ace workstation chair range by N K Hegde from india

OVERVIEW:
ACE is an executive chair range meant to address the needs of users in modern working environments. ACE is a simple and intuitive ergonomically designed chair with user-friendly control knobs to get optimum support for a comfortable seating experience. The organic form derived from nature, coupled with the embellishing polished aluminum components, makes ACE enliven your workspace. The see-through mesh back not only aids better ventilation but also harmonizes the chair with its surrounding environment, making it visually lighter.

OFFERING:
Ace chair range is offered in variety of options. The base models are High-Back(Full Back with Neck-rest), Full-back and Visitor chairs and variants are available on the same platform of seat, back and armrest as mentioned in the statement of line.

STATEMENT OF LINE:
1. ACE High-Back (Full Back with Neck-rest) chair with Cushioned Seat option.
Variants - High-Back (Full Back with Neck-rest) with Mesh Seat, High-Back (Full Back with Neck-rest) with Auto-return mechanism and Glides for Conference room application.
2. ACE Full-back chair with Cushioned Seat option
Variants - Full-back with Mesh Seat, Full-Back with Auto-return mechanism and Glides for Conference room application.
3. ACE Full-Back Visitor/Waiting sled-base chair with Cushioned Seat option. Variants - Full-back visitor with Mesh Seat.
All chairs are available in Polyester Fabric as standard and Leather, Artificial Leather & Foam-laminated fabric upholstery as customized versions also.

DESIGN:
Formal inspiration came from naturally occurring designs such as the tip of a growing fern, a spiral that slowly unwinds its stem to unfold its leaves, or man-made object such as the Chistera glove with its long sweeping basket. The shape is highlighted by the continuity in form with sweeping lines seamlessly flowing from one component to the other.

INTENDED USE:
The ACE chair is apt as an office work chair and for home-office applications. The chair is designed keeping in mind Indian sensibilities and offers contemporary styling making the seating experience pleasurable. With a variety of adjustability features the chairs can accommodate a wide range of population with respect to the body size and weight. The options in functional features allow it to be used in all areas beyond the workstation such as board room, conference room and visitor areas. The ACE fit into all kinds of office environments in IT & IT enabled service providers, Banking and Financial Services sector, Multi-nationals and Corporates and Public Sector Undertakings.

2. MATERIALS

The ACE chair is made up primarily of engineering materials like plastic and aluminium.

Pedestal Base, Spine, Armrest support and Tilt-mechanism body are in Aluminium.

The Back and Seat assemblies are in two parts. The Outer is the structural part and the Inner houses the foam and upholstery fabric.

The Back, Seat and Armrest outer parts are made in high-strength glass filled poly-amide to achieve structural strength through its life of the product. The Back, Seat inner and Lumbar Support parts are made in poly-propylene which is versatile and flexible for assemblies. The joineries are snap fitted using poly-amide lugs.

Recyclable content in ACE chair is 99 percent. The Pre-consumer Recycled Content is 10 percent and Post-consumer Recycled content is 12 percent considering materials used in ACE High-Back (Full Back with Neck-rest) chair. Godrej Interio shares the environment related data regarding all chairs it produces upon request of the customer.

The product is shipped in semi-knock down condition and packaging material is made from 100 percent recycled and recyclable corrugated paper.

3. PROCESSES

Parts like Pedestal Base, Spine, Armrest support and Tilt-mechanism body are in Aluminum using High-Pressure Die-Casting process. These parts are buff polished to retain its natural texture and shine except for the mechanism body which is powder-coated in black colour.

Plastic parts are injection moulded in special jet black colour which gives a rich visual feel to the chair.

The chair does not require any additional coatings except for the mechanism which is powder-coated and free of VOC emissions.

All manufacturing facilities of Godrej Interio is ISO 9001, ISO 14001 and OHSAS 18001 certified.

5. INNOVATION

The challenge of making users of all sizes and weights comfortable was a challenge that was resolved with intuitive adjustability features and auto weight balancing mechanism. The Seat Height, Seat Depth, Lumbar Support, Neck Support, Armrest are all adjustable to suit different body sizes and proportions. This allows delivery of comfort to most of the users without much effort in adjustments.

The Active Bio-Synchro(TM) Mechanism has a user-friendly 5 position Tilt-limiter which allows the user to recline in 5 different back tilt angle positions. The mechanism is designed with an Auto-Tilt Tension adjusting feature which adjusts the tilt tension automatically as per the weight of the user, and over and above that it has a manual over-ride for specific needs of back tilt-tension.

The unique feature of Bio-Flex(TM) Lumbar Support provides a hugging support to the lower back and flexes as per body movements of the user done during the activities while sitting. This allows constant support for the back in all alert or working postures and gives support till you recline upto 10 degrees in relaxed posture. The support shifts to upper body after 10 degree of reclining and the structural mesh back takes care of the load coming from the upper body.

The waterfall design of PU arm-top is the unique element of the chair. These drooping surface results in no sharp edges on the seating side and the user can comfortably put the arms in cross-folded way during meetings and discussions without much worry.

The Armrest height feature starting a low position is also a new element in chairs considering the modern day use of laptops and keyboard pull-out trays don’t require arm supports on chairs. The Armrest can be lowered and retracted in rear direction to a position where it does not hit the table top and leaves the possibility of free movement of hands.

Another innovation was to achieve low variety and volume of finished good inventory by making the Neck-rest as a retro-fit component which can be fitted over a Full-Back chair anytime. This means that only the Full-Back chair is standard product which occupies space in the warehouse and can be converted to a higher back on-site by retro-fitting the Neck-rest component which comes in a small pack. The neck-rest can be separately serviced and added later as per requirement of the customer. This resulted in saving lot of warehouse space considering making and storage of a High-Back chair is not required at factory warehouse. The item coding has been done accordingly.

Materials such as Mesh fabric allows ventilation, prevent hot spots as seen in cushioned back chairs and creates a feeling of visual lightness due to its see through construction.

ACE chair does not contain any wood or wood-based material.

Godrej Interio’s ACE chair would be one of the pioneers in premium category contemporary chairs to be manufactured in India, thereby competing with costlier imported chairs from global brands. This gives a fair deal to the customers seeking good quality and finished product in India.

From the organizations perspective, this was the first step for change to modern materials and processes from traditional technology of chair manufacturing. It opened up huge possibilities of extending our product basket and firmly establishes Godrej Interio as a Market Leader in chair business.

ACE among other two Godrej Interio chairs is the first chair from an Indian manufacturer to be GREENGUARD certified for Indoor Air Quality standards. This also means the chair can contribute in getting important points in LEED ratings for buildings and office spaces.

6. USER BENEFIT

The chair gives a premium look and feel and a delivers a sense of pride in ownership.
Bucket shaped seat uses less PU than conventional seat and still gives a great seating experience with waterfall edge contouring.
The chair conforms to requirements of BIFMA x5.1 standards of performance for seating systems. This standard is not mandatory in India but helps in gauging the performance of the product throughout its life cycle.

The price of the product is very competitive as compared to similar products available in the market considering most of them are imported from developed nations with global brands. This gives a fair deal to the customers.

The product is easy to clean and comes with snap fit joineries making it easy to replace components.

The chair is semi-knock down in carton and requires very less time to assembly on-site with basic tools.

7. ORGANIZATIONAL BENEFITS
ACE is an ‘image builder’ product from the Godrej Interio seating portfolio. The perception of Godrej products has been enhanced with launch of ACE and created a lasting impact in the customer’s mind about how Godrej Interio is able to keep pace with changing user requirements and global competition.

Improvement in Sales and Profitability will be seen in coming years considering the price realization amount of ACE is double than that of current figures.

The ACE chair range is Design registered and is protected for infringement of design.

Platform design allows creating multiple options keeping the same platform of high investment parts. Beyond offering a variety of optional features in this chair, two more chairs have been designed by Godrej Interio keeping the same understructure of the ACE.

Speed to market has been increased due to faster production technologies of plastic and aluminium as compared to traditional materials and processes.

8. EMOTIONAL CONNECT
The ACE chair has an appeal of aspiration to the customer. Premium looks and customized comfort features gives the customer a direct approval of its worth. The trendy look has drawn lot of customers to think about upgrading their offices with a better looking chair.

The chair looks comfortable through its contoured lines and pleasing through its premium finishes and attracts the eye in all mediums and in reality.
10. SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY

As a company, Godrej has taken initiatives in establishing itself as a leader in activities related to corporate social responsibility and dealing with environmental issues.

Godrej has the unique distinction of being the only corporate house that maintains a 1750-acre mangrove forest which has an ISO certificate. The project has given a new lease of life to different species of mangroves and mangrove associates, animals, birds, reptiles and water creatures.

For this outstanding work, Godrej was honored with the National Green Governance Award IN 2005 (Category – Conservation & Restoration of Habitate).

The exacting standards set and maintained on the environmental front have resulted in the prestigious ISO 140001 certificate being awarded to Godrej Interio.

As part of the Corporate Social Responsibility activity and in conjunction with our vision for “brighter living” for all our stakeholders, we have developed a long-term vision for playing our part in creating a more inclusive and greener India. We have named this the Good & Green vision. By 2020 we aspire to do the following:
1. Ensuring employability
India has 600 million people below the age of 25 out of which only 80 million (13%) are employable. The effort is going to be on skilling these people such that they become employable.
2. Creating a greener India
In order for our businesses to truly become sustainable, efforts will be focused on creating carbon neutral, zero waste, water positive and energy efficient businesses.
3. Innovating for good & green products
A good product/ service is that which addresses a critical issue for people living below the poverty line. The issue could be related to health, hygiene, water, sanitation, housing, education or livelihoods.