Sedus

Sedus Stoll

Sedus Stoll AG

Company type	Public limited company
Industry	Furniture
Founded	1871 (public limited company since 1995)
Headquarters	Dogern, Germany
Key people	• Director of Engineering/Development/Marketing/Sales: Daniel Kittner • Director of Finance/Human Resources/IT: Cornel Spohn[1]
Revenue	259 million Euro (2023)[1]
Number of employees	1078 (2023: quarterly average not including apprentices)[1]
Website	www.sedus.com

Sedus Stoll AG, with head office in Dogern (Waldshut (district)), Baden-Württemberg, is a full-service supplier of office equipment and workplace concepts. The company production is in Dogern and in Geseke. With nine subsidiaries in France (Paris), Italy (Cadorago), Spain (Madrid), Austria (Vienna), the United Kingdom (London), the Netherlands (Zoetermeer), Belgium (Eembodegem-Aalst), Switzerland (Rickenbach SO) and Dubai,Sedus is one of Europe's major office furniture manufacturers. Sales have been facilitated in more than 70 countries through partner companies.

Company history

In 1871, Albert Stoll I set up the “Stoll & Klock” chair factory in Waldshut, together with Max Klock. When Max Klock left in 1879, the company became known as Albert Stoll. After the death of Albert Stoll I, his wife Bertha Stoll continued running the business initially, followed by his son Albert Stoll II.

In 1926, Albert Stoll II designed the internationally patented "Federdreh", the first swivel chair with a swivelling column suspension. When Albert Stoll II died in 1937, three of his sons continued to run the chair factory: Albert Stoll III managed the factory in Koblenz and Christof Stoll and Martin Stoll ran the Waldshut company together. In 1958, Christof and Martin Stoll split up the family enterprise, Albert Stoll OHG, and created two new companies: Christof Stoll KG in Waldshut (with the SEDUS brand name) and the Martin Stoll Federdreh chair factory in Tiengen.

As a consequence of company growth, the production facilities of Christof Stoll KG were gradually moved to the new site in Dogern from 1969 onwards.

In the 1970s, the company developed numerous innovations such as the Anatomic chair, the Permanent Contact backrest and the "Similar" mechanism (principle of dynamic sitting). By 1987, a total of eight sales companies had been established in Europe.

In 1985, Christof Stoll and his wife Emma established the non-profit Stoll VITA Foundation and transferred their assets, which also included the majority shareholding in the family company operating as Sedus Stoll AG from 1995 onwards, to this foundation.

In 1999, Sedus Stoll AG acquired the majority shareholding in office furniture manufacturer Klöber GmbH, in Überlingen. The merger with Gesika Büromöbelwerke GmbH was completed in 2002, as a result of which the Karl Bröcker Foundation in Lippstadt became Sedus' second main shareholder. In 2008, Gesika Büromöbelwerk GmbH changed its name to Sedus Systems GmbH, Geseke.

The Sedus Stoll AG company headquarters was relocated to Dogern in 2018. After around two years of planning and construction, Sedus put the new "Futura 2" production facility at the Geseke site into operation in 2023.^[1]

Architecture

The high-bay warehouse at the Dogern site was extended and redesigned by Sauerbruch Hutton in 2002. The building, with its cuboid structure, was given a characteristic façade. The new development and innovation centre in Dogern, which was planned and implemented by Ludloff Ludloff Architekten from Berlin, was completed in 2010. The new "Sedus Smart Office" company centre was also built during the course of the relocation to Dogern in 2018.

Sustainability

Christof Stoll was voted "Eco Manager of the Year" in 1993 by World Wide Fund for Nature and Capital magazine. In 1995, Sedus was the first company in the industry in Europe to introduce an environmental management and audit system in accordance with the requirements of the European Union's Eco Management and Audit Scheme (EMAS).^[2]

Sedus can provide certificates for all areas of the management system. These include energy management in accordance with ISO 50001, environmental management in accordance with ISO 14001, quality management in accordance with ISO 9001, and occupational health and safety management in accordance with ISO 45001.Certifications.^[3]

In 2023, Sedus received SA8000 certification for social responsibility in the workplace. The certificate serves as proof of the company's commitment to human rights and ensures that the socially responsible management system is properly implemented, monitored and applied at Sedus and along the supply chain.^[4]