The latest Economics supplement of weekly newspaper Expresso shows us the profile of the new Assay Office Director, Mrs. Paula Pedro, through her professional career and some personal aspects she reveals.
Paula Pedro, as she points out, sees as part of her mission and greatest challenge “to strengthen the visibility and knowledge of the Assay Office by the final consumer”.
This communicational approach by the new Assay Office Direction is consistent with the vision of openness, transparency and proximity that has guided the initiatives led in recent months and that will help demystify the Assay Office role, as well as the understanding by the final consumer about the importance of the certification mark as a factor of prestige and appreciation of the entire sector of Goldsmithery and Jewellery.
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.
Link to Leaders, an online tool staging Start-ups, Companies and Business Angels, has recently highlighted the Assay Office role in the form of an interview with its director, Paula Pedro.
In this frank conversation, Paula Pedro had the opportunity to unravel some of the current axes of the Assay Office, the innovative impetus that has been the catalyst of the activity of this unit and the unwavering focus on customer satisfaction.
Read the full article here.
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.
The Assay Office innovates with new service for safe parts transportation
More then ever, the Assay Office intends to consolidate a close relationship with its economic partners. Therefore, as of today September 15th, it launches the first phase of its new service for safe parts transportation, fully guaranteed by INCM and directed to around 30 main goldsmiths and jewelry operators in the district of Braga. This service, provided by the Assay Office, consists of the transportation (collection and delivery) of items for the Testing & Marking Service, so that the economic operator doesn’t need to travel to the Assay Office.
During its first stage, lasting six months, this project will be completely free of charge for the involved operators.
The project development and associated costs will be evaluated over the course of the 6 month period. On the basis of such analysis, the model to be implemented in the future will be defined. For 2021, the main goal of the Assay Office is to extend this transportation facility to more areas in the country.
This measure aims to provide greater security and convenience in the interaction with the Assay Office and also to mitigate the difficulties currently felt by the sector.
We intend to provide a service of excellence to our economic operators and to optimise the overall efficiency of the Assay Office, thus upgrading the certification mark.
The Assay Office reduces the price of hallmarking
The Assay Office is pleased to announce that, as of today, a new measure with immediate impact on its customers will be implemented.
From now on, operators will be able to entrust all their pieces and markings to the Assay Office, either by laser or by puncture, as this Office will now match its own values to those practiced by the market when applying hallmarks
The hallmark by puncture or laser will have the cost of EUR 0.10+VAT per piece, when applied on all lots, the current tariff price being kept in other situations.
With this reduction, the Assay Office hopes to encourage all customers to use this service, not only for the convenience and simplification it provides to economic operators, but also by the increase in speed and efficiency allowed when setting the hallmark together with the contrast mark, in a safe and fully legible manner.
This measure is intended to strengthen the goldsmith sector, while at the same time offering an increasingly excellent service to economic operators, contributing to the enhancement of the certification mark.
If you have any questions, please refer to our FAQs that answer these and many other relevant questions by the goldsmith industry and the final consumer.
The Assay Office in Vivacidade
The municipality of Gondomar is closer to the Assay Office. Vivacidade, the city’s news outlet, highlighted in its latest issue an interview with Paula Pedro and Rosa Bessa, who did the honours in presenting the Assay Office, unveiling some of its activities’ particularities and establishing a bridge between the tradition and its focus on the future.
The Assay Office welcomes the invitation to be featured it this article and thanks the opportunity to introduce its activities and plans for the future in a field that is so dear to all Gondomar citizens.
Read the whole article here.
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.
Ist BIENNIAL CONTEMPORARY JEWELRY IN LISBON, 2021
With a view to interacting with the involved stakeholders and as already achieved with other associations, the Assay Office Direction held a virtual conference with the PIN, Portuguese Association of Contemporary Jewelers, on July 28.
PIN shared with the Assay Office the intention to promote the 1st Biennial of Contemporary Jewelry in Lisbon. The theme will be “Jewels and Protective Objects for the 21st century”.
The Assay Office has committed to support the PIN, in particular in settling the legal aspects that guide exhibitions by foreign galleries. However, this support will extend to other cross-cutting needs arising from the organisation of this event, which is particularly important for the impact it will have on the dissemination of the national sector on a European and Trans-European scale.
