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Local Entrepreneurs
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Steelcase
Founded in Grand Rapids, Michigan, in 1912, by three families, the Weges, the Idemas and the Huntings, Steelcase Inc. has led the office furniture industry in sales every year since 1974. Its product portfolio includes interior architectural products, furniture systems, technology products, seating, lighting, storage and related products and services. Steelcase is a Fortune 500 Company and its subsidiaries have authorized dealers in more than 800 locations, manufacturing facilities in more than 30 locations and more than 20,000 employees around the world. Its stock trades on the NYSE under the symbol SCS. Today, Steelcase helps individuals and organizations to work more effectively by providing knowledge, products and services that enable customers and their consultants to create work environments that harmoniously integrate architecture, furniture and technology.
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Louis Padnos Iron and Metal Company
Louis Padnos arrived in the United States from Russia in 1902 and became a peddler. Since he spoke Dutch, he settled in Holland, Michigan where he established a small scrap yard that dealt in rags, hides, metals, and furs. Following military service during World War I, Louis returned to Holland and married Helen Kantor, a Polish immigrant, and they had two sons: Seymour and Stuart. Louis expanded his scrap paper operations and acquired additional property in 1927 and 1933. Following military service during World War II, Seymour and Stuart took over the business with Seymour specializing in long range planning and customer relations, and Stuart managing daily operations. They upgraded equipment and technologies to improve efficiency and productivity, as well as to take advantage of scrap generated by machine shop turning and borings, produced by machining and drilling businesses in West Michigan.
Beginning in 1953, the firm offered a profit sharing program to employees, instituted a safety program that has earned several awards for accident-free operations, and established a college tuition scholarship program. Padnos expanded into international markets, acquiring frontage on Lake Macatawa and building a deepwater dock to allow ocean vessels into Holland's harbor. Today the firm is operated by four members of the third generation of the Padnos family.
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Alticor
The friendship between Rich DeVos and Jay Van Andel grew during the 1940s into a successful business partnership. The two entrepreneurs and lifelong friends established in 1949 a network of independent distributors of NUTRILLITE® Food Supplements. A decade later, 1959, using the business experience gained marketing NUTRILLITE® products, and supported by a strong belief in the power of initiative and free enterprise, they founded Amway. Under the leadership of the second generation of Van Andel and DeVos families, Alticor remains committed to the ethics, quality, excellence and teamwork that have characterized the company for decades.
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