tailieunhanh - Furniture, China and the end of an era

For surface treatment processes of metals and plastics by electrolytic and chemical processes using solvents, the Integrated Pollution, Prevention and Control (IPPC) Directive 96/61/EC applies. Industrial production processes account for a considerable share of overall pollution in Europe (for emissions of greenhouse gases and acidifying substances, wastewater emissions and waste). The EU has established a set of common rules for permitting and controlling industrial installations in this IPPC Directive. In essence, the IPPC Directive is about minimising pollution from various industrial sources throughout the European Union. Operators of industrial installations covered by Annex I of the IPPC Directive are required to obtain authorisation (an environmental permit) from. | Furniture China and the end of an era By John Schmid and Rick Romell Milwaukee Journal Sentinel 02 01 2004 MILWAUKEE -- Wisconsin wasn t yet a state when Joseph Richardson set up a lumber mill in Sheboygan Falls. Seven generations of family woodworkers since then have earned renown for their baronial furniture fit for a shoreline mansion on Lake Michigan. It s a far bigger business these days the Richardson Brothers Furniture Co. -- big enough to cause a stir in the troubled American furniture trade and cries of pain in its hometown by launching a new collection of furniture. This summer s lingering sense of shock in Sheboygan Falls though has little to do with the look of the new line If anything the Richardsons have outdone themselves. The solid oak pieces -- inspired from the court of French Emperor Napoleon I 18th-century designs and American colonial -- could pass muster in a chateau. And the line nearly walked off with one of the highest design awards at the furniture industry s semi-annual trade gathering in October. The big difference with this collection which is named the American Empire is that Chinese workers at low-wage Chinese wood shops carved it lacquered it and joined it -- down to the bulging solid oak pedestals that hold up the regal tabletop. The gala launch of the made-in-China American Empire in fact marked a major turning point in the company s 155-year history. In December the Richardson family began shutting down its Sheboygan Falls furniture works and laying off the last of its craftsmen. As he broke the news in June of the planned shutdown Joseph Richardson III -- Joe Three to friends and employees of one of Wisconsin s oldest family-run businesses -- wept. He was standing in the municipal building in Sheboygan Falls -- his town a town his family had helped build. Now he was telling employees the company no longer would make its furniture there but would import it from China and South America. He had Kleenex and he said ÔI didn t want to