BOSS E-News 30.01.14

Creation of SOFEA (Sustainable Office European Association)

On January 27th at the Marriot Hotel Frankfurt over 81 decision makers representing 56 of the largest office product companies in Europe attended a meeting to agree to the formation of a new Sustainable Office European Association (SOFEA) an international not for profit association registered in Belgium.

Major players from resellers and manufacturers were invited to join this new Association which will have a board of directors consisting of 18 members with 9 from manufacturing and 9 from resellers.

The objective of SOFEA is to design, implement and maintain a single and common system for the evaluation and rating of the environmental performance of the entire spectrum of office equipment and supplies products sold on the European market.

The project concept was explained by Marcel Ringeard CEO of Pilot Group and President of UFIPA the French OP Federation. He explained the need for a simplified environmental rating system and the benefits to manufacturers. Endorsements in support of this system were proposed by Office Depot and Staples representing the resellers.

Christophe Girardier (Project Consultant) explained the method to be adopted and the project implementation and overall timeline and major milestones to be achieved.

The lawyer Pierre Demolin explained why the legal company had been set up under Belgian Law and the legal status of all members and Directors and Johan Brondijk, Quality Manager Europe for Fellowes explained the funding, the membership and the budget for SOFEA.

The other European Federations including BOSS were invited to be Associate members in an advisory capacity.

Following a lively Q and A session all representatives agreed that this initiative was very important and necessary for the Industry. It was agreed that a provisional Board will be elected from founder members at a meeting on 4th March at the OPI conference in Amsterdam.

The format for elections is:

• Elections will be held on March 4th in Amsterdam.

• Only the players who have confirmed their membership before that date may vote.

• The founding members may vote on site the day of the election, or may do so by mail, which must be received by the designated lawyer, no later than February 28th.

• Those who want to be candidates for a board seat will have to arrange to send their list of candidates (9 candidates per list) no later than February 24th. Of course we will disseminate the lists of candidates we receive to all attendees at the SOFEA constituent assembly.

All companies are invited to be founder members and to fill in the membership form to confirm your interest.

For further information on the project overview, the presentations at Frankfurt, the funding and financial template and the SOFEA constituent assembly follow this link

For more information please contact me at [email protected] or Christophe Girardier at [email protected]


Michael Gardner
Chief Executive - BOSS Federation

Don't forget to put these dates in your diary:

This year the BOSS 'Leaders of the Future' Young Managers' Conference will take place at the Aston Conference Centre, Birmingham.

Top industry leaders, including Jules Quinn, 26 year old Managing Director of The TeaShed; a design-led tea company taking the FM market by storm, will be sharing their success stories and offering advice to aspiring young leaders.

We'll be looking to the millennials to forecast the future of the OP industry to get their opinion on what lies ahead. Make sure you register your young managers to reserve their place at this fantastic event.

For more information and to download a registration form click here

The BOSS Members Day will return to Stationers' Hall, London on Wednesday 4th June.

The CEO's Conference will take place in the morning with guest speaker Steve Turner, Olympic rower who now runs 'Bramley Lakes' - a learning and development company who run team building workshops based on Patrick Lencioni's 'Five Dysfunctions of a Team'.

The Chairman's Lunch and Annual General Meeting will take place in the afternoon, followed by refreshments and networking.

Booking information will be available shortly.

This year the prestigious BOSS Industry Awards will return to the ICC in Birmingham for another evening of celebration and entertainment. Save the date in your diary to ensure you don't miss out on this amazing event! Further details will be released soon.