From the days of custom built wood furniture to today’s high sociability, adaptable, and highly productive work spaces… C&R has satisfied countless organizations and have consistently delighted their Employees.
C&R Interiors was established in Singapore in 1977 at a time when custom build wood furniture was still in vogue, executive rooms were built with solid walls, and the concept of Work Stations still unknown. It had a humble beginning. From this humble beginning , C&R has since developed as an established Commercial Manufacturer dedicated to craftsmanship, fueled by the passion for to provide the best in design.
Early beginnings in System Furniture
Elegant, Ergonomic Designs Transforming Office Landscapes
Moving Ahead with the Science of Ergonomics
Making Ergonomic Furniture Affordable to More Employees
Developing a Winning Team and Strong Corporate Culture
Striding towards a Bright Future
Early Beginnings in System Furniture
In the 1980s when the trend of Office Cubicles gained attention, our founders studiously researched these new trends and through painful trial and errors develop their own range of partitions and connectors, which enabled cost conscious companies to enjoy these new and productive concepts.
Their diligence, resilience and dedication to good craftsmanship and innovation paid off. The Singapore economy grew, commercial activities blossomed. Existing business expanded and new businesses mushroomed….and so did the demand for Commercial Furniture.
With their reputation for good quality and reliability growing, the order books were constantly filled to the extent that the business had to expand, modernize and focus on the expanding market for commercial furniture.
Factory modernisation came in phases and continuously as the business moved its manufacturing facilities from its original plant in Ang Mo Kio to Tuas and Defu, finally consolidating at the expanded 45,000 sq ft on Joo Koon Research Centre where it is now located. Customer Showrooms, Customer Service and Administrative Support were also progressively upgraded.
The Mid 1980s saw Singapore in its first serious economic crunch in its modern history. Many furniture Manufacturers folded or moved to lower cost countries. C&R persisted and our resilience paid off. A failing manufacturer had reneged on a government contract and we had the opportunity to break into this important market which we have served successfully ever since.
Today C&R has grown from the 15 staff it had in 1980 to its more than 250 current strength. We strive to be Innovative, always up-to date and service-oriented. C&R strives to make ergonomic work spaces a reality for employees of every organisation through their quality range of made-in-Singapore Commercial Furniture.
Elegant, Ergonomic Designs Transforming Office Landscapes
Many C&R products have become popular and well known among the interior design community for its styling, workmanship, functionality, and choice fabrics and materials and Finishes. Most of all, we have been recognized for our fast delivery lead time and responsive flexible service. C&R’s original System One and System Two has evolve into the current three popular Office Systems, Essentia, Tivoli and Nouvia, which together with our Desking and Seating Solutions form the backbone of our workspace and commercial furniture solutions found in our Products Section. C&R’s Design Focus is to provide multiple components to enable highly flexible configurations of workstations in a manner that is easy to install and provides employees the desired level of interactions within a team cluster with a comprehensive and practical range of functionalities ,,,storage units, shelving, and an easy to use wire and cable management system, in a manner that is Elegant, Ergonomic, Econ-Friendly and Economic.
Commitment to Innovation. C&R is committed to innovate on our existing product range to meet the needs and preference of customers and changing industry trends.
Our deep concern with the environment will see the emergence of more environmentally friendly products and services. C&R intends to promote more public education about Green Work space, just as we have done for ergonomic furniture in the past. In this new thrust we look forward to collaborations and alliances with the many businesses in the newly emerging green industry, each with their own specialization.
The dynamics of information technology has had greater and more profound impact on the way people work and in workspace designs than any other factor. This is expected to continue into the future. C&R is committed to keep ahead of these trends by increasing our engagement with universities, polytechnics and research institutes in Singapore and China. The Nouvia Office System, when it was first introduced revolutionized the contract furniture industry by incorporating standards–compliant plug and play cable management system in its superior quality, affordability, stackable panel systems. C&R looks toward more innovations of this nature and will seek collaboration with IT vendors and manufacturers to bundle their equipment into C&R Office concepts.
Moving ahead on the Science of Ergonomics…
C&R has since its inception made furniture that is functional and comfortable. From the early 1980s, the Science of Management infusing the multi-discipline of Organization and People Management, Human Psychology, Industrial engineering began to push the Commercial Furniture Industry’s creativity and innovation to new horizons, challenging them to create more ergonomic furniture that would enliven workplace environments, provide more comfort, functionality, convenience to optimize both manpower and space productivity.
Our pursuit of ergonomics is a story of push and tug.
An Engineer from C&R R&D department recounted,
“New technology and knowledge were tugging at us. We devoted a lot of time and resource to learn, research, and to adapt the best practices in this area , but initially the market did not accept it, as the cost were higher. We had to push them through continuous education. We also devoted a lot of focus to cost management so that we can create ergonomic commercial furniture that are more affordable than those from overseas.”
With the more affordable pricing, organizations including government offices, universities began to look into ergonomics. And the mass market for ergonomic office furniture started in earnest. C&R takes pride that it is part of this movement.
“We see so many older workers having back pains, even spine injuries from poor seating and office designs that require them to bend and stretch excessively. We will like to see all employees working within in ergonomically work spaces and furnishings. This will make them more healthy, comfortable, health and more productive” says Alan Ng, who champions the company’s new product development
Making Ergonomic Furniture Affordable to More Employees
Intensive Cost Management, application of Lean Principles in managing our Manufacturing and Supply Chain have help C&R keep the cost of ergonomic furniture affordable to allow for even small and medium size businesses to acquire them. C&R plant uses flexible manufacturing system that enables us to shorten our production runs and effectively fill small orders. Plant workers are highly skilled craftsmen with extensive experience in wood furniture. As a result, productivity levels are high and material wastage is minimal. The combination of a skilled, motivated workforce with the latest technology have enhanced productivity to give us a price competitive advantage allowing us to make Ergonomic Furniture affordable to More Employees. Today C&R not only serve major clients which includes the National University of Singapore, Nanyang, Ngee Ann and Temasek Polytechnic, Shell Singapore, Keppel Land, but have a host of customers amongst Small and Medium Size Businesses
C&R recognizes our responsibility to maintain and improve the environment. Our GREEN ENVIRONMENT STATEMENT to commit us to promoting degradability, reusability and recycling in the design of products, and the use of environmentally friendly material and production processes in our manufacturing operations.
We also pledge to minimize the environmental impact by:
· Using Safe, environmentally sound practices in manufacturing practices, production cycling and recycling of raw material, ie plastic, steel, aluminum, foam and textiles;
· Selecting materials that can be recycled at the end of the product life cycle and create designs,
· Minimizing the use of co-mingled components, and
· Choosing fasteners that enable easy disassembly to simplify recycling of fasteners
· Making disassemble process as easy as possible with common and tools.
· Eliminating the use of Adhesives wherever possible.
Developing a Winning Team and Strong Corporate Culture
Much of C&R’s success and development is attributed our dedicated staff who have created synergy working from different departments seamlessly as one united team to diligently meet customers’ needs and preferences and to educate them on the new trends in office ergonomics and work culture.
In C&R, we accept that everyone has their strengths and weaknesses with an open heart and mind, We welcome challenges and obstacles that we overcome to achieve success. This culture has helped us attract, retain and motivate staff towards high performance. Today the company has instilled in its people a Values that focuses on being
· Revolutionary in Design Innovation
· Respectful of Self, Customers, Company, Colleagues, Society and the Environment
· Responsible. To be accountable for own actions and to make people aware of any possible impact that our actions may have on them.
· Resilient. To be able to meet, recover and learn from challenges and difficult situations
· Rising and Shining. To be always progressing, learning and a role model for others.
Our first breakthrough into the international markets was as far back as in 1993 with projects in Cambodia and Philippines. Since then we have expanded our export business to Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, Japan, Denmark, the USA and most recently to the Middle East countries.
The next few years will see more dedicated focus on selected markets with the establishment of overseas marketing and sourcing offices.
Manufacturing facilities may be established overseas to gain proximity to market or to gain cost competences for export efforts.
C&R will strive diligently to improve our capability to serve existing and prospective customer in the Local and Overseas Market.
Striding towards a Bright Future
C&R can certainly look towards being the most established Singapore System Furniture manufacturer with a global presence offering reliable customer service, innovative design and consistent quality products, with price options that will allow every organisation to afford ergonomic workspaces for its people.
While we strive to be Elegant, Ergonomic. Eco-Friendly, and Economic, we realise that these are dynamic concepts interpreted differently by customers in different situation and time. It is only through intimate understanding the needs of customers that we can give of our best.
In our Service Mission, C&R is dedicated to serve its existing and future customers excellently through
· Effective Project Management to ensure that customers are delighted with beyond expectation fulfillment.
· Innovation and Design Breakthroughs to bring customer the best of products and designs
· Rigorous Cost Management, to keep prices affordable.
· Process Improvements and Employee Competency Upgrading to shorten production lead times
· Aggressive sourcing of material and components leveraging on Singapore’s excellent position at the heart of the world’s largest manufacturing basin to enhance our products and design at the lowest cost.
We look forward to be of service to you. Please Contact Us to discover more about what we can do for you.
