FIRA International Ltd
Maxwell Road
Stevenage
Hertfordshire
SG1 2EW

Tel: 01438 777700
Fax: 01438 777800
e-mail: info@fira.co.uk
www.fira.co.uk

Managing Director: Mr Hayden Davies

Turnover: £5,000,000

Number of staff: 75

For 60 years, FIRA has developed many of the test methods that form the basis of furniture standards worldwide; but there is a lot more to FIRA than just testing.

FIRA Service Technicians offers a nationwide complaint handling service for dozens of clients, including some of the biggest names in retailing.

ukfirst works with furniture companies to help achieve world class performance in quality, cost and delivery through manufacturing, process improvements and the implementation of lean techniques.

The Furniture Ombudsman is an independent dispute resolution service in the furniture and floorcoverings sector with its own separate membership.

Consultancy, research and expert witness services are another big part of FIRA's work; for example, helping companies achieve environmental management standards such as ISO 14001, to become members of FISP (Furniture Industry Sustainability Programme, of which FIRA is one of 11 industry supporters), in ergonomic design and - as acknowledged experts in furniture - in court cases.

FIRA also administers the Gold Awards for product and service excellence, and has recently introduced a Certification Scheme for School Furniture to encourage improvement in the quality of furniture used in education. Another new addition to FIRA's offer is the Furniture Footprinter, a comprehensive online carbon measurement tool developed specifically for the industry.

Education and training continues to grow, with over 50 courses held each year, monthly e-news and a regularly updated website which contains over 4000 pages. The FIRA-organised National Furniture Conference is one of the key dates in the industry calendar.

And of course furniture testing remains a core part of FIRA's business, as you would expect from a pioneering organisation.