TÜV Italia has officially opened its new testing laboratory in Volpiano near Turin, incorporating its facilities with industrial testing company Bytest at a single site.
TÜV Italia, the Italian subsidiary of TÜV SÜD, employs more than 600 employees and has a network of 400 partners, with several offices and laboratories in the country. Bytest, which is focused on industrial product testing and non-destructive testing (NDT), was acquired by TÜV Italia in 2012.
TÜV Italia and Bytest’s facilities were previously located at different sites in Piedmont, Italy. The new buildings at Volpiano accommodate equipment for product testing, NDT and other tests and analyses for the industrial sector.
The decision to amalgamate the two laboratories followed an in-depth assessment of the testing, inspection and certification market which concluded that there will be an increase in demand for testing carried out by independent external laboratories during the coming years, said TÜV SÜD.
The project to join the laboratories was launched in summer 2019 and according to TÜV SÜD has created one of the largest independent test laboratories in Europe, the largest in Italy.
Oliver Jacob, CEO of TÜV Italia and CEO TÜV SÜD Western Europe said, “We are very proud that the project was implemented on schedule and the laboratory is now ready for operation. TÜV SÜD decided to invest around €15 million [US$17.5 million] in the project during these challenging times because the company has firm faith in Italy’s ability to continue developing and advancing its industrial capabilities for the future.”
In total, the new laboratory covers an area of 8,000 square metres, divided into an office building of 2,000 square metres and another 6,000-square-metre building which houses the test facilities and more than 250 employees.
Between these two structures is a large semi-anechoic chamber for electromagnetic compatibility testing and a new bunker for non-destructive radiographic tests. The new laboratory is divided into several areas housing the laboratories where tests are carried out on a wide range of products and the facilities for destructive and non-destructive testing and other tests .
The new testing laboratory offers all the facilities for companies in the aerospace sector to carry out a wide range of tests at a single site, said TÜV SÜD.
The laboratories are accredited for a series of tests by Accredia, IECEE (International Commission on the Rules for the Approval of Electrical Equipment) and ZLS (Zentralstelle der Länder für Sicherheitstechnik). Bytest conducts is accredited by Nadcap (National Aerospace and Defense Contractors Accreditation Program) and certified according to ISO 9001 and AS9100. Testing is carried out by Bytest engineers with level 3 certification according to SNT-TC-1A and/or UNI EN 473. They are qualified for the aerospace sector according to EN 4179/NAS 410.@TUVSUD
