OFM has been on the cutting edge of the office/school furniture industry since Abel and Barbara Zalcberg founded it in 1995.

Abel, the CEO, had been working in the industry for years. He initially recognized the market opportunity for a furniture company that could deliver the goods faster by keeping inventory in stock. That way, orders could be shipped the same day they were received.

The concept was grounded in customer service. It remains the company's guiding principle to this day, and is in large measure the reason for the company's success.

"If you give people customer service, it doesn't matter what you sell them," says Barbara, the company president. "(If you provide) a good product with the best customer service, you will do well." Live people answer the phone when you call OFM, and if anything goes wrong, it's handled as efficiently as possible. "If a mistake is made, you undo it as quickly as you can," Barbara says.

"We have a tagline--we're a customer-service company that just happens to sell office furniture. We care about our customers. And we care about our vendors," Barbara says. Retailers can place an order for a single chair--or one each of three different chairs, so customers can try them out. Rejected chairs can be returned after the customer makes a choice.

In the beginning, the Zalcbergs rented a 10,000-square-foot warehouse in Atlanta, which they outgrew in only two years.

OFM now ships products from a company-owned facility in Raleigh, N.C., and a third-party facility in Arizona. The Raleigh facility is 125,000 square feet. The company leases 30,000 square feet in Arizona, with the potential to expand to 150,000 square feet. Being bicoastal allows OFM to deliver products more quickly. The company specializes in furniture for general offices, hospitals and schools.

OFM prides itself on creativity and innovation, and continues reinventing itself and its products. For example, in recent years OFM has broadened its line beyond chairs to include desks, panel systems and auditorium seating.

Today the company-- now including son Blake, who serves as COO--has pioneered a series of videos and several webinars designed to assist dealers. So far, Blake has "starred" in 75 videos, speaking extemporaneously to describe more than 230 products. In total, OFM offers a total of 3,000 SKUs. The videos far surpass the efficacy of a photo, Barbara says.

OFM placed the videos on YouTube.com about nine months ago and has enjoyed nearly 12,000 hits to date. Dealers have access to the videos, and they say those videos have sealed the deal for them with assorted customers.

The videos are one more way OFM strives to serve its customers better.

OFM saw the advantages of the internet early on, and many of its dealers are online only. This year, the company revamped its website to provide more information more readily. "The biggest key is for our dealers to have as much information in their hands as they possibly can, without having to say, 'Let me call and check,' " Barbara says. "We want to make it easy for them to do business." OFM is also leveraging social media such as Twitter and Facebook to share its new product lines and seasonal promotions.

Abel and Blake travel overseas a couple of times a year for face-to-face meetings with manufacturers in Taiwan, Mexico and China. The manufacturers display their products, and the Zalcbergs suggest refinements. "We bring our requirements and ergonomics to them. We will tweak colors, angles and sizes," Barbara says. All OFM products are designed to the Zalcbergs' specifications. OFM's wares include bariatric furniture, which is engineered for heavy people, and undersized furniture for schoolchildren. OFM recently modified a popular chair for the school market. It's been engineered in different sizes from nursery through high school. The company also tries to use "green" foams and fabrics, and some products are certified by the Greenguard Environmental Institute.

Barbara says it takes a year to develop a product properly. First a prototype has to be developed and shipped. Then OFM takes prototypes to trade shows to gauge customer reaction. Customers might say they don't like the angle of a seat, or that a chair is too hard or too soft. Or perhaps they want it in a different color. "You have to do the due diligence," Barbara says. "We make sure that our strongest customers are truly interested in a product" before it goes to mass production.

Barbara acknowledges that business has been flat this year. But orders still come in daily. In fact, Barbara believes the trend toward economy could lead to an expanded customer base. "Someone who would have spent hundreds on a chair--if he still needs a chair, he might look at my mid-market-priced chair now."

That includes architects and designers who, she says, have started purchasing less-expensive products in the down economy. OFM has hired an executive to pursue those industries. "We can do custom products for them in competitive price points," Barbara says. 

"We sell a good product," Barbara says. "That product's going to work, and [customers] are going to be happy with it."