Asian bedding sources learn about FR rules
By David Perry -- Furniture Today, January 29, 2006
High Point — U.S.-based suppliers to the bedding industry aren't the only ones gearing up for a new national mattress flammability standard expected to go into effect sometime next year. A number of Asian-based suppliers also are stepping up their efforts.
Some of those Asian companies gathered in Guangzhou, China, for a seminar on mattress flammability, held to educate Asian-based bedding makers about California's open-flame mattress flammability standard, which is expected to shape the national standard, and to discuss ways to produce FR bedding, said Steve Kuo of Aconic High-Tech Fiber Co., a Shenzhen, China-based supplier to the bedding industry, who attended the meeting.
He said the session was co-sponsored by Aconic, SGS, Atlantic Thread and a Japanese trading company.
Also attending was Brian McDonald, an official in the fire technology department at SGS. McDonald, who is based in Tulsa, Okla., said SGS is building a full-scale flammability lab in China, which he said should be of significant help to Chinese bedding producers who want to comply with U.S. flammability requirements.
The lab, scheduled to begin accepting mattresses for burn tests this April, is in Anji in Zhejiang province, McDonald said. "It will remove several burdens from Chinese mattress manufacturers," he said.
Kuo said that a number of Chinese mattress manufacturers are not well informed about the California flammability standard, and said he already has helped several bedding factories in China make beds that meet the California standard. At the seminar, Kuo presented what he said is a "proven, cost-effective FR barrier" for the consideration of Chinese bedding producers.
A Japanese trading company presented FR tapes and sewing threads to improve gusset protection of pillowtop mattresses. McDonald discussed procedures for conducting burn tests.
The new SGS flammability lab in China is a welcome development for Chinese bedding producers, Kuo and McDonald agreed.
"Once the lab equipped with (the California) burner in China starts its operation, it will be a great savings ... on the shipping cost to send testing samples to the labs in America," Kuo said. "Also, mattress manufacturers can easily access the lab to see their sample tested. They could understand right away whether their product is well-protected to meet the flammability requirements.
"The quantity of mattresses in compliance to the (California standard) will be rocketing to a record high in 2006, because of all of the Chinese mattress manufacturers getting ready to ship their products to the U.S. market," Kuo added.
McDonald said a number of Chinese mattress producers have expressed interest in using the SGS lab.
More than 100 people attended the seminar in Guangzhou, including several mattress producers from southern China. Kuo said he hopes to hold a similar seminar in Shanghai this year to help bedding producers in northern China meet the California standard.
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