10 years testing laboratory for consumer goods in garching

11 April 2023

TÜV SÜD’s laboratory for consumer product testing, which opened ten years ago in Garching, is celebrating its anniversary. The laboratory opened on 11 April 2013. Since its inception, the cutting-edge laboratory and testing facilities have been used to examine consumer products for their safety, usability and quality. Over the years the number of employees at the facility has doubled and its international business and links to other TÜV SÜD laboratories worldwide have increased significantly.

ts-pr-martin-rempfer On the occasion of the tenth anniversary, Head of Laboratory Dr Martin Rempfer expresses his pride and gratitude for the trust placed in him and his team by TÜV SÜD’s senior managers and Board of Management more than ten years ago. “With a clear commitment to Germany as a basis for testing operations and investments of 15 million euros, we were able to build our new laboratory, which offered the product testing team at TÜV SÜD Product Service GmbH the space and opportunities they needed for growth and development.”

The decision to build a new testing laboratory in Daimlerstrasse in Garching was imperative because no further expansion of the testing capacities was possible at the existing facilities in Munich. With its new laboratory for product testing, TÜV SÜD further enhanced its capabilities in the area of consumer product testing. "We established a modern and efficient testing infrastructure here and created ideal conditions for the expansion of our capacities”, says Dr Rempfer.

The laboratory premises in Garching accommodate laboratory and testing facilities as well as accompanying offices over a current 3,600 sqm of floor space. The team, which has grown from 80 members in 2013 to over 160 employees at present, tests consumer products for their safety, usability and quality. The extremely diverse range of products extends from household appliances to toys, and from sports and personal protection equipment to lighting and multimedia products.

Since it first opened, the laboratory has continued to develop successfully, offering its customers – especially large retailers – ever better testing services. Examples of new testing facilities include a tower for testing climbing and mountaineering equipment such as carabiners and fall restraint systems, and an extensive laboratory for light measuring equipment where a robo-goniometer was installed three years ago. A robo-goniometer is a large robot capable of automatically measuring thousands of light sources in 24-hour operation.

The laboratory, located close to the city of Munich, also tests a wide variety of sports equipment including ski bindings, avalanche airbags and surfboards, as well as means of transport such as e-scooters and prams. Ongoing advancements in bicycle testing technology combined with the booming e-bike market have also impacted on testing in this field and the associated laboratory equipment. The basement of the laboratory building even contains a flexible sauna cabin, enabling the laboratory to test different performance classes correctly according to the standards. “Sometimes, if we don’t have the right equipment to test a product, our team even designs and develops testing equipment themselves. The automatic ball launcher, complete with individual test configurations, is one example. The machine shoots balls with great force to test the tensile strength of goal nets or fracture strength of gym lights. ‘Can’t be done’ is not in our vocabulary”, explains Dr Rempfer.

The challenges of the Covid-19 pandemic were also experienced by the laboratory, but were overcome successfully. The team was divided into teleworkers, who worked from home, and laboratory testers. The latter were strictly segregated by room and shift operation to keep the risk of infection to a minimum. The laboratory was equally successful in mastering the uncertainties associated with the lockdown in Germany, as well as with the global ports from which the products to be tested were shipped.

There is a huge demand for product testing services in Asia in general, and China especially. Their products are tested by TÜV SÜD before being exported to Europe. In addition to aspects such as the quality of the products themselves and the cybersecurity of products with digital interfaces, the sustainability and traceability of products through the supply chain will become increasingly important in the future.

The vicinity of the consumer product testing laboratory of TÜV SÜD Product Service GmbH is home to further TÜV SÜD testing facilities, making Garching one of the company’s testing hubs: in addition to the Service Centre of TÜV SÜD Auto Service GmbH, the laboratory of TÜV SÜD Battery Testing GmbH and the testing laboratory for tank and cooling systems, an ultra-modern laboratory for hydrogen testing has recently been set up in direct proximity to the consumer product laboratory.

Overall, TÜV SÜD Product Service GmbH currently maintains eight centres of competence with different focus areas in Frankfurt, Hamburg, Hanover, Mannheim, Munich, Straubing, Stuttgart and, of course, Garching.

Further information is available at https://www.tuvsud.com/en/industries/consumer-products-and-retail.