The Michigan Economic Development Corporation (MEDC) and West Michigan economic developers recently held their first-ever furniture industry symposium, and supply chain disruptions led the list of concerns.
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GRAND RAPIDS – BIFMA International, the Business & Institutional Furniture Manufacturers Association, has launched the BIFMA Compliant product registry, an industry-wide registry of furniture products conforming to BIFMA safety and durability standards.
The non-profit trade association said BIFMA Compliant, which launched March 1, provides clarity to the market by differentiating products that meet the established industry standards. BIFMA, an ANSI-accredited standards developer, said it worked with members and stakeholders for nearly three years to develop and implement the program, which is open to all furniture manufacturers who elect to participate.
Products in the registry can be viewed at bifma.org.
“BIFMA Compliant was developed in response to a growing market need for greater clarity,” said BIFMA President and CEO Deirdre Jimenez AIA, NCIDQ. “The design community who specifies furniture and the customers who buy furniture have both expressed the need to mo
Comments UL test for evaluating the safety, durability and structural performance of desk and table products is one of many incorporated in ANSI/BIFMA X5.5.
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. – The Business & Institutional Furniture Manufacturers Association’s (BIFMA) revised desk and table products standards, including two new tests for evaluating height adjustable desks, was approved last week by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI).
The updated safety and performance standard: ANSI/BIFMA X5.5-2021, Desk and Table Products, culminates three years of work by a BIFMA subcommittee. The revised standard includes input from industry stakeholders and an extensive review process.
BIFMA noted that “special emphasis” was placed on the Stability, Leg Strength, and Height Adjustable Desk/Table Surfaces tests. That included adding two new tests to X5.5 one to evaluate unattached top retention and the other to evaluate the stability of units with monitors attached.
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The video above is of a time-lapsed smolder test conducted by NIST on an upholstered chair.
WASHINGTON – Congress passed the COVID-19 Regulatory Relief and Work from Home Safety Act, which incorporates the Safer Occupancy Furniture Flammability Act (SOFFA) supported by several industry groups including the American Home Furnishings Alliance and Business & Institutional Furniture Manufacturers Association.
The new law instructs the Consumer Product Safety Commission to establish conformance with California TB-117-2013 as a national standard in the United States. California enacted SOFFA in 2013. Its corresponding technical bulletin calls for using a smolder test instead of an open flame test to determine the fire safety of upholstered furniture and other consumer products.