Subject
Headquartered in Fort Worth , Texas , Alcon is a worldwide company committed to the discovery, development and manufacture of eye care products.

Workplace Objectives
Thanks to impressive growth in the industry, change is constant at Alcon's 150-acre corporate campus. When the eye-care giant planned to reorganize 11 floors of office space to accommodate its growing work force, Alcon had the following objectives in mind:

Solutions
"They understand our corporate culture and our people, from the CEO to the quality assurance staff." SUZANNE TAYLOR, ALCON

Nearly every department at Alcon was involved in the reorganization in some way. Fortunately, the Business Interiors' staff was onsite and ready to put the moving plan into action.

Executives were moved from various departments on campus to a single floor of the Administration Building . Steelcase Pathways was selected as the new standard to empower employees and support the high-tech equipment they used.

B.I. designers prepared floor plans that showed exact placement of new and existing furniture for the new offices. "A thorough inventory had been taken so we could look for opportunities to reuse existing furniture along with the new Pathways workstations," said Business Interiors' account manager Karen McKinzie.

Business Interiors' Service and Refurbishing department applied paint finishes and new work surfaces to the existing inventory to match that of new inventory. Furniture was dismantled, walls were moved to create new workspaces and offices, and carpet was installed. At times, more than 26 installers were on campus to complete the moves.

Results
"Our business relationship allowed us to quickly focus on logistics and execute a plan to meet Alcon's financial goals and time constraints. Our level of knowledge about their products and people was invaluable for facilitating a project this size." KAREN MCKINZIE, Business Interiors.

Bringing the executives together on one floor created more synergy between departments. By making the best use of existing inventory, Alcon was able to slowly build a new furniture line without spending a lot of money at one time. Steelcase Pathways works in conjunction with the existing product and supports the inevitable communication and technological challenges that is inherent with a dynamic company. Business Interiors executed the move with zero down time even though some of Alcon's departments are open around the clock to service customers in twenty-four different time zones.

Phase I was completed in six months, and the BI team shifted its focus to other areas of the Alcon campus. According to Suzanne Taylor, facilities manager in the corporate engineering department at Alcon, the company is in the process of reassessing its standard sizes for offices and cubicles and wants Business Interiors to help them restructure and design more team-meeting areas on campus.

Alcon also has an excellent employee retention rate and is focused on keeping its existing workforce healthy. Weekly ergonomics assessments of working environments are conducted by Business Interiors. These assessments provide training in the proper use of work place components that enable Alcon employees to perform daily tasks in a healthy environment.

Alcon has relied on Business Interiors' services for more than 20 years. Over the years, Business Interiors has become much more than a furniture vendor to Alcon Laboratories. Alcon relies on Business Interiors to stay abreast of workspace innovations, so its working environment keeps pace with the corporation's growth. One of the things valued most about working with B.I. is their ability to facilitate as well as anticipate the workspace needs on campus.

"A lot of companies give great lip service to the term 'partner,' but Business Interiors really illustrates it." SUZANNE TAYLOR, ALCON