NEW CATAS SERVICE OF “LIFE CYCLE ASSESSMENT”
- 2020-10-02
The term “sustainability”is becoming more and more a primary goal for every human activity and even the development of the wide world of furniture has long been measured on this issue, in all its implications.
There is no doubt that the different relationship between economic activity and the environment is an absolute priority on which governments and consumers give increasing importance, causing a need of knowledge and fundamentals that has led Catas to equip itself to support companies also in the processes of “green” analysis and design.
Unfortunately, however, very often one declares an “ecological passion” but without going into detail, without knowing how much a product "costs" for the environment not only for the production process impact, but for its entire life, as long as it will be used until disposal.
Yet the tools to give objectivity to all this are there: for years we have been talking about “LCA-Life Cycle Assessment”, a method that evaluates the impact that a car, a building but also a chair or a kitchen will have on the planet. The first point is to understand how a product will be used and for how long it will perform its function, calculating not only the resources necessary for its realization, but how its use will affect the environment and humans in terms of global warming, acidification, eutrophication, ozone depletion, human toxicity, land use, ecotoxicity… for the entire duration of its life!
It is easy to understand how this method imposes strict, precise assessment and measurement tools to be able to generate an “EPD-Environment Product Declaration”, an "environmental declaration” that can be verified by a third party and made public – through databases of program operators recognized worldwide -– because the “ecological characteristics” of a good can be known by all and therefore become – why not – a “plus” among the reasons for purchasing. Getting to define the “environmental identity card”of a product requires complex knowledge and tools, as well as having the necessary information to be able to evaluate all those aspects that are outside the direct control of the producer (electricity supply, logistics, raw materials, ...). On top of this it has to be noted that very often, unfortunately, we witness fraudulent “green washing”operations by unscrupulous companies.
Therefore seriousness, competence, rigor, commitment are essential to apply properly a method that finally allows us to really measure the impact on the environment of a product, avoiding improvisations that can also lead to sensational blunders.
From September 2020 a task force has been allocated to this topic, a team of Catas technicians who are taking part in a high-level training projectin order to support companies in this virtuous process.
By June 2021, Catas will therefore have all the necessary tools – skills, models, procedures – to offer technical assistance to the companies of the wood and furniture sector for the Life Cycle Assessment of their products.
The service that Catas will offer will be based on a technical methodalready adopted in many other sectors at an international level, with all the required ingredients of precision and objectivity on the measurements defined by the UNI 11698: 2017 standard“Estimate, declaration and use of uncertainty of the results of a Life Cycle Assessment - Requirements and guidelines”.
An assessment that will allow companies to measure the “environmental cost” of a product by taking into consideration its entire life cycle, as we have already illustrated, from the extraction of raw materials to the production cycle, up to use and “end of life”, quantifying the consumption of resources and emissions. An activity regulated by a series of ISO standards that will allow companies to give objectivity to their commitment, thus finally being able to speak about “eco-design”not only as a will or moral commitment, but as a design and production strategy with objective environmental implications, measurable, certifiable…
Successful re-start for Koelnmesse in China
- 2020-08-10
interzum guangzhou with international participation – digital expansion ensures worldwide business contacts beyond the trade fair itself. Suspense and great anticipation accompanied the launch of the first Koelnmesse event since the coronavirus crisis began: interzum guangzhou in China (27 to 30 July 2020) demonstrated that trade fairs with strict hygiene rules in place and a limited number of admissions – in the food-service areas, for example – are possible in spite of the pandemic and can result in a good commercial outcome. ‘The international participation was good and in keeping with the circumstances; thanks to digital business matchmaking, exhibitors were also able to reach visitors who were unable to travel to the event’, according to Gerald Böse, President and Chief Executive Officer of Koelnmesse. ‘This corroborates our efforts to begin hosting trade fairs again in our halls in Cologne as soon as possible. The success of interzum guangzhou encourages us to set the course for this outcome, together with our customers.’ interzum guangzhou marked the first major platform for the international furniture manufacturing and supply sector in the second half of the year. More than 800 exhibitors from 16 countries and almost 100,000 visitors took the opportunity to meet vendors, customers and business partners again in person, building and strengthening relationships and reconnecting as an industry. ‘In the current situation, the most important thing is for our customers to feel comfortable and safe at our events’, Keith Tsui, Managing Director of the Chinese Koelnmesse subsidiary, explained. ‘As event professionals, we see ourselves in a position to create conditions that are conducive to trade fairs, even in times such as these.’ As expected, there were fewer exhibitors than seen in the statistical results of the previous interzum guangzhou, but there were international exhibitors who made use of the event as well. Among other things, there was an official German group entry comprised of a total of eight German exhibitors; their appearance was successfully supervised by local employees or sales partners on location. Among visitors, the trade fair was focused primarily on the Chinese market. From the first day of the trade fair, it recorded excellent and only slightly lower numbers of national visitors when compared to the previous event. On the third day of the event, a record number of visitors was even achieved compared to previous events: "This shows that our visitors feel safe and enjoy spending several days and more time at our show," says Tsui. This makes the event a role model for returning to normalcy following months of uncertainty – and a successful digital extension of the event’s reach: For international customers who were unable to travel to the venue due to travel restrictions, interzum guangzhou offered ‘Offline2Online Live Business Matching’. International visitors joined in the proceedings digitally from home, virtually meeting with the exhibitors on hand to cultivate business relationships and present new products. Exhibitors' feedback on these virtual meetings and on the event as a whole was consistently very positive: Dr. Rajat Agarwal, Henkel (China) Investment Co., Ltd., Corporate Vice President “So, I am quite impressed with the quantity of exhibitors and people. We also see that the exhibition overall is extremely well organized and very clean. So, I’m very happy to see a well-organized exhibition.” Mr. Simon Jenkinson, LINAK (Shenzhen) Actuator Systems Ltd., President “My personal opinion is that the show is busier than I was actually expecting it to be. There are more people here than I thought there would be, and we are meeting many of our old friends as well from within the industry, that we haven’t seen for a long time. This has been the first opportunity to catch up with existing customers and contacts.” The kick-off in China will be followed by further outbound Koelnmesse events in the food sector: THAIFEX – Anuga Asia in Bangkok in September, and yummex Middle East in Dubai in November. The trade fair team in Cologne is looking forward to a re-start there, with ART COLOGNE and COLOGNE FINE ART & DESIGN (18 to 22 November 2020). ‘For all of our events – whether in Cologne, with our B-SAFE4business concept, or abroad in coordination with our subsidiaries – we have developed detailed hygiene concepts that enable our customers to conduct business with one another directly’, Böse assured.‘Trade fairs have an absolute systemic relevance for the global economic fabric, and for many participants they are actually of existential importance. 90 percent of the exhibitors in the Koelnmesse programme are small or medium-sized enterprises for which international trade fairs represent the main gateway to the global market. Our mission, as an international trade fair organiser, is to give the industries involved the propulsive power they need for their business. And we take this mission very seriously.’ About Koelnmesse: Koelnmesse generated more than 400 million euro in revenue worldwide in 2019 and has a workforce of more than 1,000 people. As a city trade fair location in the heart of Europe, it is home to the third-largest trade fair grounds in Germany and ranks among the top ten in the world, with approximately 400,000 m² of hall space and outdoor area. Each year, Koelnmesse organises and manages around 80 trade fairs, guest events and special events in Cologne and in the most important markets all over the world.
THE NEXT XYLEXPO EVENT WILL BE IN 2022
- 2020-07-14
The Board of Cepra-Centro promozionale Acimall had to take note that it is impossible to organizeXylexpo in 2020, setting the next date for exhibitors and visitors in 2022”. Cepra communicated the non-existence of objective conditions to organize the 2020 edition of Xylexpo, Biennial world exhibition for woodworking technology and furniture supplies, with an official letter to all exhibitors signed by President Lorenzo Primultinion July 6, 2020. "Postponing the exhibition to November 2020 – Primultini's letter states –seemed the best possible solution, but the efforts of our organization in recent months and the constant monitoring of all the conditions required to offer a successful exhibition have clearly shown that the situation in November will not be favorable, yet.
