Stahl opens Guangzhou Technical Centre
16/07/2010
Chinese symbolism lay at the heart of much of the day-long ceremony. Stahl Holdings chief executive, Huub van Beijeren, and the business director of the leather finishing division in Stahl Asia Pacific and China, Marcus Breulmann, officiated at the event.
The day started with an opening speech by Marcus Breulmann. After an initial introduction and welcome in fluent Mandarin, he went on in English to thank everyone who had been involved with the project of making the new laboratory happen. He said there would be ongoing investment in leather article creation at the GTC.
Huub van Beijeren told the audience that the GTC represents a major step forward in establishing close relationships with Stahl’s customers in China.
Kate Yang, president of the Zibo Dahuanjiu Polygrace Tannery Group talked to guests about the background of the Chinese leather industry and its future. She explained that the GTC is seen as an investment to support the growth of the whole Chinese leather industry.
The opening ceremonies were followed by lunch for all the guests and a fashion show entitled Bringing Life to Leather.
The laboratory has been designed and engineered to meet all the needs of the leather industry, focusing especially on the shoe, garment, leathergoods and upholstery segments. It will be managed by Fabrizio Ugolini who is one of Stahl’s very experienced Italian technicians and is based in Guangzhou.
Equipped as it is with the latest full-size leather production machinery, the laboratory will operate as a Technical Centre of Excellence for leather finishing and as an internal and external training centre providing trainees with the latest finishing concepts and state-of-the-art technologies. Stahl anticipates that it will soon become a SATRA certified physical testing laboratory for the region.
An important function for the laboratory will be to act as an inspiration for fashion and creativity. This function will be led by Chua Soon Hoek who, as a member of Stahl’s International Fashion Team, will be interacting closely with external Milan-based fashion consultancy Bianco and White, with whom Stahl has been working since October 2009.
Prior to its opening, GTC signed an agreement with the National Engineering Laboratory for clean technology in leather manufacture at the University of Sichuan for the development of common studies and green technologies.
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