La Grange, Ga.—The Resilient Floor Covering Institute and SCS Global Services have created a new program to ensure the continued growth and popularity of rigid core luxury vinyl tile (LVT) marketed and sold in North America. The program is called Assure Certified.
“As part of our mission to support the interest of resilient flooring, RFCI and member manufacturers determined there was an urgent need to establish industry-wide standards for rigid core LVT quality, no matter where it’s made,” explained Dean Thompson, president and CEO of RFCI. “The standards for the Assure Certified program will be the best protection and quality assurance for all rigid core manufacturers, suppliers, distributors, retailers and, of course, consumers and end users.”
Rigid core LVT is the fastest growing resilient flooring category. It has evolved quickly from an innovative “multilayer” resilient concept—first as expanded polymer core (also called WPC), and quickly adding solid polymer core (SPC)—to a popular, resilient waterproof flooring solution offered by many brands. Assure Certified flooring will be positioned as “Smart. Durable. Responsible.”
SCS Global Services (SCS), an international leader in third-party certification and standards development, will provide certification services and direct the testing protocol. This includes an assessment of the manufacturing quality control procedure for material suppliers, product traceability, chain of custody, internal QC testing and segregation of non-conforming products and materials. It also includes an on-site manufacturing facility audit as well as performance testing in compliance with the rigid core ASTM standard, testing for heavy metals and ortho-phthalates content, and FloorScore testing for indoor air quality.
“Flooring customers are very informed and engaged in choosing safe, high-performance flooring for their homes, offices and other indoor uses,” said Nicole Muñoz, vice president of environmental certification services at SCS. “Assure Certified is a timely label for this rapidly developing flooring category.”
Starting this month, information about Assure Certified will be available on the rfci.com site and the scsglobalservices.com site. Outreach to the flooring trade is occurring via an ad campaign now being featured in the trade media, “What the best dressed brands will be wearing.”
Rigid core manufacturers can contact SCS Global Services directly to start their certification process now.