November 10, 2005

St. Joseph, Michigan – JohnsonRauhoff announced Friday that they have formalized their long-term working relationship with GE through a multi-year contract extension.

JohnsonRauhoff creates an extensive variety of consumer communications, including use & care guides, sales training materials, labels, installation instructions and installation template for the appliance division of GE Consumer & Industrial. Additionally, JohnsonRauhoff Marketing does work with GE Lighting. The enduring relationship between the two companies began in 1998 when JohnsonRauhoff earned a 98.98% quality rating from GE for excellence in efficient workflow processes.

Earl Peters, Director of Product Communications at JohnsonRauhoff said, “We hold a special appreciation for the user instruct field and we’re very pleased with this vote of confidence from GE.”

JohnsonRauhoff’s expertise in user instruct has its roots in, of all things, munitions. In the late 1950s, JohnsonRauhoff founder/CEO Don Johnson was part of a U.S. Army team that created the first user manual for the M16 rifle. “When creating user instruct for a product that holds life and death consequences,” said Mr. Johnson, “you quickly learn to appreciate the critical role proper user instruct plays in safe, effective product use.”

Later, Don’s understanding of the importance of well-crafted user instruct was put to use for Whirlpool Corporation. In the late 1960s, JohnsonRauhoff was a primary architect of a very effective product literature creative and workflow system that brought attention to the value of effective customer instruct. JohnsonRauhoff remained partners with Whirlpool for more than 30 years, ranking #1 nationally in user instruct.

Eric Sellers, Account Manager for JohnsonRauhoff, Louisville, said of the contract, “We are delighted with this contract. We likely will need to add staff to our St. Joseph location.”

JohnsonRauhoff is a full-service communications group specializing in advertising and promotions, photography, retail production and technical communications. The agency has offices in Benton Harbor and St. Joseph, Michigan and Louisville, Kentucky. Interested documentation specialists — including account managers, technical writers, graphic designers, Web-based workflow programmers and usability specialists should contact Amy Hemphill at ahemphill@johnsonrauhoff.com.