Who is Artco-Bell?
Located in Central Texas for nearly four decades, Artco-Bell is a leading designer, manufacturer and distributor of school furniture, serving the K-12 market on a national basis. In 1997 Artco-Bell acquired assets of American Desk Manufacturing Company, a major player in classroom seating product.

Artco-Bell is a member of the Sagus International, L.L.C. family of companies. Other members of Sagus International include:

Midwest Folding Products
A Chicago manufacturer of mobile/folding tables and stages for the hospitality, school and convention center markets

Mohon International, Inc.
A manufacturer of science/laboratory casework and furniture serving the school, college and commercial markets.

LSI Corporation of America A Minneapolis based manufacturer of science/laboratory laminate casework goods serving the school, college, and commercial markets.A Brief History

ARTCO-BELL CORPORATION
ABC is the premier designer, manufacturer and marketer of school furniture for K through 12th grade, in the United States. Founded in 1961 the company was purchased in a leverage buyout, in 1982 and was bought again in 1994 by Harris and Hoimes, a private investment company.

In May of 1997 the company acquired the assets of American Desk Manufacturing Company, a 75-year-old institutional furniture manufacturer, out of chapter 11. The new organization, called ADMC Inc. is a wholly owned subsidiary of ARTCO-BELL CORP. and has been integrated into the parent company. The company manufactures and distributes classroom seating products, for the education market.

The company has a 290,000-sp. ft. plant manufacturing classroom furniture. Plus an additional 200,000-sp. ft warehouse facility. An additional 100,000-sq. ft. facility, located in Temple Texas and previously dedicated to public seating products is being used as a combination auxiliary warehouse and Thermo-Form processing facility. The operation involves vacuum forming vinyl over various CNC routed particleboard core materials as well as laminating and finishing of particleboard desk and table tops, for final assembly.

ABC's manufacturing operation is designed for Just-In-Time and utilizes such equipment as robot welders, automated tube benders and computer controlled; powder paint and multi-head routing equipment. An operation with highly sophisticated chrome facility, injection molding and machine presses. Recently organized into Focused Factories, this concept enables each to fully manufacture a completed product.

The Focused Factories include Student Desk, Chairs, Combos, Teacher's Desks and Tables. All the machinery and systems required to completely manufacture a specific family of product exists within each Focused Factory.
Support for these factories comes from Vendor Cells such as:

• Chrome plating
• Lamination
• Thermo-Forming
• Powder Coat Paint