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INSPIRED FOR TUBE Furniture
The chair is produced by
Virco is the largest manufacturer of school furniture for “grades K through 12” which are 5 years
old through 18 years old in the United States. Product development has always been the key
factor for the growth of a company that believes in automation as a tool for improving the
process and not for replacing human resources, which are fundamental to achieve the utmost
from each machine. In fact, the union between a skilled operator and a BLM robotized bending
unit has revolutionized the production cycle of chairs.
While throughout most of the United
States a big snowstorm is creating difficulty,we
are in Torrance, near Los Angeles
on a splendid sunny day with a pleasant
temperature.
However, our interest is not in sunny California
or the “Studios”, but in a decisively important industrial
context; as Jerry Farrell Corporate Director
of Technical Operations explains, Virco is
the largest manufacturer of school furniture for
”grades K through 12”in the United States.
A leading “family-run business”
The company was founded by Julian Virtue in
1950. The first customer was the Los Angeles
Unified School District. The company then expanded
and acquired a table producer in Conway,
Arkansas, followed by the production of
chairs and other furnishing articles that are
manufactured in Torrance and Conway.
Virco has multiple facilities, including its newest
lovation in Conway, Arkansas, covering an area
of 120,000 sq.m, 40,000 sq.m of which are the
manufacturing facilities and 80,000 sq.m of
which are the warehouse and assembly shop.
Then another two facilities in Conway Cover
an area of approximately 25,000 sq.m where
compression-molded plastic products are
manufactured in one and pre-assembly is performed
in the other. Last, but not least is the
facility in Torrance that covers 45,000 sq.m and
in which more or less the same things as in the
Conway facilities are manufactured, excepting
a few differences regarding some of the pro-
18 MAY 2011 NUMBER 14