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H O N  I N D U S T R I E S  2 0 0 3
As we celebrate our 60th year, HON INDUSTRIES has seen 
much change. The industry has changed. The world has 
changed. Our business has changed. What has not changed 
are the culture and values on which we were founded: integ -
rity, fairness, and respect — in the treatment of others, 
continuous improvement, and responsiveness to those who 
buy our products and services. In our unique and powerful 
member-owner culture, throughout our history, every member 
has had an opportunity to participate in making the business 
better. We did so again in 2003.
 We outperformed our peers. We grew our sales and 
profits. We gained market share by providing strong brands, 
innovative products and services, and greater value to our end-
users. We continued to increase our gross margins, a direct 
result of our ongoing commitment to lean initiatives. We used 
our strong, positive cash flow to invest in our business for the 
long term and returned profits to shareholders. We accom -
plished all of this in a very challenging economy and market.
 Although we are proud of what we achieved, our phi-
losophy of constructive discontent drives us to continue to 
challenge ourselves to do better. We believe to succeed in a 
business environment of ongoing change and continuous trans-
formation we also must continue to change. Today, we are 
leaner, more focused, and have more clearly defined brands 
than ever before. Our challenge is to grow, aggressively and 
profitably, through market-driven solutions while maintain-
ing focus on what we do best — operational excellence. Our 
transformation continues:
B U I L D I N G  B R A N D  M A R K E T  P O W E R  
We are investing significantly in our brands and increasing our 
understanding of our diverse range of end-users and the solu -
tions they want. We are building market power through several 
initiatives: focused selling models; clear brand identity; tar -
geted advertising; expanded channel presence; and aggressive 
products and solutions development. We are strengthening our 
ability to be the “perfect match” with end-users in every seg -
ment we serve.
A C H I E V I N G  B E S T  T O T A L  C O S T  A N D  
L E A N  E N T E R P R I S E  
“Best total cost” means more than being a low-cost manufac -
turer. It requires us to think about the entire value stream — 
where and how to manufacture, ship, install, outsource, 
assemble, service, procure, and sell — all to provide the best 
total value to our end-users. We implemented lean initiatives, 
L E F T : Stan A. Askren,  P R E S I D E N T
R I G H T :  Jack D. Michaels,  C H A I R M A N  A N D  C H I E F  E X E C U T I V E  O F F I C E R
T O  O U R  S H A R E H O L D E R S :