Steelcase Inc. Launches Healthcare Focused Organization

Steelcase Health: a Better Healthcare Environment is on the Horizon

Grand Rapids, MI- May 1, 2006 – Steelcase Inc. (NYSE:SCS), a global office environments manufacturer, today announced the launch of Steelcase Health, a new organization focused on the healthcare environment.

Steelcase Health has a bold vision to shape and improve the future of healthcare delivery, said Michael I. Love, President, Steelcase Health. Steelcase Health concentrates on space and environments and how products within those environments can help make them more comfortable, more efficient and more conducive to the healing process.

Steelcase Health brings a holistic viewpoint to healthcare environments and works with doctors, nurses and other healthcare professionals to gain valuable insight into environments that promote healing. Steelcase Health partners with architects, designers and organizations such as Planetree and The Center for Health Care Designs Pebble Project to research and develop the best possible healthcare environment solutions.

For years we have served healthcare customers through our Steelcase family of companies. Today, Steelcase Health enables us to provide our customers a dedicated, single-source for our considerable research, existing product offering and new product development, said James P. Hackett, President and CEO, Steelcase Inc. As an industry, healthcare continues to grow in size and sophistication and we look forward to serving this market aggressively and insightfully.

Over the past two years, members of the current Steelcase Health team conducted ethnographic research at leading health facilities like Ascension Health, Intermountain Healthcare, Kaiser Permanente, Massachusetts General, Mayo Clinic and other top Integrated Delivery Networks (IDNs) to evaluate a wide variety of interactions in numerous healthcare environments especially how caregivers perform their duties andhow patients receive their care. Our team digs deep to evaluate what works, and what could work better, said Love. We ask why — and why not? And we continually come away convinced that with all of us working together, we can make healthcare better — without question.

For example, Steelcase Health is working to improve the safety of patients and efficiency of caregivers by rethinking something as simple and ubiquitous as the overbed table. Our research at a major metropolitan hospital showed that this tiny surface is much more than a place for patients meals its used by patients, by doctors, by nurses and by family members to accommodate almost everything happening in the room, said Kingshuk Das, Steelcase Health’s Director of Applied Research. Rethinking this table as a flexible, dual surface to address the needs of patient as well as the caregiver, we have the opportunity to transform it from something that is often in the way, into an effective and versatile tool.

Steelcase Health solutions focus on making the healthcare experience better for three key groups: Patients, caregivers and partners in care. Each has its own distinct needs within the healthcare environment, ranging from workflow and productivity issues to concerns about safety and privacy. We believe the best solutions must address the unique interactions between these groups. And thats where were convinced Steelcase Health can really make a difference, said Love.

Steelcase Health may be a new company, but is by no means starting from scratch.The products and expertise from other Steelcase companies, with significant experience in healthcare, integrate under the Steelcase Health umbrella to give it one of the deepest product portfolios in the business. Steelcase Health offerings include products from the entire Steelcase family of companies — Brayton, Designtex, Details, Metro, Polyvision, Turnstone, and Vecta.

Steelcase Health solutions, while designed to improve the healthcare experience for end users, are optimized to address the wide-ranging needs of facility managers, health care administrators and the architecture and design community. Representing everything from technology to textiles, this strong family of proven products provides consistent quality combined with innovative thinking and design to waiting areas, patient rooms, nurses stations, labs, offices and anywhere else that the Steelcase Health team sees an opportunity for improvement. Steelcase Health will occupy a unique position in the healthcare industry as we strive to serve as a one-stop source for providing integrated healthcare solutions to health facilities, IDNs, architects and designers, said Love.

Love has more than 25 years of experience at Steelcase. Since 2000, he has served as President and Chief Executive Officer for Steelcase Design Partnership (SDP), a group comprised of five brands focused on higher end design furniture products and niche applications.

Steelcase Health will formally introduce itself to the world and unveil a number of new product designs and environmental solutions June 12-14 at the NeoCon Worlds Trade Fair in Chicago. Visit the Steelcase Health Showcase (Suite 1100 Merchandise Mart) for a glimpse into a healthier future or learn more here.

About Steelcase

Steelcase, the global leader in the office furniture industry, helps people have a better work experience by providing products, services and insights into the ways people work. The company designs and manufactures architecture, furniture and technology products. Founded in 1912 and headquartered in Grand Rapids, Michigan, Steelcase (NYSE:SCS) serves customers through a network of more than 800 independent dealers and approximately 14,000 employees worldwide. Fiscal 2006 revenue was $2.9 billion.

Contacts

Libby Ferin
616.248.7038
eferin@steelcase.com

Michael Pflughoeft
414.271.1314
mikeyp@khmojo.com