Hunter Douglas
Hunter Douglas N.V. (Euronext:HDG) is a Dutch public corporation and major worldwide manufacturer of window coverings and architectural products. Hunter Douglas has its head office in Rotterdam, The Netherlands, and a management office in Lucerne, Switzerland. The company is composed 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.
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 both now have executive positions within the company.
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 [1].
One June 1, 2010, Hunter Douglas discontinued all internet sales, citing that they believed online retailers could not provide the same level of service and personalization that brick-and-mortar stores do
Products
Window coverings
Shadings & sheers
- Silhouette Window Shadings
- Vignette Window Shadings
- Luminette Privacy Sheers
- Pirouette Window Shadings
Honeycomb shades
- Duette Honeycomb Shades
- Duette Architella Shades
- Applause Honeycomb Shades
Traditional shades
- Provenance Woven Wood Shades
- Brilliance Pleated Shades
- Designer Screen Shades
- Designer Roller Shades
Horizontal woods blinds
- Country Wood Blinds
- Chalet Wood Blinds
- EverWood Blinds
- Traditional Wood Blinds
Vertical blinds
- Vertical Blinds
- Skyline Gliding Window Panels
Horizontal aluminum blinds
- 25mm Aluminum Venetian Blinds
- 16mm Aluminum Venetian Blinds
Shutters
- Heritance Hardwood Shutters
- Country Woods
Architectural products
Ceilings
- TechStyle Acoustical Ceilings
- Luxalon Metal Systems
- Solid Wood Linear Ceiling
- Wood Tiles
Solar control
- Sun Louvers
- External Shades
- Internal Roller Shades
- Skylight Systems
- Light Shelves
- Control Systems
- dju
Façades
- QuadroClad
- Sandwich Wall
- Multiple Panel
- Terracotta Wall Panel
3form Ecoresin
- Ecoresin panels
- Pressed glass panels
- Poured glass panels
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 300,000 units.[6] In addition, Hunter Douglas employees and customers volunteer thousands of hours year-round with local Habitat affiliates nationwide.
