South Dakota State University

A partnership with Ecologic Furniture helps South Dakota State standardize furniture maintenance and reduce the cost of upkeep.

South Dakota State University offers on-campus housing for students in nine residence halls, two apartment buildings, and two family apartment developments. Located in a relatively small, rural community, South Dakota State University’s goal is to provide students with a “home away from home” with furnished rooms, lounge areas, kitchens and laundry facilities to appeal to a diverse range of student lifestyles. SDSU’s Residential Life staff had a small part that was causing big problems. The drawer glides in another vendor’s case goods had a tendency to fail, and the other vendor wasn’t cooperative when it came to repairs or replacement. In fact, SDSU’s facility maintenance staff were forced to pay retail prices for replacement drawer glides, buying them from a local home improvement store on an ad-hoc basis, while students had to wait for repairs.

SDSU was already an Ecologic Furniture customer, having purchased dozens of beds from our Academy line. So, although South Dakota State was eager to work with Ecologic Furniture, the residence life staff wanted to ensure that our furnishings would match existing residence hall furniture, provided by the other vendor. Not only did Ecologic customize our own sustainably manufactured furnishings, but we also solved SDSU’s drawer glide problem by making a readily available drawer glide the universal solution in all of SDSU’s case goods. One easy-to-obtain part can now be used to fix any issue with any drawer glide in SDSU’s inventory of case goods. What’s more, Ecologic Furniture’s residence life solutions are more durable than the furnishings offered by SDSU’s previous vendor—and our commitment to sustainable manufacturing processes and recycled materials help SDSU reduce its environmental impact. The Academy line, currently in use in SDSU’s student housing facilities, features environmentally-friendly materials.

It has been a pleasure working with Ecologic Furniture on several of our projects. They have been with us on each project from start to finish and their furniture has exceeded our expectations.
Bryan Bisson, South Dakota State University