Working to enhance the competitiveness of home furnishing companies

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Contents

Centre of innovation in home furnishings and the furniture cluster

Our objective

Working to enhance companies' competitiveness

Lines of activity

SalesMarketingProduct developmentProduction and managementTraining

Partnership activities: competing by sharing

Examples in contract channelsExamples in retail channels

R&D&I Projects

Service infrastructures

Testing equipmentTraining roomsMaterials LibraryPilot plant and workshop

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Established in 2007, CENFIM is a non-profit organization whose members are business associations of the wood and furniture sectors across the four provinces of Catalonia, the Universitat Rovira i Virgili and public administrations (La Sénia Town Council and the Department of Industry of the Government of Catalonia).

The organization's headquarters are located in the town of La Sénia, the heart of the home furniture manufacturing cluster in Catalonia. CENFIM's premises cover an area of 900 m2, equipped with offices, training facilities and laboratories. In order to facilitate relations with companies and public administrations, the organization also has an office in Barcelona.

Centre of innovation in home furnishings and the furniture cluster

Our objective

CENFIM's objective is to promote competitiveness through innovation in companies in the furniture sector and other home furnishing sectors: carpentry, floor surfaces, lighting, home fabrics, decoration, etc.

CENFIM enjoys national and international recognition as an organization providing support for innovation in companies:

Catalonia Clusters Programme (Government of Catalonia)

TECNIO Network (Government of Catalonia)

Partner centre of the Employment Service of Catalonia

EU Cluster partnership

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CENFIM's activities are open to all companies in the home furnishing sectors throughout its value chain: manufacture of raw materials, auxiliary industry, manufacture of end products and distribution.

Since the centre was founded right up to the current day, over 220 companies from all of the home furnishing sectors have taken part in our projects and activities, with participants from several Autonomous Communities of Spain, including both multinationals and small firms.

The centre has 55 member companies with which we work more closely and which have preferential status as partners in the projects we undertake. In addition, they are eligible for discounts on our activities. Information: www.cenfim.org/association

Working to enhance companies' competitiveness

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Our activities include:

¦ R&D&I Projects

¦ Service provision to companies

¦ Technical and occupational training

¦ Promoting partnership activities between companies

We carry out both partnership projects, with the participation of various companies, and specific, tailored projects and services for a particular company.

Lines of activity

¦ Commercialization platforms for the contract channel (community equipment)

¦Commercialization platforms for the retail channel

¦ E-commerce: strategy and tool development for online trade management

¦Group commercialization: promotion and management of export groups

¦ Digitization of sales, augmented and virtual reality

¦ Digital communication: websites, newsletters, blogs, social media

¦ Consumer research and market testing for new products

¦Intelligence on foreign markets

Sales

Marketing

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Working with all company departments, we divide our range of services and projects into the

¦ Trends: analysis and application to new products

¦ Eco-design: application of environmental criteria, life cycle analysis and ISO 14006:2011

¦ Materials: integration of innovative materials

¦ Testing: trials of raw materials and finished products (furniture)

Product development

¦ Sustainability: environmental product statements, implementation of ISO 14001:2015

¦ Quality: implementation of ISO 9001:2015, ISO 26000:2012, methodology for CE certification

¦ Processes: implementation and monitoring of the lean manufacturing methodology

Production and management

¦ Executive: business strategy seminars

¦ Technical: courses and information sessions on new developments in marketing, design and production

¦Occupational: centre accredited by the Catalan Employment Service (SOC), courses with professionalism certification

Training

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At CENFIM, we organize and run activities that enable different companies to benefit from economies of scale and synergies in relation to the promotion and sale of its products.

Our activities take into account the characteristics of the business, both in terms of the retail channel (retailer distribution) and the contract channel (community equipment).

Partnership activities: competing by sharing

¦InteriHOTEL: marketplace for hotel interior design equipmen.

¦ Promotion and management of shared showrooms in Barcelona and Casablanca (Morocco)

¦ Contract groups for export to different markets outside the EU

¦ E-commerce platform: Lovingdeco

¦ Direct and inverse commercial missions

¦ Community manager shared between companies

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Examples of partnership activities conducted in the contract channel:

Examples of partnership activities conducted in the retail channel:

CENFIM is an extremely active organization in terms of conducting R&D&I projects with competitive financing. Our projects have had the support of the European Commission, the Ministry of Industry, the Government of Catalonia and several foundations.

Our key projects include:

¦ECO4VET: Improvement of Vocational Education and Training related to Ecodesign and Sustainable Production in the Furniture Sector

¦FurnIT-saver: Smart Augmented and Virtual Reality Marketplace for Furniture Customisation

¦SAMM: Environmental Sustainability in Wood and Furniture

¦IMCAMU: Implementing the Chain of Custody in the Furniture Sector

¦ECOINHAB: Eco-innovation in home furnishing products

¦Finestra sostenible (Sustainable Window): Development of a window with improved heat and sound insulation properties, and which qualifies for certification in accordance with the Spanish Technical Code for Building (CTE).

¦CPS Mueble: Content and training development for the application of the Creative Problem Solution (CPS) methodology in the furniture sector.

¦Tech&Mueble: Incorporating electronic solutions in furniture

www.eco4vet.com

www.furnit-saver.eu

www.fundacion-biodiversidad.es/cambio-climatico-y-calidad-ambiental/proyectos-convocatoria-ayudas/samm

www.imcamu.com

www.ecoinhab.com

www.finestrasostenible.com

R&D&I Projects

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Testing equipment

CENFIM has a laboratory specializing in furniture, enabling testing in line with the most common standards:

¦Acquisition and preparation of samples: cross-sectioning equipment, wooden mills and climatic chambers

¦Determination of physical parameters of raw materials: humidity, density, mechanical properties, calorific value, ash value and formaldehyde emission

¦Adhesives and varnishes (solids content, viscosity)

¦ Surface coating trials: brightness, colour, thickness

¦End product testing: static and dynamic loads

Service infrastructures

Training rooms

CENFIM provides training for company employees, both at an executive level and for technicians in the technical, production or management departments. We are certified as a partner centre by the Catalan Employment Service (SOC) to provide occupational training courses with professionalism certification.

An IT room equipped with 20 computers and the latest software, enables us to offer courses in Computer-Assisted Design (CAD, CAM, CAE), office automation, management and ecommerce.

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Pilot plant and workshop

CENFIM is equipped with a pilot plant and furniture manufacture and carpentry workshop fitted with equipment for all of the main operations of the production process: mechanization, (numerical control and wood shaper), varnishes and lacquers (pistol and screen), and assembly.

The pilot plant is used as a training workshop for company professionals, occupational training and research projects. It is also available for member companies for the manufacture of prototypes.

Materials Library

The incorporation of new materials is a crucial feature of innovation in the home furnishing industries. CENFIM has created a materials library containing recently developed materials that are not commonly used in the home furnishing sectors.

The materials library physically exhibits over 200 materials groups into categories (plastics, wood derivatives, composites, ceramics, etc.). Each material is classified by its physical and mechanical properties.

Enquiries regarding the properties of the materials, in order to facilitate selection, can be made via the website www.cenfim.org/materialoteca (access reserved for member companies).

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Avinguda Generalitat 66 / P.O. Box 18143560 La Sénia (Tarragona)

Passeig de Gràcia, 81, 3º 2ª08008 Barcelona

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Tel. +34 977 57 01 22Fax +34 977 57 61 79