It was a small, start-up furniture factory that was used as payment for a prior business investment. The year was 1926. The recipient owner of the furniture factory was our founder, Mr. Fernando Letayf. The name of the company: Industrias Ideal. Our history begins…
The beginnings were somewhat humble: 5,000 pesos, three employees and eight laborers. What the company lacked in capital venture and
manpower, it made up for in ambition and vision. Its first product to leave its facility was auditorium seating. The product was simple, sturdy wood based seating, some of which had attached desks with ink wells. In their first year, they registered an extraordinary 50,000 pesos worth of business and delivered 5,000 units. It wasn’t long before the public started to take note that a quality seating product was being mass produced without having to search outside the country. The chairs became a popular and trusted brand. The year was now 1942. The reputation of the Industrias Ideal label and their penetration into the market caused Mr. Letayf to seek a location where they could expand their efforts. The selected destination: Hacienda El Prieto, located at 16 de Septiembre. It had space to comfortably run factory operations and became the permanent location of our primary production facility that still operates today in the same location. Upon Fernando Letayf’s death, the company came under the leadership of his three sons. One son, Jose, saw the vast potential of the business and eventually attained the sole ownership of the factory. Carrying the philosophies forward of his father, Jose Letayf began to deftly fashion a strategy for expanding the company into the single largest seating manufacturer in Mexico. Move ahead to 1964. Our factory is manufacturing seating products to full capacity and it became self-evident that it was time to increase the real estate of the production compound. An adjacent parcel proved to be the key and Industrias Ideal was in better position than before to diversify and prove its manufacturing capabilities. This arrested the attention of Ford Motor Company who was seeking a solid company with which to partner and outsource selected automobile components. A mutually satisfying commercial partnership soon ensued. The eyes of the world turned to Mexico City in 1968 for the staging of the Summer Olympic Games. Industrias Ideal was called upon to supply seating product to outfit the key stadiums and Olympic Village venues. The third generation of Letayf family was now active in the daily operations of the manufacturing process. Acknowledging the change in the economy of Mexico, Industrias Ideal exercised its skills in effective commercial planning and analysis. It was now time to look beyond the markets of Mexico and Latin America. The extensive analysis performed in 1982 implied that there was a need in the United States for custom seating at a competitive price within the commercial theatre, worship, education and performing arts center markets. Thus in October of that year, Seating Concepts was incorporated in the State of California to market the products in Africa, Asia, Europe, and North America.
