Secrets of new German tannery revealed
A recent report by south west German Television has given an insight into Bader GmbH’s advanced new tannery in Bavaria.
Bader is one of Germany’s leading car upholstery leather manufacturers with two production sites in Germany, plus manufacturing units in South Africa and Latin America.
Located at Ichenhause, in the heartland of Southern Germany’s bull rearing region, the plant processes 2500 hides per day, exclusively for the car industry. One important advantage of the heavy bulls of the region is their size, of up to 5.5 or 6 square metres and more. This allows a much better cutting value than for example hides from Uruguay, which yield 3.5 to 4 square metres per hide. Even the leather for steering wheels needs a sufficient size for cutting the pattern, the report said.
It was noted that the tannery favours unfinished aniline because of its warm in winter/cool in summer properties and all-round comfort. But it needs a light finish for water- and soil - protection or even a heavier pigmented finish to cover certain defects mainly on cheaper hides. Hide-defects were reported to be the result of manure abrasion, ticks, marble flies, barbed wire and thorns.
It was clearly in the interest of the tanners as well as the car manufacturers to obtain best quality hides and ensure that that more care is taken on the farm, the report said. The importance of colourfastness and UV resistance was also emphasised.
Good quality hides are becoming scarcer due to lower meat consumption, said the report, but the demand for leather in the car-industry is still growing. Audi was quoted as saying that every second car it now produces in leather-trimmed - the average level of usage being three hides per car. Together with needs of the German furniture industry, this level of consumption was the reason why hide prices went up from 3.5 ($1.5) DM/ kg to 5 DMkg.
The report concluded that there are good signs that the demand for leather car upholstery will go on increasing, as more and more consumers come to appreciate the smell of real leather, its durability and its strong aesthetic appeal.
