Haworth: Using CAD for competitive advantage in office furniture

The article cited below describes how people from Haworth, the second largest manufacturer of modular office furniture, are beginning to use CAD as part of their sales process. Their goal is to help their customers use compact, yet highly functional modular furniture to create the feeling of a semi-private space even in a large open area in which one hundred or more individuals might work simultaneously.

Questions:

1. How could Haworth's CAD system help a customer avoid expensive mistakes?

2. Explain why you do or do not believe using CAD in a sales cycle might be a difficult transition for some of Haworth's sales people.

3. Try to suggest additional ways a CAD system might help Haworth or its customers.

Source:
Girard, Kim. "Want to See that Desk in 3-D?" Computerworld, Apr. 6, 1998
http://www.computerworld.com/home/print.nsf/all/9804063C36

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