2019 was a very intense year for Catas, full of events and initiatives to celebrate the first 50 years of the Italian laboratory, the most important European testing institute for the wood and furniture sector.
A record that have been even improved, thanks to the icing on the cake of these fifty years, represented by the opening of the new furniture laboratory in November of last year. It is the largest and most equipped European structure for furniture tests that will allow Catas to achieve new and more important results.
However, the enthusiasm for the prestigious anniversary did not affect the “productivity” of Catas; starting from the number of tests performed, which this year was 2 percent more than the already brilliant 2018. In 2019, therefore, something like 48.152 tests were carried out, for a turnover that reached 6,5 million of euros, 2 percent more than the previous year. The staff also grew (to date there are 54 employees at Catas), with further new entries expected for the beginning of 2020.
TESTS
Coming back to the activities of the laboratory, we can observe a constant increase of tests on formaldehyde and volatile organic substances emissions in consequence of the new German law and of a growing general sensitivity towards these issues. This situation was tackled by renewing an area of the laboratory and considerably increasing the equipment for the execution of these tests, bringing the number of chambers to 69 units against the previous 39. Also the activity on playground equipment – and in particular the evaluation of “shockproof” floors (Catas is one of the very few accredited laboratories for such measures) – shows a clear growth; the same applies to mechanical tests on wood based panels.
Another challenge to face is the high productivity requested by the market, which pushed us to raise the level of automation of the tests on finished products: in addition to the anthropomorphic robots, already in use for several years in the test departments of Lissone and San Giovanni al Natisone, several collaborative robots (“Cobot”) of the latest generation have been introduced during the year. An investment that fits perfectly into the choice of making the new furniture laboratory a true example of excellence, an interconnected test environment, completely “Industry 4.0”, which allows us to obtain clear improvements in the management of control processes and in the organization of activities. This “Implementation 4.0” is also underway at the Lissone laboratory facilities and is expected to be completed within the first half of 2020.
PRODUCT CERTIFICATION
Strong impulse also in terms of product certifications, which this year have reached the 177 units against the 150 of 2018. In particular the certifications regarding formaldehyde emission have increased, under the strong push of the American Carb and Epa regulations. Also the “Made in Italy” certification for the finished furniture has highlighted several new requests, reaching now the 16 certified productions. At the starting blocks there is a new certification on parquet floorings, strongly desired by different actors of this important sector to “make objective” the performance of a product that certainly deserves to be further enhanced also in such terms. During the first few months of 2020 the process that will lead Catas to be able to offer a service for the evaluation of the Lca-Life Cycle Assessment of the products of the wood-furniture supply chain, also for the purposes of a possible Epd certification (Environmental Product Declaration), will be also completed.
TRAINING
Knowledge disseminating is one of the tasks that Catas has always carried out with extreme attention and commitment, an activity that in 2019 confirmed that it has assumed a strategic importance through a full calendar of appointments, in addition to the courses directly carried out at the company sites. Also for this activity, as for all the other pillars on which the everyday life of Catas is based, 2020 promises to be a year of further expansion.
