Operating Segments

6 Months Ended

Nov. 28, 2015

Segment Reporting, Disclosure of Entity's Reportable Segments [Abstract]

Segment Reporting Disclosure

Operating Segments

The company's reportable segments consist of North American Furniture Solutions, ELA ("EMEA, Latin America, and Asia Pacific") Furniture Solutions, Specialty, and Consumer. The North American Furniture Solutions reportable segment includes the operations associated with the design, manufacture, and sale of furniture products for work-related settings, including office, education, and healthcare environments, throughout the United States and Canada. ELA Furniture Solutions includes the operations associated with the design, manufacture, and sale of furniture products, primarily for work-related settings, in the EMEA, Latin America, and Asia-Pacific geographic regions. Specialty includes the operations associated with the design, manufacture, and sale of high-craft furniture products and textiles including Geiger wood products, Maharam textiles, and Herman Miller Collection products. The Consumer segment includes the operations associated with the sale of modern design furnishings and accessories to third party retail distributors, as well as direct-to-consumer sales through eCommerce and DWR studios.

The company also reports a “Corporate” category consisting primarily of unallocated corporate expenses including restructuring, impairment, acquisition-related costs, and other unallocated corporate costs.

The accounting policies of the reportable operating segments are the same as those of the company. Additionally, the company employs a methodology for allocating corporate costs and assets with the underlying objective of this methodology being to allocate corporate costs according to the relative usage of the underlying resources and to allocate corporate assets according to the relative expected benefit.

The company has determined that allocation based on relative net sales is appropriate. The majority of corporate costs are allocated to the operating segments; however, certain costs generally considered the result of isolated business decisions are not subject to allocation and are evaluated separately from the rest of the regular ongoing business operations. For example, restructuring charges that are reflected in operating earnings are allocated to the “Corporate” category.

The performance of the operating segments is evaluated by the company's management using various financial measures. The following is a summary of certain key financial measures for the respective fiscal periods indicated.

	Three Months Ended						Six Months Ended
(In millions)	November 28, 2015			November 29, 2014			November 28, 2015			November 29, 2014
Net Sales:
North American Furniture Solutions	$	348.1		$	315.3		$	686.2		$	636.4
ELA Furniture Solutions	100.7			114.3			203.2			209.7
Specialty	57.7			55.4			115.5			110.0
Consumer	73.9			80.4			140.9			119.0
Corporate	—			—			—			—
Total	$	580.4		$	565.4		$	1,145.8		$	1,075.1
Operating Earnings:
North American Furniture Solutions	$	41.4		$	32.3		$	82.2		$	68.5
ELA Furniture Solutions	7.3			10.4			13.9			13.5
Specialty	4.2			2.8			8.5			5.7
Consumer	2.7			1.5			6.5			3.8
Corporate	(0.1		)	(0.3		)	(0.5		)	(2.6		)
Total	$	55.5		$	46.7		$	110.6		$	88.9

(In millions)	November 28, 2015		May 30, 2015
Total Assets:
North American Furniture Solutions	$	509.1	$	504.5
ELA Furniture Solutions	239.9		235.4
Specialty	150.2		151.6
Consumer	244.7		231.8
Corporate	60.1		69.4
Total	$	1,204.0	$	1,192.7