CATAS – A Leader in Wood Research

From its founding in 1969 as a technical resource for chair and furniture manufacturers in the Udine region of Italy, CATAS has been a leader in applied wood research, international standards compliance, and new material trends. Today, its team of 30 chemists, engineers, mathematicians and technicians provides a wide range of tests and research on wood raw materials and end products. In 2007, CATAS carried out 26,300 tests for 1,400 companies, assuring conformity to national, European and international standards as well as determining whether products effectively met customer specifications for quality, safety and durability.

CATAS is accredited according to EN ISO 17025 by SINAL (Italian Accreditation Body). In addition to SINAL accreditation, CATAS is qualified by TÜV Product Service, TÜV Rheinland and LGA (D) for mechanical tests on furniture. CATAS is also qualified by IKEA (S) for formaldehyde tests and furniture tests on their products and by the American Association of Office Furniture Producers - BIFMA (USA). It also participates in the relevant international working groups on standardization in wood and furniture testing.

For Hexion, CATAS carried out artificial weathering tests (EN 927-6) comparing five latex coating systems for performance and conformity to the standard.