Hunter Douglas

Infobox_Company
company_name = Hunter Douglas N.V.
company_
company_type = Public (Euronext: [http://www.euronext.com/trader/summarizedmarket/0,5372,1732_6834,00.html?quotes=stock&selectedMep=2&shareprice=HUNTER%20DOUGLAS&idInstrument=13684&isinCode=ANN4327C1220 HDG] )
foundation = Dusseldorf, Germany (1919)
location = Rotterdam, The Netherlands
key_people = Ralph Sonnenberg, President/CEO
Leen Reijtenbagh, Vice President Administration Controller & Assistant Secretary
Marvin B. Hopkins, President & Chief Executive Officer North American Operations
Brian Lynch, Managing Director Australian Operations
Aad Kuiper, Vice President & Managing Director Hunter Douglas Europe
David H. Sonnenberg, Vice President Business Development
G.C. Neoh, President Asian Operations
Marko H. Sonnenberg, President Turnils Group
Werner Oppliger, Executive Vice President & CFO
Renato Rocha, President Latin American Operations
industry = Window coverings

products = See list of Hunter Douglas products
revenue = profit $1.92 Billion Euro (2005)
net_income =profit $179 Million Euro (2005)
num_employees = 18,000 (2005)
homepage = [http://www.hunterdouglas.com www.hunterdouglas.com]

Hunter Douglas N.V. (Euronext: [http://www.euronext.com/trader/summarizedmarket/0,5372,1732_6834,00.html?quotes=stock&selectedMep=2&shareprice=HUNTER%20DOUGLAS&idInstrument=13684&isinCode=ANN4327C1220 HDG] ) is a Dutch public corporation and major worldwide manufacturer of high-quality window coverings and . Hunter Douglas has its head office in Rotterdam, The Netherlands, and a management office in Lucerne, Switzerland. The company is comprised of 164 companies with 65 manufacturing and 99 assembly plants and marketing organizations in more than 100 countries. Hunter Douglas employs about 18,000 people and had sales in 2005 of EUR 1.92 billion, with the North American market comprising 87% of this total. The company markets under the brandname "Hunter Douglas" in North America and "Luxaflex" and "Luxalon" in the rest of the world.

History

In 1919 in Düsseldorf, Germany, Henry Sonnenberg set out to distribute and later on manufacture machine tools. Sonnenberg moved to the Netherlands in 1933 where he started a similar business in Rotterdam. In 1940, at the outbreak of World War II, Sonnenberg moved to the United States, where he founded the Douglas Machinery Company.

Ralph Sonnenberg in 1946 established a joint venture with Joe Hunter in order to explore the possibilities of continuous casting and fabrication of aluminium. The main product soon became lightweight aluminium slats for Venetian window blinds. The joint venture would become the Hunter Douglas corporation. The successful blinds were sold and custom assembled by a network of more than 1,000 fabricators in the U.S. and Canada.

The U.S. business was sold in 1956. Hunter Douglas moved to Montreal, Canada, and focused on expanding the window covering business outside the United States, mainly in Europe, Australia and Latin America.

Ralph Sonnenberg has three children, Karina, David & Marco. Marco and David now have a big Part in Hunter Douglas. .

The Hunter Douglas Group went public in 1969. The group's headquarters were moved to Rotterdam in 1971. The U.S. business was reacquired in 1976. The current CEO and president Ralph Sonnenberg (born 15 May 1934) is Henry's son; he took over in 1971 and now owns 78 percent of the company shares [http://www.fembusiness.nl/fembusiness/content/person/17105/personalprofile.html] .

Locations

Hunter Douglas manufactures and markets in five geographic markets: Europe, North America, Latin America, Asia and Australia.

Europe

*World Headquarters and European Operations: Rotterdam, The Netherlands
*Management Office: Lucerne, Switzerlandkurwel

North America

*North American Headquarters: Upper Saddle River, New Jersey, USA
*Hunter Douglas Northeast: Cumberland, Maryland, USA (The largest Hunter Douglas facility)

Latin America

*Latin American Headquarters: São Paulo, Brazil

Asia

*Asian Headquarters: Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Thailand

Australia

*Australian Headquarters: Sydney, Australia
KURWEL

Products

Window coverings

hadings & sheers

* Silhouette® Window Shadings
* Vignette® Window Shadings
* Luminette® Privacy Sheers

Honeycomb shades

* Duette® Honeycomb Shades
* Applause® Honeycomb Shades

Traditional shades

* Provenance® Woven Wood Shades
* Brilliance® Pleated Shades
* Designer Screen Shades
* Designer Roller Shades

Horizontal woods blinds

* Country Woods Blinds
* EverWoods Blinds
* Traditional Woods Blinds

Vertical blinds

* Vertical Blinds
* Skyline Gliding Window Panels

Horizontal aluminum blinds

* 25mm Aluminum Venetian Blinds
* 16mm Aluminum Venetian Blinds

hutters

* Heritance Hardwood Shutters

Architectural products

Ceilings

* TechStyle Acoustical Ceilings
* Luxalon Metal Systems
* Solid Wood Linear Ceiling
* Wood Tiles

olar control

* Sun Louvers
* External Shades
* Internal Roller Shades
* Skylight Systems
* Light Shelves
* Control Systems
* dju

Façades

* QuadroClad
* Sandwich Wall
* Multiple Panel

Community involvement

Habitat for Humanity

Since 1992, Hunter Douglas has partnered with Habitat for Humanity. Habitat is ranked the 18th largest home builder in the U.S. and the third largest private home builder, working in more than 1,700 locations across the country and completing on average more than 5,000 homes per year and nearly 20,000 homes per year outside the U.S.

To date over 20,000 owners of Habitat homes in the U.S. and Canada have Hunter Douglas window treatments, with the number of window coverings donated exceeding 100,000 units. In addition, Hunter Douglas employees and customers volunteer thousands of hours year-round with local Habitat affiliates nationwide.

External links

* [http://www.hunterdouglasgroup.com Hunter Douglas Group (Corporate Site)]
*(http://www.hunterdouglas.com Hunter Douglas North American site]