/ The Morning News/Guangzhou, Aug 19, 2022 -- The epidemic has greatly changed people's attitude towards life and work, especially in the new environment of flexible working, and people are beginning to re-evaluate the importance of health, comfort and convenience. The sit-stand shift is becoming a happier and healthier way to work.
Bjarke Thomsen, a senior expert in the field of LINAK electric lift desk, was personally involved in the design, mass production and promotion of Linak's first complete desk electric lift column system DL1, which was first introduced in 1998, and has been leading the Linak furniture lift team ever since. In Europe, America, Asia and other places to assist furniture manufacturers around the world, together to develop this blue ocean market. In an interview with furniture publication Home FurnitureToday, he discusses the furnituretoday's past and present, and shares his predictions for the future of the office.
1. Is lifting the new office in the post-epidemic era?
Different from the ephemeral fad, sit-and-stand alternate working is seen as a new and lasting furniture trend, which is due to a combination of technology, culture, policy and other factors.
In the early 1990s, the European Union issued regulations on computer workplaces, but they did not attract enough attention. In 1995, updated regulations clarified the assessment and inspection of the working environment, emphasized ergonomics, and recommended the use of desks adapted to the height of the worker. In 1999, the sitting/standing desk (lift desk) was explicitly listed as a recommended item for office space.
The popularization of ergonomic knowledge also promotes the public's new cognition of office furniture. In the late 1990s, Linac electric drive technology has been applied to medical, industrial and other fields, to help equipment better use ergonomics, improve people's quality of life.
In 1998, Linac for the office field, launched the vertical column type complete electric lifting system, and opened a new era of electric lifting table furniture field. This new category of furniture products quickly spread throughout northern Europe.
Various social factors have led to the emergence of new models and the upgrading and innovation of corresponding technologies. Bjarke Thomsen points out, "In the 1990s, big Swedish companies wanted engineers to move from working with drawing boards to working with computers and monitors. The Swedish company replaced the workstations with the first adjustable height lifting desks because engineers were used to working standing up on drawing boards."
But at that time the electric lifting table, there is no complete and targeted technical solution, and the price is not cheap. Until the late 1998, Linac team, research and development and launched to the market can achieve vertical lifting electric lifting table system DL1.
"In addition to optimizing the original design of the electric lifting table, DL1 also greatly reduces the cost structure of the lifting table, which provides the most important prerequisite for the popularity of the lifting table." Bjarke Thomsen.
In 1998, the use of Linac DL1 system lifting desk, to create the lifting desk from the initial high-density open office, to the popularity of office spacing, and then to advocate a healthy, intelligent, comfortable office environment, the emergence of sit-stand alternating office will bring new opportunities and challenges for the office furniture market.
"sit-stand" is not only a shift from "sitting" to "standing", it represents a more dynamic way of working and represents a profound change in the office scene.
"In terms of working style, employees not only travel to and from meeting rooms and work stations, but also have more activity attributes, such as discussion, collaboration, focused thinking, learning and so on. More and more office furniture brands around the world have introduced the concept of ABW(Activity Based Working) in the design of space and furniture -- in the design of space, designers need to maximize the value for the organization, people and environment, and in the design of furniture, to give it more flexible and practical attributes. Bjarke said.
Flexible space utilization, multiple function integration, means rid of the traditional fixed station era.
At present, the enterprise organization structure and job functions are highly differentiated, fixed workstation, can not be flexibly deconstructed, reorganized to sit on the desk, can no longer meet the office needs of modern enterprise employees, instead, the rise of "workstation" work space.
Flexible mobile, reorganization, adjustable height, modular office furniture, break the traditional office mode, so that employees can through azimuth rotation, height adjustment, component addition and deletion, flexible portability, at any time to carry out a variety of personalized customization, to create a work field belonging to their own or team.
At the same time, in order to ensure the efficiency of communication, office furniture needs to be separated and reorganized in an open space with the changes of collaborative objects. As a personalized and standardized space solution, lifting desk provides efficient technical support for flexible office and mixed office.
Bjarke Thomsen says, "There are industry standards that point the way to the future of the desk. "The WELL Building Standard, for example, addresses the impact of sitting on employee health and productivity, and makes clear that sit-stand lift desks will be a mainstream option, one of many factors driving the rise of lift desks in the U.S."
Therefore, the change of working scene and working mode brought by the lifting desk will be more comprehensive and more subversive than we imagine.
3. The domestic market has huge potential, and the technology wins the people's hearts.
The electric push rod movement technology is the core of the lifting table, and the key power to realize the change of office mode from "sedentary" to "standing". Compared with the European and American markets where the technology started earlier, domestic manufacturers and consumers are not familiar with the lifting table and the motion technology of the electric push rod behind it. But looking to the future of the domestic market, Bjarke Thomsen is optimistic: "I think quality and service are the keys to opening the market, no matter where it is. For Linak, a desk isn't just an office desk. It can be a hub for collaboration, technical exchange and communication. In China, Linac will help office furniture manufacturers with technological innovation to create aesthetic design and practical lifting furniture, to adapt to the future of office trends."
Technology innovation, can provide furniture manufacturers with real practical and long-term competitiveness and value of technology, is the core of Linac.
Up to now, Linac has more than 1200 patents worldwide. Among them, in the field of office lifting system, Linac has more than 400 patents, most of which are invention patents.
Office experience optimization is a systematic engineering, not a "one shot" thing, need not only technology precipitation, more need based on office behavior scientific research, complete supply chain, to make the product base solid and thick.
It is reported that Linac has brought together a comprehensive and mature, professional international R & D and engineering team in Eurasia and America, bringing together a comprehensive and rich technical knowledge and experience in the field of global lift transmission system. Every time a new lift transmission product is created, the R&D team will take comprehensive factors such as technology, materials, testing and certification, environmental protection, ergonomics, and even specific to different application scenarios in each country and region into comprehensive consideration to ensure that the product can meet the above requirements.
"Linac's R&D is truly global R&D. The team based in Denmark has rich experience and deep technical foundation in linear technology. Our American team is better at intelligent and systematic innovation. The Chinese team, on the other hand, can use its advantages in the market and supply chain to bring innovation to the ground quickly."
From 1998, Linac for office furniture customers to create a complete set of vertical column desk electric lifting system, to now more intelligent office lifting digital solutions, it is not difficult to find that Linac has been the industry leading technology, all from the historical precipitation of this hundred years of enterprise and continuous innovation.
< /p>Believe that in the future, Linac will continue to improve and enrich product functions, with innovative technology to continue to lead the development trend of lifting technology.
