Argentine tannery unveils new production facility
When it was acquired by a local investment group at the beginning of 2002, the 70-year old Argentine tanning business of Grunbaum Rico & Dacourt not only received a new name. As GRD Leather SA, the Buenos Aries-based company was also given an experienced new management team together with a massive infusion of cash.
The 20,000 square metre facility makes use of steer hides measuring 48 sq. ft. on average, most of which are bought fresh from local suppliers on the day of slaughter. However, the tannery’s close proximity to the port area of Buenos Aries means imported hides can also be easily obtained.
The hides comply with established motor industry standards and leave the factory in a wide range of colours. The GRD product offering additionally extends to semi-finished goods for the aftermarket while full grain leather and splits are also said to be in the product development pipeline.
Interestingly, all the company’s furniture hides come complete with a ‘Garantía de Corte’. As well as guaranteeing against defects, this quantifies the usable area of each hide, helping to safeguard the customer against unnecessary wastage. The company’s upholstery leathers are described as being offered with a wide range of different effects including soft, round, full grain, slightly snuffed or embossed.
In 1999/2000, Grunbaum Rico & Dacourt became one of Argentina’s first leather producers to be accredited to ISO 9001. Today, the company additionally conforms to international standards such as ISO 140001 and 9001/2, the German automotive standard VDA-06, as well as BS 18000. In addition, the company has set itself a series of environmental benchmarks against which performance levels are currently being monitored.
With a highly qualified workforce of 250, the rejuvenated GRD operation has set itself the target of producing a million hides per year.
