Plastic chairs, tables, and drawers are a familiar sight in any Filipino household. Whether it is a humble abode or a ritzy residence, the humble plastic chair always has a space.
However, not all plastic furniture is created equal. Further muddying the waters is the fact that price is usually not an indicator of quality.
As Uratex celebrates its 30th year of providing affordable and stylish monobloc chairs to Filipinos, it launched its “Bawal ang Marupok” campaign which aims to help teach consumers how to look for high quality plastic furniture.
Fortunately, the Philippines have a stringent set of standards for monobloc chairs due to the efforts of the Department of Trade and Industry through the Bureau of Philippine Standards (DTI-BPS). These standards are used to ensure that these plastic chairs are safe to use long-term. All manufacturers, distributors, and importers of monobloc chairs and tools are required to apply for the mandatory Philippine Standard (PS) mark — proof that the product has passed the standards set by the DTI-BPS.
Uratex takes its testing further, surpassing the PS requirements laid out by the DTI-BPS.
The company showed off several testing machines which do repeated stress testing on its monobloc chairs. One test puts on a consistent load on a chair, simulating a person sitting on it. For plastic chairs to pass, they need to be able to stand up to 130kg of weight. In contrast, Uratex is tested to support up to 200kg of weight when sat on.
Other machines simulate different forces on actual seating position and movement and checks for stress and material fatigue. These include several normal seating tests, a weighted drop test to simulate a person sitting down quickly, and a seat and recline test which stresses the backrest. The PS standard requires plastic chairs to undergo 50,000 cycles without damage to be deemed a pass but Uratex tests its chairs for 200,000 cycles.
Finally, a drop test is done to ensure that the chairs can handle impact from being dropped from a certain height — a test that the company’s chairs pass easily.
This attention to durability and quality allowed Uratex to pass Level 5 of the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) 7173, making them the first brand in the Philippines to have the highest plastic furniture standard.
“Uratex Monoblock’s passion has always been to provide our consumers with quality items.
With the ‘Bawal ang Marupok’ campaign, we aim to further communicate the company’s standard for excellent craftsmanship, as well as to educate consumers to be more discerning of the quality and durability of plastic chairs as they value the safety of their family,” Uratex Monoblock Business Unit Director Dindo Medina said.
