CE mark increases machine safety and prices.

In an effort to provide more stringent and uniform safety standards on woodworking machinery, a technical committee representing several European countries is requiring that a "CE" (Communaute Europeene) safety mark be achieved for on all industrial woodworking machinery manufactured and sold in Europe.

The CE machine standard, which took effect Jan. 1, recognizes such factors as safety guides, dust collection and electrical components. Violators of the standard's Machinery Directive can be subject to jail sentences and/or fines.

According to a press release from Wadkin plc, a manufacturer of moulders and other equipment based in England, the mark symbolizes that equipment bearing it has been manufactured in accordance with the essential safety requirements of the European Machinery Directive.

"The mark assures the buyer that the machine is as safe as you can get it," said Riccardo Azzoni, secretary for the Woodworking Machinery Importers Assn. and president of Atlantic Machinery.

At this year's Ligna Hanover woodworking show in Europe the CE stamp was everywhere. Machine modifications ranged from blade-guards and stops to elaborate cages which entirely surrounded CNC machining centers.

The added safety equipment and cost of the CE certification for a machine is being passed on to the customer. The March 1995 ACIMALL (Italian Woodworking Machinery and Tool Manufacturers' Assn.) newsletter said, "since January 1, 1995, (machinery) prices have increased by 4.2% partially to the expenses borne by companies for the implementation of CE-mark requirements on their machinery."

A representative for an Italian manufacturer of moulders at the Ligna show confirmed this statement when he said that the CE compliance was adding about $10,000 to the cost of each machine. He added that about half of this extra cost is related to the installation of electronic braking systems to the cutter-head spindles.

"Most machinery with the mark will see about a five percent increase, although larger machines with the mark may see a greater increase," said Kevin Walsh, sales manager for Richard T. Byrnes Inc., a large U.S.-based machinery manufacturer.

Because of the additional engineering costs required to achieve CE compliance, most suppliers interviewed at Ligna said it was unlikely that they would be importing many machines bearing the CE mark for sale to U.S. customers anytime soon. A good barometer for gauging the accuracy of the informal Ligna poll will be counting the number of machines bearing the mark in the U.S. market will be at the Anaheim woodworking show, Aug. 4-7.

"At the Ligna show, all machinery falling under the CE-mark guidelines at our booth was required to bear the mark in order to be allowed to exhibit," said Walsh. "For the Anaheim show, we plan on exhibiting half of our machines with the mark."

Some U.S. woodworking machinery manufacturers are critical of the certification mark because the cost and process of certification to bear the CE mark is seen as an additional hurdle when trying to compete in the European woodworking machinery market.

"Total cost is estimated to run about $5,000 per serial manufactured machine, plus an additional $1,000 for electronic compatibility testing of certain components," wrote Chester K. Greathouse, vice president of engineering for Timesavers Inc. in the December Woodworking Machinery Manufacturers of America's (WMMA) "The Cutting Edge" newsletter. "Other companies have spent many times this amount chasing the CE stamp for their machines."

In order to become certified, machinery manufacturers have a choice of two routes for compliance: via a notified body or self-certification. Via a notified body means an independent certification organization performs the conformity assessment to satisfy the criteria laid down by the European technical committee. The January WMMA newsletter said that certification via a notified body is required for machinery listed in Annex IV of the Machinery Directive and includes circular saws, sawing machines of various types, hand-fed planing machines, thicknessers, band saws, tenoners, hand-fed vertical spindle moulding machines and combination machines incorporating some or all of the above.

Self-certification is where the manufacturers carry out the assessment themselves and applies to machinery not requiring notified body certification, according to Ken Hutton, executive vice president of the WMMA.

Because the certification process for American machinery manufacturers looking to sell machinery to Europe can be "a tricky business, filled with unknowns," according to the WMMA newsletter, American woodworking machinery manufacturers seeking a notified body agent in the United States or in Europe are advised by the WMMA to contact Charles Ludolph, of the Office of European and Regional Affairs with the U.S. Dept. of Commerce at [phone].

Whether the CE mark will have an influence on machinery safety standards in this country is yet to be seen. Questions such as who would control the group, drafting legislation and enforcing guidelines all remain to be seen. But both equipment manufacturers and woodworkers are eager for safer equipment.

"Although none of our U.S. customers are specifically asking for machinery with the CE mark, they are concerned with operator safety," said Walsh.