In recent years, the topic of product certification has become a priority in the wood-furniture sector: being able to guarantee that a table, a chair, a flooring, a coating, an armchair or a kitchen comply with precise standards that establish their functionality, security, origin, quality, sustainability is an essential value. A certificate that is the result of tests and controls is acquiring new importance in itself: not only a “license” that allows the manufacturer to take part in specific tenders or satisfy requirements, but a “sign”, a mark, a document that certifies values and performance that can become a reason for choice for the end consumer.
It’s been a long time since 1993 – the year in which Catas issued the first “CQA-Catas Quality Award”, the tool to certify the low formaldehyde emissions of wood-based panels – and today Catas issues more than 180 different certifications, ranging from coating systems to gluelam beams, from raw materials to playground surfaces.
Although these documents are crucial in terms of the final quality of any product that reaches the end consumer, they have always expressed their value and their significance in “B2B”, that is in the dealings between producers involved in the transition from raw materials to semi-finished and then to finished products.
“Things are rapidly changing and there are more and more incentives for us to work in the direction of the final consumer”, commented Franco Bulian, director of Catas. “A trend that, if possible, further increases the value of our work, which becomes more and more a way to communicate to the final users the quality of what they are buying in a clear and effective way.
For some time we have also been working on the communication tools of the certifications issued for our clients, among whom, we would like to remind you, there are some of the main industrial groups in the production and now also in the retail sector. I am referring to a restyling of our certification marks, which allows us to “speak” directly to the consumer or to those who purchase certified materials and to make the values of safety, quality and performance guaranteed by a third-party body of recognized authority in the sector immediately understood through a mark, the Catas Quality Award, the “Made in Italy by CATAS”.
An important step for Catas, which now can see its vocation strongly expressed, finally speaking of quality, certifying values and truths throughout the whole supply chain, right up to the end consumer.
On the one hand, the ever-greater attention, competence and information of users have contributed to this transition. Users today can choose thanks to an infinite number of sources of information, among which, finding milestones or reliable and authoritive marks, is essential.
On the other hand, there is the universal awareness of companies that “certified quality” – at any level of the value creation process – is an indispensable element for accessing markets, demonstrating competence and expressing competitive advantages.
“A new time that is rapidly opening up new scenarios”, Bulian concluded. “Over the years, we have defined and continue to “establish” new testing protocols – according to the most up-to-date and stringent standards – on the subject of sustainability, for example, to concretely demonstrate how many and what values are hidden behind this often-abused word”.
Messages that must first and foremost be clear and unambiguous. It is no coincidence that Catas has chosen to invest in a new online showcase: the website cqa.catas.com will allow anyone who wishes to learn more about what is “behind and inside” the “Catas Quality Award” product certifications.
