On January 29, 2007, our subsidiary factory in Shanghai successfully earned the UKAS ISO-9001 Quality Control Certificate from the International Standards Organization and the United Kingdom National Quality Association. Our excellent passing result awarded by top European QC auditors demonstrates our factory's efforts to maintain the highest quality control management system according to European and USA quality and safety standards.

What's ISO-9001?

ISO 9001 is a series of documents regulated by the International Standards Organization that define requirements for the Quality Management System Standard. It contains the actual requirements an organization must be in compliance with to become ISO 9001 certified.

Why does a company need ISO-9001?

A company decides to Implement ISO 9001 and to be audited and certified because it wants to assure customers that the company has a good Quality Management System (QMS) in place. An organization with an effective QMS will typically meet customer expectations better than an organization that does not have an effective QMS.

On March 26, 2008, our subsidiary factory in Shanghai successfully earned a UKAS ISO-14001 Environmental Management Certificate from the International Standards Organization and the United Kingdom National Quality Association.

What's ISO-14001?

ISO-14001 is the international specification for an Environmental Management System (EMS). It specifies requirements for establishing an environmental policy; determining environmental aspects and impacts of products/activities/services; planning environmental objectives and measurable targets; implementation and operation of programs to meet objectives and targets; checking and corrective action; and management review.
 

Why does a company need ISO-14001?

The overall idea of ISO-14001 is to establish an organized approach to systematically reduce the impact of the environmental aspects which an organization can control. Effective tools for the analysis of environmental aspects of an organization and for the generation of options for improvement are provided by the concept of Cleaner Production.

As one of the top two Montessori materials producers in the world, Montessori Outlet and its subsidiary factory has spent large amount of money every year to test our products and raw materials at German TUV Rheinland Laboratory to ensure that all of our products meet European EN-71 and United States ASTM-F963 Toy Safety Standards. We are very proud of our continuing efforts to ensure product safety and customer satisfaction.

Why would a company test at TUV?

With over 140 years of company history and industrial experiences, TUV has one of the most comprehensively equipped UKAS accredited facilities in Europe. It is recognized for independently testing and certifying conformance to a wide range of international standards and regulations and holds over 100 accreditations and approvals. We are confident to say that TUV is the largest and the most creditable independent testing laboratory in the world.

Montessori Outlet is proud to announce that all of our products qualify under European Union EN-71 Toy Safety Standards upon TUV testing, thus allowing us to use the CE mark for our achievements and qualification.

What's a CE mark?

The CE mark is a mandatory conformity mark on many products placed on the single market in the European Economic Area (EEA). By affixing the CE mark, the manufacturer, its authorized representative, or person placing the product on the market or putting it into service asserts that the item meets all the essential requirements of the relevant European Directive(s). Examples of European Directives requiring the CE mark include Toy Safety, machinery, etc.

On April 11, 2008, our subsidiary factory in Shanghai successfully passed the Chinese government's official audit on wooden toy production qualification and qualified as one of the few wooden toy manufactures to legally produce and export wooden toys to European and American market.

ATTENTION: Our factory in Shanghai is the only licensed Montessori materials producer in China approved by the Chinese government to produce and export Montessori materials. According to our research, other discounted vendors are buying materials from Chinese factories which have failed audits by the Chinese government. We urge your attention to safety concerns over a small price difference!
 

What's CCIB Toy Exporting License?

Due to massive recalls of toys produced in China in 2007, the United States government and the European Union urged the Chinese government to strengthen the supervision of all toy factories that produce and export toys to the United States and the European market.
 

Thus the Chinese government requires the national Quality Inspection Committee to re-audit all toy factories against revised and increasingly stringent quality criteria. Factories will need to pass these audits to have their licenses renewed. For example: the test reports submitted by an officially recognized laboratory must indicate compliance with the mandatory safety requirements of the destination country.
 

To strengthen the supervision of the raw materials used on toys, the regulation indicates that the paints used must be tested before use and be indicated on the test reports, which must be provided during the toy-export declaration.

As a company that always advocates protecting our environment, our factory in Shanghai requires all beechwood and Baltic birch plywood suppliers to be FSC or PEFC certified. Although our raw materials cost will be slightly higher than other companies when we enforce FSC or PEFC certification, we feel very comfortable doing this because we can make sure that our suppliers will plant more trees than they cut and will always keep our earth green.

According to the report prepared by the World Resources Institute, all developing countries in Asia such as China (Basswood) and Thailand (Rubber Wood) have an average deforestation of 6% every year, while all German beechwood has an annual average 4% growing rate. Stopping buying products made of rubberwood and basswood will help to protect our environment and save those developing countries.
 

Currently, among all vendors, Montessori Outlet is the only company enforcing FSC and PEFC rules on its suppliers.
 

What's FSC and PEFC?

FSC and PEFC are the two independent, non-governmental, not-for-project organizations established to promote the responsible management of the world's forests. Products carrying the FSC or PEFC label are independently certified to assure consumers that they come from forests that are managed to meet the social, economic and ecological needs of present and future generations.
 

Why must all wood be FSC or PEFC certified?

Forests provide us with clean water, fresh air and they even help combat global warming. They also provide food, medicine and important natural resources, such as timber and paper. However, in some countries as much as 80% of the timber is harvested illegally. This often involves the destruction of protected forests.
 

As the world's two leading organizations recognized by the UN and many environmental organizations (eNGOs), FSC and PEFC always improve the standards of forest management, which is ecological, social and economic sustainability.