CATAS, the largest Italian and European institute in the field of wood and furniture, opened its new state-of-the-art furniture laboratory, earlier in October of this year. The modern facility, which was simply marked as ‘Building C’, arose from the ashes of a fire that took place at its headquarters in San Giovanni al Natisone, Italy, on December 20, 2016. The ribbon cutting that actually celebrated the new laboratory was the most significant event in the long history of CATAS, which also celebrated the fiftieth anniversary of its foundation this year.
According to Bernardino Ceccarelli, the fire could have brought the institute to its knees. Instead, they faced the situation together, forming a stronger team and continuing to work, to carry out tests, and to respond to the needs of their customers while the new laboratory grew up day by day. The new laboratory was built in less than two years with an investment of 4 million euros, entirely covered by CATAS.
The new laboratory is a two-floor building comprising over 4,000 square meters. On the ground floor is a 2,300 square meter laboratory, with controlled temperature and humidity, a fiber optic data transmission system and more than hundred machines and equipment for network- connected tests according to the rules of ‘Industry 4.0’. In the basement, a warehouse of 2,000 square meters with space for meetings and training courses; and on the roof, a 320 kW photovoltaic system to produce energy from the sun.
With the opening of the facility, a new chapter opens in the history of CATAS, which today has 54 employees and carries out over 50,000 tests every year for 2,000 customers all over the world. The new laboratory is expected to significantly enhance the institute’s productivity, which from January 2020 will also be equipped with 30 new test machines for the analysis of formaldehyde and VOC (volatile organic compounds) emissions, a subject of growing importance in the furniture world.