The Association
Memebers
Members of the Austrian Tiled Stove Association are the nine provincial guilds and the federal guild of stove fitters, pavers, tiler and ceramists. With them around 600 craftsmen companies across Austria are members. The association also has around 50 major industrial companies among its members.
The Research Institute
Network
The Austrian Tiled Stove Association attaches great importance to national and international cooperation. It is a member of VEUKO, the association of all European associations of the tiled stove sector.. There is also close contact with North America through the Masonry Heater Association (MHA). Important national partners are the Ministry of climate protection through the “klimaaktiv” initiative, the Austrian Biomass Association and ACR, the association of cooperative research institutes. The association also plays a leading role in national and international standardization (ÖNORM or CEN, ASTM) for space heating devices.
Services
The services of the association can be divided into the fields of technology (VFH), training and further education, public relations and trade fair. The main focuses in the field of technology include research, development and innovation as well as technical advice, European-recognized testing activities and standardization work. As part of training and further education, the association holds courses to prepare for the master craftsman’s examination and provides training in technical matters, such as fire protection and energy certification for buildings. The highlight every two years is the KOK Austria, the European trade fair for tiled stoves and ceramics with a technical conference, which is held in late January on the exhibition in Wels. With around 2,500 visitors and well over 100 exhibitors, this event is by far the most important for the tiled stove industry in Europe.
