BIFMA Compliant
Everything You Need to Know About the New Program
July 20, 2021 | 11:00AM PST / 2:00PM EST
With an array of furniture products available on the market today, consumers need a reliable resource where they can check the quality and performance of products before they buy. Recognizing this need within the industry, BIFMA (Business & Institutional Furniture Manufacturer's Association) unveiled its BIFMA Compliant program to help all types of customers make confident buying decisions when purchasing furniture products.
Launched in March 2021, BIFMA Compliant is an industry-wide registry of furniture products that conform to BIFMA safety and durability standards and acts as a resource for both specifiers and buyers to quickly identify quality products. While furniture manufacturers, specifiers, and buyers around the world are encouraged to participate, many are unaware of how the program works and don’t know how to get their products listed on the registry.
Join our upcoming webinar where our furniture testing expert, Stephan Pesch, teams up with BIFMA Technical Director, Dave Panning, to discuss the new program, its benefits, and everything you need to know in order to get your products listed on the registry.
During the webinar, you will learn:
- Overview of the BIFMA Compliant Program and how it works
- The program benefits for manufacturers, specifiers, and buyers
- Step-by-step process for joining the BIFMA Compliant registry
- Required testing
- TUV Rheinland's Scope of Accreditation & Testing to BIFMA standards
- Question and Answer session with TUV Rheinland and BIFMA experts
Meet the Speakers
Stephan Pesch started with TUV Rheinland in Guangzhou, China as a test engineer more than 17 years ago. He set-up a lab and started furniture testing in 2005. After the merger with LGA, the test house with the leading furniture testing institute in Germany, he offered retail testing services to clients in Greater China. In 2019, Stephan joined TUV Rheinland of North America Inc. He took over responsibilities as the Local Field Manager for Softlines and Hardlines and established a furniture testing lab in Grand Rapids, Michigan. The lab was developed to offer state-of-the-art testing services for local furniture manufacturers and BIFMA members, as well as international Retail customers. Besides working closely with BIFMA experts in the standard writing processes for furniture safety, Stephan utilizes his expertise and the state-of-the-art testing lab to offer tailor-made solutions for furniture safety, quality, and compliance.
Dave Panning is Director of Technical Services of the Business and Institutional Furniture Manufacturers Association (BIFMA) for the past eleven years. Dave is also Chairman for the U.S. Technical Advisory Committee for Furniture in International Standards (ISO). Dave has extensive management and technical experience in architectural products, residential furniture, and commercial furniture industries having prior positions with Howard Miller, Paoli Incorporated, Haworth Incorporated, and Weyerhaeuser. Dave holds BS and MS degrees from the University of Minnesota and an MBA from Grand Valley State University.
Connect with us!
Back to top
