Background
IKEA has Purchase and logistic-offices, or PLA for short, represented all over the world in each continent – each with its specific direction. The design in these offices takes on the previous experiences and designs from offices in Sweden we have made in the past. We took the most important learnings and kept on adding and adjusting the concept until we had a new office concept for the PLA-offices.
What separates the PLA-office from the other typical IKEA-office is that they act as the direct link between product development and the suppliers. It starts off as the other IKEA-offices with home furnishing feeling as the main focus in a working lounge that transforms into collaborative and workshop spaces or areas for open meetings.
Since the PLA-office deals with a lot of prototypes, samples and visits from suppliers the office always starts with a manned reception where the Scandinavian design and IKEA-identity is turned up to its max. Together, these areas are the first thing you meet as a visitor no matter the purpose of your errand and it’s of highest importance that these areas represent the company as a whole. It’s mainly the samples and supplier visits that is unique for the PLA-office and it puts very specific and high demands on workshop areas, sample storage and package management.
Each separate country also has specific laws and regulations in terms of safety and security or fire regulations to mention a few things that need to be taken into account when creating a new PLA-office. Since the IKEA-range varies and contains everything from tealight candles to kitchen cabinets and bunk beds there’s no one-size-fits-all-solution for how the testing and storage of samples looks like. Due to this we have made special designed test-stations and efficient storage solutions for king-size-mattresses, couches, armchairs, dining chairs, fittings, scented candles, alive plants with no access to actual daylight and much, much more. Of course all specially designed tables on wheels, sliding walls, storage systems and working stations follow IKEAs Scandinavian and simple design.
We always apply our Scandinavian PLA-concept but we want the country we’re staying in and its culture to have its own touch on the office. For instance in Mexico City bold and colorful patterns cover soft furniture and in Ho Chi Minh rattan and bamboo, one of their biggest exports, shines with its presence in both lounge and dining areas. Each new PLA-office has its own specific direction and needs same as each new country has its own restrictions but with a few offices behind us you could almost call us PLA-specialists by now.
