Novi Footwear gains laboratory accreditation

Yet another footwear company has gained the internationally-recognised and highly valued SATRA laboratory accreditation. Founded in 1986, Novi Footwear (Far East) Pte Limited is a leading footwear sourcing company working with brands, retailers, department stores and hypermarkets. It has more than 400 employees in some 13 cities, and serves the complete supply chain – from development, material sourcing and inspection, to quality assurance, social and technical audits, order procurement, chemical and physical testing, quality control inspection and shipment. Novi Footwear is part of the Wortmann Group, which reported a turnover of around €950 million ($1.4 billion) in 2010/2011.

With production centres in Cambodia, China, Indonesia and Vietnam, Novi Footwear decided to set up a SATRA-accredited onsite footwear laboratory to further the company’s ability to carry out product risk assessments. Novi Footwear can also conduct physical testing of materials, components and finished footwear, as well as the assessment of test results at the earliest stages of development.

“After a long association with SATRA, Novi Footwear is very pleased to have achieved accreditation for our new testing laboratory facilities in Dongguan,” said John Britten, Novi Footwear’s Head of Technical Services. “The ability to carry out in-house testing ensures that our products are safe, are made to the highest standard and meet with customers’ expected performance.”

According to SATRA’s China Office General Manager, Steve Rose, Novi Footwear has developed an exceptional in-house testing facility at its Dongguan base. It is well equipped with high-quality test machines (many supplied by SATRA) and is staffed with knowledgeable and well-trained technical personnel.

“Accreditation was awarded at the first SATRA audit, which is no small achievement, and is a measure of the hard work and expertise required by the Novi staff to establish the quality system and all the associated procedures and records,”
commented Mr Rose.

The laboratory is accredited for 27 safety, quality and performance tests covering all the footwear styles in the Novi Footwear range. SATRA looks forward to working with Novi Footwear in the future to help ensure that the company’s testing facilities and footwear production maintains a high standard.

Photograph shows Shaun Watt (Novi Footwear Laboratory Manager), on left, receiving his company’s certificate of laboratory accreditation from SATRA’s John Reed. Also pictured are Laboratory Technicians Daniel Yang and Andrew Chen, with SATRA’s China Office General Manager, Steve Rose

Publishing Data

This article was originally published on page 38 of the September 2011 issue of SATRA Bulletin.

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