fernandes, the Design and Development Manager. Cesar has over 24 years of awarded experience in the industry, with his last three years spent at Stance leading the Engineering Team. He works with all departments at Stance to make sure product design and development are a success. With a background in furniture design, Cesar finds beauty in simplicity and helps bring a clean, modern look to Stance products. But it’s his ability to get the most out of his talented team that really makes a difference.
Ioan Popa, the Engineering Manager at Stance, is the team member who brings the most industry experience to the table, with over 29 years in the mechanical engineering field. As a manager, Ioan leads with his ingenuity and instills efficiency and integrity in his team.
Matthew Caskanette helps bring the Design Team’s ideas to life. His strengths in 3D modeling and CNC programming ensure the most efficient and cost-effective production solutions are implemented. He’s only been with Stance for 5 months, but he brings 14 years of furniture engineering experience and a great attitude to the team.
The Product Realization Specialist at Stance, Colin Cook, has over 20 years of product engineering experience specializing in the casegoods side of the brand. He works across multiple teams to develop, program, and test new and updated products, and he ensures that current products move seamlessly through the facility.
Adriana Achimescu, a Mechanical Design Engineer, has been developing furniture for Stance Healthcare for two years and brings over 25 years of experience to the team. She has applied her technical and structural skills to a wide array of products from tables to modular seating.
The final member of the team, Crawford Melvin, has been helping Stance bring concepts to reality since 2017. His experience is diverse and spans product engineering to product configuration. He has also been a primary specialist in providing customer service engineering support.
Every member of the team performs a key role and works together for a final outcome that benefits everyone in the healthcare space. With these experienced, collaborative, and highly talented people on board, the Engineering Team at Stance Healthcare will continue producing industry-leading furniture for years to come.
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A Note from Carl: Improving Lives by Design, Today & TomorrowMonday, September 19, 2022
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It’s been a busy few months at Stance, as our team prepares new product lines for release and gears up for a successful exhibit at this October’s HCD Conference + Expo. But as we continue the important work to champion our exceptional products to customers in the healthcare world, we are also equally invested in Improving Lives by Design from within — and today, I’m pleased to share some of the work we’ve done together to make our team even stronger from the inside.
First and foremost, we’ve spent time examining what our mission statement, Improving Lives by Design, means for us all as equally valuable team members sharing a common vision and goal. When we launched the new brand last year, we focused the mission statement externally around how our products support patients, care providers, and visitors toward a positive, healing healthcare experience. Today, that’s still our guiding compass. But recently, we’ve reflected more inwardly on this, and considered how each Stance team member contributes to this higher purpose by showing up with this mission in mind each day.
A result of these conversations that I’m excited to share is our new core values, which empower our every team member with a collective ethos that upholds this mission. At Stance, we provide industry-leading products and unmatched quality that Improves Lives by following these STEPS together: Small things are the big things. We take care of the small things, in order to get the big things right. Our attention to detail is how we exceed expectations.
Teamwork over ego. Every one of us plays a role in our success. Our team is humble, collaborative, and mutually supportive: We give credit where it’s due and own up to our mistakes. Excellence is a moving target. We strive to continuously improve ourselves so that we can be better, healthier, and more knowledgeable tomorrow than we are today.
Powered by positive energy. We rely on intentional positivity to energize and bring out the best in each other, and embrace opportunities to celebrate our individual and collective successes.
Simply get it done. Our team does what it takes to overcome obstacles, find innovative solutions, and deliver results.
As a team, it was important to us that we chose values that go beyond lip service to authentically describe who we are as a company — and would serve as guidelines to remind us to stay true to who we are as we continue to scale the business. I am proud of the way these values reinforce that goal, and even prouder of the team who works together to implement them.
As your leadership team, we take this commitment seriously. In the spirit of our third core value, “Excellence is a moving target,” we have been deeply considering the organization, its growth, and how we can best work to lead the company toward continued momentum and progress. After some reflection on the best paths to get there, we have decided to update some of our roles and responsibilities. Effective immediately, my role will change from President to CEO, with Brian Kennedy stepping into the newly created role of Chief Operating Officer.
As COO, Brian will become even more integrated into the day-to-day business activities, and provide more structure and support for our organization’s many different teams. Brian and I will work closely together, and we will be interchangeably available to our colleagues at any time. Our hope is that the increased support from Brian’s new role will provide even more fuel to continue powering our team forward as we pursue the many exciting new paths toward growth and success – paths that always lead, most importantly, to Improving Lives by Design.
Carl
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Cutting and Sewing: A look behind the scenes of the manufacturing processTuesday, August 23, 2022
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Our Cutting and Sewing Department Has The Experience To Excel
At Stance Healthcare and Stance Behavioral Health, we’re leveraging years of industry experience to cut, sew and craft high-quality furniture that works hard and looks great in any setting. We source the best materials and hire expert cutters and sewers to ensure our products exceed expectations from start to finish.
All of our upholstered furniture starts with our cutting department, which sets the pace for the rest of the manufacturing process. The cutting team’s job starts by ensuring we are getting the best yield of material possible. By being efficient and using the least amount of material, we cut down on costs and are able to pass those savings on to our customers. Our experienced cutting team makes sure the quality of fabric meets our strenuous standards, and then cuts the materials to match the style and patterns of the seating. This ensures the lines are horizontal and clean – helping the seams match up so our sewing department can effectively continue the manufacturing process.
Our cutting department consists of three highly skilled and experienced cutters. In fact, we have 64 years of total industry experience on our cutting team. Two of our team members, Bryan and Denise, have been in the cutting department with us since 2016. The other member of our cutting team, Arlene, has been here helping set the pace for the manufacturing process since 2015. Our sewing department has seven dedicated experts with over 206 total years of industry sewing experience. Our newest members, Sheila, Megan, Lana and Mayda, started in 2022, 2020 and 2019 respectively. But the majority of our team has been with us for several years. Polly has been on our team since 2016 and Patricia is our longest-tenured sewer, having been with us since 2010. The sewer with the next most experience with us, Hector, has been on our sewing team since 2012, and Van started on our team back in 2016.
Both teams work in a fast-paced environment with no downtime, helping set the tone for the rest of the manufacturing process along the way. With our experienced cutting and sewing departments, we’ve got the right people, processes and materials in place to continue producing top-of-the-line healthcare furniture that’s also affordable, versatile and durable. Learn more about our products and the attention to detail that goes into every one of them at StanceHealthcare.com and stancebh.com.
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Customer Service That Sets Us ApartTuesday, June 28, 2022
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Stance Healthcare Has The People In Place To Provide Unmatched Customer Service
Stance Healthcare’s Customer Service team has been able to experience so much success thanks to their years of experience and expertise in the industry. The Customer Service team is all women, with tenure ranging from 6 months to 8 years at Stance Healthcare. The team has been built and grown with purpose, and Stance Healthcare has brought in new talent and retained its valuable employees to ensure it continues providing the best customer service possible.
Overall, the team offers more than 75 years of cumulative experience at your service. That kind of experience and industry knowledge uniquely prepares our team to tackle whatever challenges arise. It’s easy to see why Stance Healthcare continues to set the gold standard in customer service in the Contract Furniture Industry and beyond. To contact our Customer Service Team, visit StanceHealthcare.com/contact. |
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Suzanne Fawley, Behavioral Health Interior Designer, Earns Healthcare Interior Design CredentialTuesday, February 8, 2022
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[CHARLOTTE, N.C.]—Suzanne Phillips Fawley, an interior designer representing Stance Healthcare, based in Kitchener, Ontario with product showrooms and healthcare contract facilities in the U.S., recently passed the American Academy of Healthcare Interior Designers (AAHID) examination and earned the prestigious CHID Certified Healthcare Interior Designer ® certificate.
Passage of the examination and earning the CHID credential signifies that Suzanne has met the standards for education, experience and examination and is a certified healthcare interior designer. The CHID examination requires examinees to demonstrate knowledge and experience in a variety of aspects that affect the acute care, ambulatory care and residential healthcare interior environments.
AAHID is the standard to identify those interior designers who are uniquely qualified to meet the needs and challenges of the healthcare interior design industry. The CHID certificate is the highest appellation available for a healthcare interior design professional, and this credential is what every healthcare facility should look for when choosing an interior designer.
With over 25 years of contract and Healthcare Interior Design experience, Suzanne specializes in Healthcare and Behavioral Health Interior Design, product application, and furniture product design. In her current position with Stance Healthcare, Suzanne is responsible for Behavioral Health initiatives including Behavioral Health Interior Design consulting, education efforts through CEU development, product development and Brand experience. Suzanne’s collaborations with Stance Healthcare have contributed to three HCD Nightingale Gold award wins since 2017: the Resilia Table Collection for Behavioral Health; the Frontier Collection in 2019; and most recently, in 2021 for the Flo Dining Collection for Behavioral Health. In 2021, Suzanne's CEU course, "Behavioral Health Design: Learning from the Past to Design for the Future" was ranked #1 on the IDCEC website for several weeks.
“The CHID credential only solidifies the knowledge and talent we already knew Suzanne had,” said Carl Kennedy, Stance Healthcare’s president. “Her passion and industry experience resonates in the delivery of the Stance-sponsored Behavioral Health CEU and in the product designs she so thoughtfully helps create with us.”
CHID Certified Healthcare Interior Designers ® are distinguished and qualified by education, examination, and work experience to practice healthcare interior design. The CHID appellation recognizes excellence, commitment and knowledge. It further distinguishes preeminent healthcare interior designers from other architects, designers, decorators, and interior designers. More information about the organization may be found at www.aahid.org.
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Stance Healthcare Launches Configura CET Extension for Designers, DealersTuesday, January 25, 2022
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New virtual design platform will enhance space planning capabilities for users specifying Stance products in healthcare facilities
Stance Healthcare, award-winning manufacturer of general healthcare and Behavioral Health furniture, announces the launch of their CET Commercial Interiors extension from Configura. Used by thousands of people globally, the popular space planning software will now be available for the growing number of interior designers, architects and furniture dealers looking to specify Stance products in healthcare environments.
Offering the full product selection journey within one application, the CET extension leads users through the design, specification, presentation, and purchasing phases of the space planning experience. The program allows users to apply standard finishes and materials, and see 2D and 3D renderings and pricing, among other features.
“Launching the CET extension means more designers and facility planners now have the opportunity to envision Stance’s versatile product selections in various healthcare settings,” said Carl Kennedy, Stance Healthcare’s president. “Demand continues to grow for this service within the healthcare design industry. Offering the CET extension elevates our position in the market, while more importantly increasing value and efficiency for our customers. Adding CET supports our commitment to Improving Lives by Design, as we strive to be a true partner and support for all of our customers in every phase of their product selection experience.”
Users of Stance’s CET extension will enjoy access to both a Stance Healthcare and Stance Behavioral Health catalog, with the company’s entire seating and table product portfolio now available and casegoods to follow later in 2022.
To learn more about Configura’s CET software for commercial interiors, visit https://www.configura.com/industries/commercial-interiors. Follow the latest insights and product releases from Stance Healthcare and Stance Behavioral Health on LinkedIn and on their websites, here and here.
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