On last Tuesday morning, the Assay Office met with five Economic Operators of the municipality of Guimarães to set the requirements for the new service of Workshop Marking. The project aims to bring the assay mark to the customers’ workshops, through the displacement of Assay Office employees who will make the on-site piece marking. This pilot project, which will start in mid-October, will allow customers to obtain the markings in just a few hours, without the need to move them, which will promote greater security, agility and convenience for their operations.
This new service, which will start in a pilot format, will once again achieve the Assay Office goal of innovating, increasing its efficiency and that of its customers and, consequently, helping revitalize the Goldsmith and Jewellery sector.
On 25 August, the new Safe Transport Service for Work Collection and Delivery was introduced in Guimarães to the workshops, a service that will immediately benefit a group of about thirty industries based in the district of Braga at this first stage.
This new Assay Office service, totally free of charge during the first six months, materialises the commitment made by the President of the Imprensa Nacional-Casa da Moeda, on 17 July at a meeting promoted by the Operators of Guimarães and Póvoa de Lanhoso, with the support of the Town Hall of Guimarães.
The Assay Office has made every effort to provide, as of 15 September, this new service that will bring more security, more convenience and a reduction in costs to the manufacturers of jewellery and watchmaking, by eliminating the need for trips to the Assay Office in order to carry out the certification of their work.
This new service of Safe Transport for Work Collection and Delivery provided to workshops will soon be extended to the entire national territory and, together with several other initiatives, is another demonstration of the Assay Office commitment in the partnership with this fundamental sector of national economy.
The Assay Office board of directors has received, in the modern Goldpark facilities, two essential references in this sector: Farilu, represented by João Faria and Bruno Faria, and Eugénio Campos.
Both meetings served the firm purpose of the Assay Office of contributing to strengthen the companies that, for decades, have represented what is best done in the Goldsmith and Jewellery sector in Portugal, something that will only be possible through an open and constructive dialogue regarding the trends, opportunities and present challenges.
Each meeting promotes the exchange of ideas and every moment of reflection arises synergies that will lead to a mutual evolution with results that will certainly last in time.
Christmas has arrived at the Assay Office!
The Assay Office is committed to permanently hear and take into account the Sector’s signals. That is why, as of today, it will mobilise its team to extend the hours of service till 20 PM daily until Christmas.
In October, there was a clear increase in the number of articles entered into the Assay Office services, which I’m glad to announce. This trend will be sharply felt in the coming weeks until Christmas and will, of course, have greater impact on the Gondomar Delegation, which already accounts for an increase in the number of customers served and an expected increase in the average waiting time:
In order to anticipate this tendency and satisfy its Customers’ needs, starting today and during the next 6 weeks, the Gondomar Delegation will have an extended service schedule by another 3 hours, while Lisbon keeps its current timetable:
In this way, the optimisation of the levels of service and efficiency of the Assay Office will be ensured. Similarly, the Assay Office hopes to contribute to a greater spacing in the service throughout the day, trying to avoid clusters within the facilities, since these constitute additional risks to the spread of Covid-19.
We call for the best collaboration of all, if possible by collecting works between 18:00 and 20:00. In addition, we request the permanence inside the Assay Office to be avoided, by waiting for service to be completed preferably in vehicles or outside.
In the partnership logic that guides the relationship between the Assay Office and the Sector, we emphasise the importance of maintaining an open and direct communication channel with customers, so that we may continue to know their real needs. At this moment, and because so justified, this kind of communication will be increasingly frequent, given the challenging situation we are going through.
THE MARK THAT MAKES A DIFFERENCE
The Assay Office meets its customers
The Assay Office had, once again, the privilege of visiting and meeting, from the inside, what best is done in the Portuguese Jewelry Sector.
These meetings were hosted by three economical operators from Gondomar and Porto: Jose Martins Barbosa, TMB and Bluebird.
In a first meeting, attended also by AORP (Portuguese Association of Jewelers and Watchmakers), the Assay Office met with entrepreneurs Carlos Barbosa, Tiago Barbosa and Alexandre Bastos Gomes, from the industries Jose Martins Barbosa and TMB, from Gondomar.
In a second meeting, the Assay Office discussed the difficulties felt by the Sector and its opportunities for improvement with Diana Loureiro and Susana Andrade, entrepreneurs from Bluebird (Porto).
These meetings began with a tour through Goldpark, giving these industrialists a chance to see, up close, all operations and getting to know the backstage of a more secure and modern Assay Office.
This direct interaction serves a double purpose of fostering a mutual agreement and, on the other hand, promotes a continuous reflection on the revitalization strategies for this Sector.
