Reverie Partners With Local Universities to Promote Innovation
Reverie is confirming its commitment to the local community by engaging in two partnerships with Michigan universities: the University of Michigan and Lawrence Technological University (Lawrence Tech). Engineering majors at both schools enrolled in the projects, which were designed to promote innovation with an emphasis on research and development of mechanized furniture. Reverie President and Chief Executive Officer Martin Rawls-Meehan has been making monthly visits to both universities to ensure that the classroom teachings align with real-life R&D experience.
Reverie’s partnership with the University of Michigan is a year-long program which will continue through the fall semester of 2014. Teams of students are responsible for developing prototypes that are sent to Reverie’s R&D department, critiqued and sent back to students to make improvements. A multi-disciplinary project involving not only mechanical design but electronic design, software programming and complete systems integration is in the works for the future.
This past school year, Reverie sponsored the “Innovation Encounter” at Lawrence Tech—which brought eight universities from across the country together to compete in an engineering project over a 24-hour period. The company challenged the teams to make improvements to an existing Reverie adjustable base and the winning school received scholarship funds for their studies. The university also participated in two engineering projects involving mechanized furniture throughout the year.
“At Reverie we are excited to partner with local universities to cultivate growth and innovation in the students who are going to lead us into the next generation in the sleep products industry,” said Rawls-Meehan. “Many businesses in Michigan are dedicated to the automotive industry. Our projects give students the opportunity to work with a different industry and raise our awareness in the local academic community. We value the new ideas students generate and the relationships we develop with potential new candidates for employment and internships.”
For more information, visit www.reverie.com.
About Reverie: Reverie is a leading manufacturer of innovative adjustable beds, mattresses and pillows to the trade and direct to consumers. The company’s sales and marketing headquarters is located in Michigan while its production, distribution and customer service facilities are based in New York. Reverie manufactures select products in the U.S. and continues to be a cutting-edge leader and innovator in the sleep products industry.
