Shanghai — IAPMO R&T, North America’s premier third‐party certification body for plumbing and mechanical products, recently attended the 17th Kitchen & Bath China Exhibition in Shanghai. The event, held May 23‐26, is among China’s premier trade events for the bath and kitchen accessories sector, and included relevant professional experts and policymakers. IAPMO R&T has participated in this event each year since 2000.
About 1,500 exhibitors participated in this year’s show. IAPMO R&T representatives visited with exhibitors and manned a booth promoting IAPMO R&T’s comprehensive menu of product conformity assessment services, including UPC, c‐UPC and WaterSense® certification. The booth received a steady stream of visitors seeking information on their listed products, adding new products to their certificates, opening new files for their latest products and inquiring about updates to the UPC and other regulatory issues. There also were a number of manufacturers looking to market their products in the United States and Canada who were seeking to secure the marketing advantage and verification of code compliance achieved by obtaining third‐party product certification through IAPMO R&T.
“We continue to receive great interest from manufacturers who, for many years, have trusted us and valued our services,” said Jin Luo, senior director of Asia Pacific Operations for IAPMO R&T. “They recognize that our services provide them with a valuable tool in getting their products into the North American market.”
IAPMO R&T also presented a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) WaterSense® seminar that featured presentations from Luo and WaterSense® Lead Engineer Stephanie Tanner. The China Building Ceramic Sanitary Ware Association and the China National Hardware Association co‐sponsored the seminar.
IAPMO R&T representatives attending the show were pleased with the response of manufacturers at their booth. Even in uncertain economic times, it was apparent that manufacturers and listees understand that IAPMO R&T’s marks of conformity carry a value that cannot be overstated. The UPC and c‐UPC marks of conformity are the most widely recognized marks in the industry.
“The event had a wonderful turnout and we received both valuable feedback from existing customers and a tremendous amount of interest from people interested in utilizing our services,” Luo said.
IAPMO R&T is accredited by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) in the United States and the Standards Council of Canada (SCC) in Canada. This highest degree of integrity means IAPMO R&T’s certification marks of conformity are recognized throughout North America.
For more information on having products listed, contact Brenda Madonna (brenda.madonna@iapmort.org) at (877) 4‐UPC‐MARK, or direct your Web browser to www.iapmort.org.
