Leading European tannery Gruppo Mastrotto has turned to Lectra, the world leader in integrated technology solutions dedicated to industries using fabrics, leather, technical textiles and composite materials, for its digital transformation in leather cutting.

To keep up with the larger volumes of leather seats and interiors required by its end-customers, Gruppo Mastrotto is digitalising its leather cutting value chain with Lectra’s Versalis® leather-cutting solution.

Versalis enables uninterrupted hide cutting with an unparalleled level of quality and material gains impossible to achieve using die presses. In addition to reducing costs by eliminating retooling and enabling significant material savings, Versalis improves flexibility and agility by removing the need for foam-model development, saving eight to 12 weeks of development time in the process.

To equip and digitalise its leather-cutting rooms, Gruppo Mastrotto has acquired the Versalis cutting solution to expand the tanner’s leather-cutting capacity.

“Supplying automotive parts is not just a matter of filling orders,” said Alberto Silvagni, automotive general manager, Gruppo Mastrotto. “It is also about meeting the customer’s changing requirements, both in terms of styling and volume. The die cutters we once used would never have allowed us to keep up with the OEMs’ new demands the way our new digitalized solutions do.”

"We are pleased to be able to support Gruppo Mastrotto as it expands its manufacturing footprint in these high-growth markets," states Céline Choussy Bedouet, chief marketing officer, Lectra. “Consumers are demanding more and more options in leather seating, which is becoming one of the most critical components enabling OEMs to differentiate vehicles. By helping Gruppo Mastrotto manage flexibility in their cutting process, we can help them reduce time to market and meet customer demands faster.”