The Edinburgh Assay Office has marked its first full year of operating a Heathrow sub office.
Over the last 12 months the facility in Heathrow has seen significant changes to its service, increasing capacity and extending its European coverage. In 2015, the work force has increased by 60% and the facility has seen the addition of three new state-of-the-art laser marking machines in order to treble capacity.
The Edinburgh Assay Office also became the only assay office to have completed the registration process to have their hallmarks recognised by the Spanish authorities, offering greater coverage of Europe.
In September the option of Diamond Certification was added to the facility, provided by Solitaire Gemmological Laboratories (SGL), offering customers the opportunity to have goods hallmarked and certified in one secure location.
Edinburgh Assay Office chief executive officer, Scott Walter, says: “In the year since opening our Heathrow facility we have made many additions to Hallmarking In Transit, as a service as we continue to adapt to meet the needs of a rapidly changing jewellery industry.
“The successful completion of our application to have our hallmarks recognised by Spanish authorities was a great result for both us and our customers, affirming our commitment to offering a complete European hallmarking solution that streamlines the supply chain. We further streamlined the process when we added Diamond Certification, provided by SGL and look forward to continuing to evolve the service in 2016 to meet our customer’s hallmarking requirements.”
The Hallmarking in Transit service was developed to streamline the supply chain for gold and gem set jewellery importers. HIT, which offers full liability from Malca Amit, enable importers of precious metal jewellery from outside Europe to have all of their goods tested and marked in one secure location rather than dealing with Assay Offices in each country of importation. The facility also has the option to receive product by other transit providers.
