Over the last quarter century, a fascinating model of cradle to cradle product design has been unfolding in the New Hampshire North Country. In partnership with DCI—one of New England’s largest and oldest contract furniture manufacturers—Dartmouth College harvests trees from its own forest through its sustainable forestry program and DCI turns those logs into lumber and then long-lasting hardwood furniture. We then install this solid maple furniture, fashioned from Dartmouth’s …
Case Study: Turning Empty Houses Into Homes With Chicago Furniture Bank
Where do people go when they can’t afford furniture? In Chicago, there’s a remarkable organization called the Chicago Furniture Bank (CFB). And it helps individuals and families who are transitioning out of homeless. In their own words, “CFB breaks the cycle of furniture poverty by transforming an empty house into a home” through providing folks with high quality used furniture. In the Fall of 2022, DCI was lucky enough to …
How DCI Is Responding To Plywood Supply Chain Disruption
Like many contract furniture manufacturers, DCI is feeling the impact of lumber shortages because of global supply chain disruption. For contract furniture manufacturers like us, plywood is a key issue. Baltic birch plywood from Russia, a mainstay for case goods, is no longer available because of the war in Ukraine. But even before the war, tariffs on Chinese imports put huge demand on local plywood supplies. When that demand intersected …
Case Study: University of Tampa
Summary: In 2010, DCI started working with the University of Tampa. Over the last 11 years, we’ve upgraded the design standard across the UT campus upgrading 10 residence halls and 4,430 beds, including Vaughn Hall next year. Furniture: Bunkable Bed, Adjustable Height Bed, Tall Bed End, Mattress, Wardrobe, Pedestal Desk, Three Drawer Chest. Wood: Solid Maple, Natural Finish University of Tampa The University of Tampa is a medium-sized private university …
UCSB Case Study – New Soft Seating & Repurposed Sofas
Summary This summer at UC Santa Barbara, we installed 70 premium sofas from our mid century-inspired Boulevard Collection. There were two highlights to this project. First, the timeline was extremely compressed. Second, because we have a local assembly plant in San Diego, we were positioned to reclaim a large volume of furniture from UCSB that was otherwise destined for the landfill. DCI’s Journey Into Soft Seating Before we jump into …
DCI Awarded $706,000 Community Wood Grant From US Forest Service
DCI will use the Community Wood Grant funds to install a renewable biomass cogeneration system to supply heat and electricity to its operation. As part of a decades long initiative to reduce the environmental footprint of our work, starting last year we applied for and won a series of major clean energy grants to upgrade the renewable energy system the heats our factory, kilns, and offices. The Forest Service Community …
The Circular Economy: DCI End Of Life Furniture Program
What should you do when your furniture reaches the end of its useful life? That’s a question that we get a lot. And at DCI, we have a program to help you manage your retiring furniture. In short, our goal is to help you keep it out of the landfill. And to be honest, that’s easier than ever before. If you have solid wood furniture, you have lots of options …
Case Study: Sustainable Purchasing at Southwestern University
Summary Southwestern University hired a Sustainability Coordinator and embraced a commitment to zero waste on campus. They reached out to DCI to provide them with sustainable zero waste furniture to furnish two of their residence halls. The Oldest University in Texas Southwestern University (SU) is a private liberal arts school in Georgetown, Texas, just north of Austin. Situated on a 780-acre suburban campus with 1,430 undergrads, the school was founded …
Cal Poly Case Study: Increasing Occupancy and Cost Savings Plus A Big Sustainability Win
Summary: In 2017, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo hired DCI to introduce a new design standard on campus. In the process, we helped increase occupancy (and the bottom line) by turning 390 doubles into triples, saved the school a huge amount of money on a new wardrobe, and recycled 500 metal bed frames. A New Design Standard In late 2017, DCI was awarded a contract to introduce a new design …
What Should You Do With Your Old Furniture? We’ll Buy It Back.
Are you looking for a way to defray the expense of your furniture investment? Or maybe you’d like to find a sustainable way to give your retiring furniture another life? Perhaps you want to engage in a program that will allow you to continuously keep your residence halls looking fresh and up to date without the waste of disposable furniture. At DCI, we offer you a robust furniture buyback program. …