In times where the global economic crisis has seen increasingly fierce competition between companies in the leather industry, the search for excellence in all business segments is essential for survival. Knowing the real cost of each article produced can represent a decisive factor in the negotiation of price during the battle for orders with the competition. Thus, the calculation of real profit of each production order is essential when evaluating process performance. Reliable delivery dates can also be a powerful competitive differential, as the SystemHaus Team, discuss.

Dr Damjan Nemec, Hidroinzeniring d.o.o. Ljubljana, Slovenia, discusses current choices for the disposal of biodegradable tannery waste

The Leather Working Group (LWG) is now in its fourth year and the environmental stewardship programme has really gathered momentum. In September 2009, the US HQ of sportswear brand, New Balance hosted a two-day biannual meeting. In attendance were more than 50 delegates made up of international brands, tanners and chemical companies

By Jan-Tiest Pelckmans and Dr Campbell Page, TFL Leather Technology Ltd, Basel, Switzerland

Sustainability’ has been the buzzword in the manufacturing and retail industries for many years now but what exactly are tanners doing about it?
According to Dr Warren Bowden, environmental director of SLG Technology Limited, part of the Scottish Leather Group, many of them are ‘talking the talk’ but are they putting their money where their mouths are?

All around the world we are being encouraged to minimise waste; you may be familiar with the 3Rs – Reduce, Recycle and Reuse. And if we are to be a responsible industry we must do this; this planet of ours only has limited resources and we should be mindful of that for future generations. But what exactly is waste? In the leather industry, most of us would think of things like effluent such as spent chrome liquor. Whilst effluent is a waste of high importance to our industry and in recent years technology has made huge inroads into reducing it, waste comes in many other guises, some being more obvious than others. In this article we will briefly explore some potential forms of waste in leather manufacture and how it can be reduced.

A critical assessment in respect to the status quo and conclusions for a long-term sustainability. By Dr Dietrich Tegtmeyer, vice president for product development and application, Leather business unit, LANXESS Deutschland GmbH

Formaldehyde related requirements are becoming greater challenges for the leather industry all the time. Pim Wilgenburg, product manager of wet-end chemical maker Smit & Zoon, explains the basics of the chemical and the influences on the tanning industry.

Hartmut Huber, technical manager finishing, Clariant Produkte (Deutschland) GmbH concludes his discussions on the finishing of shoe upper leathers by looking in greater detail at pre-base coats, base coats and finishing effects

Turkish finishing chemical specialists, Sarchem have introduced a number of product updates in their LT-C range aimed particularly at producing high quality glazed leathers.

Federally Inspected Slaughter in the four week period ended October 31, 2009, amounted to an average weekly kill of 640,750 (651,250 in our previous report). Last year the average for the month was 639,250.

Steer prices rose 15% since our last report and cows, while not quite so popular, gained traction as well. During the last week of October, Heavy Texas, butt branded, branded and native steers advanced between $2-$4 as over sold producers forced Asian tanners in need of inventory to meet their demands.

Tightening up of EPA's activities seems to be the major concern among the Chinese tanners. The five year old Fujian Quangang Tanning Centre was shut down for one month (where four hide and seven split tanners are located) due to inadequate effluent treatment. This was achieved by cutting off the water supply.
An estimated 10,000 farmers protested and the deputy commissar was held hostage until 2,000 police were sent in to get him released. Despite this there was no violence reported!
Rumour has it that the Fujian Provincial Government might substantially reduce the number of tanneries allowed at the new tanning centre at Zhangpu. There are 31 new tanneries already under construction, among 63 who bought the land (some could be land speculators as land values have doubled in the past three years). Among the 31 under construction, only eleven have EPA approval for the project. The other twenty do not know what fate is awaiting them.
The old Fujian Kemu tanning centre is limited to run at 75% of capacities. There are two more tanning centres to be built, one in Lioning Province and another one in Guanxi Province.

In an exclusive interview with Leather International Bülent Hazer, president of the International Council of Tanners (ICT), outlines his strategy to take the organisation forward.

In Greece, on Tuesday May 5, 2009, at noon, ‘me the below expert bound by oath and assigned by the Chairman of the Chamber of ‘Town’, with his document attended today to operate and expert report on behalf of the Chamber.
‘The expert report was enquired by the ‘buyer’ to examine the lot of leathers that the applicant firm received from ‘the sellers’, a firm whose registered office is at ‘Country’ of Africa. The applicant firm claims that the products that she received are different from those ordered, and in particular they had suffered from scraping of machine.

The 30th IULTCS Congress, held at the Beijing International hotel, Beijing, October 11-14, was one of the friendliest and best organised IULTCS congresses in recent times. The China Leather Industry Association (CLIA) organised the congress on behalf of the IULTCS

Members of Boxmark’s engineering centre maintenance department from Feldbach, Austria, visiting Tanning Tech in Bologna. Left Franz Wagner, centre manager, Boxmark, Antonio Antoniazzi, managing director, Equitan, Josef Neubauer, centre manager, Boxmark, and Andreas Raidl, centre manager, Boxmark, on the Equitan stand at Tanning Tech.

The executive committee of the IULTCS awarded the 2009 winner of the prestigious IULTCS Merit Award for Excellence in the Leather Industry to Professor Tony Covington, Emeritus Professor of Leather Science at the British School of Leather Technology (BSLT) of the University of Northampton, UK, at the IULTCS congress in Beijing, October 11-14. Covington receives the award from Elton Hurlow (right), president of IULTCS and professor Bi Shi, incoming president of IULTCS and head of the State Key Laboratory at Sichuan University, China

During the annual election of the central executive committee of Pakistan Tanners Association (PTA) held September 29, Gulzar Firoz, owner of Firoz & Co, Karachi, was elected as chairman of the Pakistan Tanners Association unopposed for the sixth time. Firoz is also chairman of the FPCCI's environment committee and was a recipient of a civil award ‘Tamghe-I-Imtiaz’ by the president of Pakistan.

In recent years many involved in the leather industry have taken great
strides to become more responsible global citizens. These strides are
positive for the industry as well as for those individual companies that
have taken action to make change. Many tanners have made
investments in facilities, equipment and process. As importantly, our
industry must continue to make change beyond bricks and mortar and
capital investment. We must make areas such as conservation,
efficiencies of resources, and waste stream management part of our
every day philosophies.

Welcome to a special ‘environment’ edition of this publication.
Environmental issues dominate our industry as they do in many other indus-
trial sectors. The environment now touches every aspect of our lifestyles
from recycling bottles to low energy household appliances and so on.
Being a labour intensive business, many tanneries these days are located
in developing countries where overall costs can be kept down, including
environmental costs. In developed countries tanners have been used to tight
environmental controls for some time, particularly on waste treatment,
and pay a financial price for compliance, which has to be passed on to the
customer.

It is looking likely that no investor will be found to rescue the beleaguered German specialty chemical maker, DyStar. In a press release from the administrator dated November 30, job losses in all but one of the company’s plants will take place on December 1. This includes the leather chemical division located in Geretsried formerly known as Dr Th Boehme.

Specialty chemicals group Lanxess will be exhibiting a comprehensive range of products at the India International Leather Fair (IILF) in Chennai, India, on January 31 to February 2, 2010. Jürgen Hackenbroich, head of the Asia Pacific region in the Leather business unit, comments: ‘Lanxess continues to provide the Indian leather industry with premium products for so called ECO leather. Our technologies conserve resources and minimise both the amount of waste generated and the use of critical substances.’

The 44th edition of the LERIG symposium will take place January 29-30, 2010 at the headquarters of the Central Leather Research Institute (CLRI) in Chennai.
LERIG (Leather Research-Industry Get-together) is an annual event organised jointly by CLRI and the Indian leather industry.

The export-oriented leather sector expects to bounce back from slow business targeting the upcoming Eid-ul-Azha. It is hoped that the supply of hides and skins will be higher this Eid compared to last two years when a state of emergency had been in force.

The Pakistan Tanners Association (PTA) has warned the ministry of finance, government of Pakistan not to impose any value added tax (VAT) on the country’s leather and leather goods industries. The PTA say that they are already facing financial hardship due to the continuous break down of the electricity supply and an increase in gas prices.

Time appears to be running out for employees at the Germany based specialty chemicals group, DyStar according to a press statement released by the administrator. No buyer has come forward to buy the company which went into administration at the end of September. DyStar includes a leather chemicals unit which was formerly known as Dr Boehme located in Geretsried.

By Amanda Michel of Leather Wise

Within Clariant`s globally launched shoe concept, the Leather Business have launched their new shades and trends for the autumn/winter 2010/11 fashion season. The latest Global Colour Card illustrates the four stylish themes: Go West, Lakeland, Locomotive and Modern Sculpture.
They have also developed innovative colour recipes and processes to satisfy specific demands of their clients by using Clariant’s dye and pigment ranges. With this service the leather specialists from Clariant provide their customers with exclusive fashion trend information well in advance of the season.
Based on the input of internationally known trend institutes and fashion specialists, Clariant unveil four fashion themes for the autumn/winter 2010/11 season:

According to a report from hidenet.com, the EU voted against the extension of anti-dumping duties on footwear sourced from China and Vietnam on November 19. The vote is a victory for some EU retailers and suppliers who have been paying out in excess of $544 million a year extra for leather shoes sourced from China and Vietnam, as a result of tariffs imposed by the EU.

Clariant have confirmed that the plant and job closures announced on November 19 will not affect the Leather Business Unit worldwide.

Clariant, the specialty chemicals maker which includes leather chemicals, announced on November 19 plans to further optimise their global production network in order to address overcapacities and to reduce costs.

The Danish shoemaker Ecco is continuing its investment in Thailand after seeing a clear sign of economic recovery since the start of the second half.
Ecco (Thailand) Co is allocating between 700 million and 800 million baht ($21 – 24 million) in total throughout next year to upgrade production facilities and set-up a research and development centre.

VESLIC, the Swiss leather technologists association, founded in May 1919 in Lucerne, Switzerland, celebrated its ninetieth anniversary with a special two-day convention on November 6-7. The members met in Basel to travel by bus to the quaint and picturesque village of Barr in the Alsace Region of France.

International tanning group, Sadesa announced on November 13, that their Sena tannery in Thailand has been awarded the highest-level 'gold medal' against the Leather Working Group (LWG) environmental protocol. Certification was given following a LWG leather-manufacturing audit.

The Italian Economic Promotion Agency for the region of Tuscany announced on November 11 that it is to invest €250,000 ($350,000) of mainly EU funds in a project to develop Vietnam’s leather and footwear industries.

Colomer Leather Group and Henan Prosper have announced that the Colomer y Munmany finishing plant formerly located in Vic, Spain is gradually being transferred to the new plant, which is nearing completion of the construction phase, in China.

According to the sources in China, some members of the local authorities in Zhangpu, Fujian Province are considering stopping any further construction of the part-built tannery cluster in the area.

TFL have released their ‘TFL Colour Trends’ catalogue for the season spring/summer 2011. In the catalogue, TFL present colour trends for the leather garment, footwear, leathergoods and additionally, for the upholstery industry.

Yeovil based leather manufacturers Pittards have announced that HRH the Princess Royal will be making a visit to their Yeovil premises on December 7, 2009 and will officially open their new marketing suite.

Shahid Mahmud, acting chairman of Pakistan Tanners Association (PTA), central region, has said that he is vehemently opposed to a 0.5% increase in export finance rates announced by the State Bank of Pakistan on October 31. It is felt that the new rates will hit the valued added leather and finished leather products industries.

A new wax filler, FI-22-532, is an aqueous wax dispersion which has been introduced by Stahl for use in producing ‘burnishing’ and ‘wax pull-up’ effects, especially on shoe upper leathers.

Mould is particularly problematic affecting both leather and finished leathergoods. It is often seen after shipping where products have been stored for periods of time. Mould needs a source of food and a source of moisture to grow: leather acts as an ideal food source for mould, therefore it is vital to ensure moisture is controlled in all stages of manufacture, storage and shipping.

Clariant, the worldwide specialty chemicals maker, announced on November 4, sales of CHF 1.69 billion ($1.65 billion) in the third quarter, compared to CHF 2.09 billion ($2.05 billion) during the same period in the previous year. This represents a 19% decline in Swiss Francs, and 14% in local currency.

A Cotance delegation, led by president Nalle Johansson (Elmo, Sweden), met in Brussels on October 30 with the European Commission vice-president Günter Verheugen for a de-briefing session following the previous meeting of July 3 where the current economic trading climate for Europe’s tanners was discussed. Three key points were agreed at the latest meeting with the Commission by the Cotance delegation.

Indecision by local government politicians, environment agencies and low-level civil unrest among farmers are causing confusion among tanners in the Fujian province tanning districts. One tanner we contacted was hoping to complete construction of a new tannery in a new Zhangpu tanning zone in the province.