Herman Miller Inc.'s CEO sees the US office furniture industry moving into a moderate two-year downturn. However, he believes it will be nowhere near as severe as what office furniture makers experienced early this decade.

 

In and interview with Business review at the NeoCon trade show in Chicago Walker said: "I would expect this to be a moderate cycle, rather than a pronounced cycle. My guess is there'll be some growth to slightly down for 2008, then we'll start to rebound in 2009, probably in the back half."

 

However, Walker did note that rapidly rising commodity prices and record-high energy costs make an accurate prediction more challenging.