SGS Upgrades French Furniture Testing Facilities to Meet New European Standards

SGS’s furniture testing laboratory at Aix en Provence has been upgraded to allow testing to recently extended European Standards and current manufacturing demands. Fully accredited, the facility at Aix en Provence offers a one-stop solution for manufacturers compliance with regulatory standards and fitness for use (FFU) requirements.

The European Committee for Standardization (CEN) has recently updated standard EN 14749 for domestic storage furniture to include several new requirements, including new stability tests. Along with non-domestic storage furniture standard EN 16121, covering items such as educational bookcases, hospital cabinets, and hotel wardrobes, these standards require testing and verification service providers to execute a comprehensive set of evaluations to ensure full compliance with these demanding standards and confirm the products are ‘fit-for-use’ (FFU).

Furniture producers have always found the European markets for bathroom and kitchen furniture to be profitable and this has created a competitiveness between manufacturers. An increasing number of companies are now looking to offer extended ten-year warranties with their products in order to differentiate them from their competitors. These extended warranties require more demanding tests for products to ensure quality.

SGS’s furniture laboratory at Aix en Provence has now completed a program of equipment upgrading, including apparatus to test door and drawer fatigue, the specific load weights of furniture, and a hanging wall to test hanging storage furniture. This allows full testing to the enhanced specifications. For example, furniture is tested to a limit of 20,000 cycles, or to at least 100,000 cycles for heavy use equipment. SGS is now able to complete these tests for both the domestic and non-domestic storage furniture markets.

SGS’s Furniture Testing Services
SGS in Aix en Provence provides a one-stop solution for all furniture testing. Fully accredited by Cofrac, SGS can perform a full set of FFU tests - from furniture assembly, through door and drawer opening testing, to comprehensive testing of electrical parts and finishing testing. Conveniently located in South-east France for easy access by French, Spanish and Italian furniture manufacturers, SGS at Aix en Provence provides the perfect solution for businesses wanting to check FFU before issuing extended warranties and confirm compliance against the new CEN standards.

For more information:

Chloé Lespagnol
135 rue René Descartes
13857 Aix en Provence Cedex 3
Tel: +33 4 42 97 72 43
Email: cts.media@sgs.com
Website: www.sgs.com/furniture

About SGS
SGS is the world’s leading inspection, verification, testing and certification company. SGS is recognized as the global benchmark for quality and integrity. With more than 90,000 employees, SGS operates a network of over 2,000 offices and laboratories around the world.

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This release was published on openPR.