The message of a strongly positive vision for the future from Franco Bulian, director of Catas – the important European laboratory for tests and certifications in the wood-furniture sector – has chosen the press conference organized at Sicam Pordenone, Italy

The current times see the variegated universe of wood furniture experiencing a very positive season, with a double-digit growth involving all furniture segments, a trend that all observers indicate “steadily growing” in international terms up to 2027. Thus, a strong demand, which now more than ever asks for specific requirements: “durable” products, which guarantee to maintain their performance for a long time; safe products to guarantee the necessary tranquillity in any environment and for any need. Products that are increasingly associated with the brand, with the “name” of the producers, are increasingly synonymous with reliability, certainty, trust. Tests, checks, analyses and product certifications: in a few words Catas activities. And last but not least, products that are “environmentally friendly“, which from design until they must inevitably be disposed of, at the end of their life cycle, prove to be environmentally friendly, and require low energy and resources consumption.

Values towards which the consumers all over the world are showing increasing attention, a trend that has a decisive and positive influence on Catas’ activity, whose financial reports show continuous growth indicators also in 2021. According to initial estimates, the current year will close with an increase in turnover of about 6 per cent, with a further increase in the number of tests carried out for more than 2 thousand Catas customers, in 65 countries, in a ranking showing – behind Italy – Poland, Romania, Germany, Slovakia, Lithuania, China, Portugal, Hungary and Russia. A growth that has convinced Catas board of directors to start new investments: a new three-storey building to be built in the headquarters in San Giovanni al Natisone, Udine (Italy). 2,400 square meters will host new laboratories to enhance many activities.

The “Testing 4.0” platform will also be further strengthened, a real network that for several months has now allowed the over 100 test stations operating 24 hours a day to be managed in real-time both in San Giovanni al Natisone and Catas Brianza in Lissone (Italy), the heart of the well-known furniture district. A wish to be closer and more integrated with the most important “furniture districts” that Catas witnessed by opening the first “Catas Point” in Pesaro (Italy), in collaboration with Manufaktura. A growth that also passes through the new services offered by the laboratories, such as the “Risk Assessment” on furniture, electrified ones included, or furniture containing systems that can be activated or used by means of electrical devices.

There is also a significant increase in all the training activities that are part of the “Catas Academy”, growing demand for opportunities for in-depth study and knowledge that are articulated, according to the needs of those who request them, in the Catas laboratories, in the classrooms, on-line or even in companies: a total of more than 50 courses will be held this year for over 300 hours of training. Catas does not just “measure” products or performances. In light of a request for real “quality certificates” of which users or end consumers can certainly understand the value, Catas is expanding its activity in product certification, through the “Catas Quality Award” which today testify to the level of quality for the formaldehyde emissions of the panels, the painting of domestic furniture, the lamellar profiles and the surfaces of the playgrounds, in addition to the designation of origin “Made in Italy”.

An increasingly significant activity, to the point, that by the end of the year a new Catas website will be online, and entirely dedicated to certification. Still on product qualification, in recent months Catas has launched their recent sustainability-dedicated service. A theme that is talked about more and more often, but of which not many people know the true meaning, rather than the thousand facets. For this reason, Catas has chosen to activate an internal qualification process allowing its technicians to “Measure” objectively and with high precision the products actual “sustainability”, from design to disposal. “The Life Cycle measured by Catas” is a protocol based on the only globally recognized method for “calculating sustainability”, LCA – “Life Cycle Assessment” which complies with the internationally recognized standards.

Bulian concluded his speech by stating that “nowadays quality is not sort of a “privilege” acquired by selecting a particularly skilled craftsman, or purchasing an asset for which someone decides to boast it: now the quality is measurable, verifiable, certifiable objective. An absolute and shareable value, consumers demand and essential for companies to keep their reliability and competitiveness“.