A new deal for Assomac
The body that represents leather and footwear manufacturing technology developers in Italy says it will work to help tanners and shoe producers maintain effective and fruitful dialogue with finished product brands.
What is your assessment of the leather industry in Italy at the moment?
The situation is not positive, but this is not a structural problem. The industrial set-up is good, but consumption is slow. The market is slow. This has been a good time for us to reflect and to wait for the market to pick up again. And I think things will pick up again in the final part of 2024.
What has come from the reflecting you have been able to do?
A new start for Assomac and for the Simac-Tanning Tech fair, which next takes place in Milan from September 17-19. It is still important for us to promote new technology at the fair, of course, but we also want to make it clear that we are promoting sustainability and digitalisation. We look on this as something of a new deal for Assomac and it is a new deal because the organisation is going to have a new position in the supply chain. We want to have direct contact with customers and help them create a clear vision in their minds of how the technology our member companies are developing can help them.
By customers do you mean the manufacturers of leather, footwear and other finished products, or do you mean end consumers?
I mean the manufacturers, the companies that produce leather, leathergoods and shoes. Italy is number one for production of luxury leathergoods and shoes. This is important. Around 80% of the products companies make in Italy are for big-name brands. The position in the market of small and medium enterprises is to support those brands by producing for them. We want to be in a position to help strengthen the relationships between these brands and the producers of technology that are Assomac’s member companies. We believe Assomac and the exhibition can help make those relationships stronger by encouraging dialogue between technology providers and their customers. It is possible to solve many problems this way. We have a new agreement with an important consultancy firm, The European House Ambrosetti. Ambrosetti will help Assomac and Simac-Tanning Tech to create better networking and this will support the adoption of new technology. New technology will be the driving force for greater flexibility in production, making it easier for manufacturers to bring to market very good products that combine the artisan and the industrial.
Assomac member companies sell and service tanning machinery all over the world. What difference will this new deal for Assomac make to its activity in the global leather industry?
Italian technology is number-one in the world and what our member companies are offering now, with artificial intelligence, remote control, better data management, better information about environmental performance and other features, is an upgrade. It’s important that our customers understand that and it’s important for us to explain it because producers have to be in a positive frame of mind if they are to invest in the upgrade. They have to be convinced that it is necessary. There is cheaper machinery available in many parts of the world, and if what customers want is machinery that is very cheap, Italian technology is not competitive on price. Higher-end is where we can play. Simac-Tanning Tech is the number one fair, but in the early part of 2024, there were also many Italian companies presenting this upgrade to customers visiting the India International Leather Fair in Chennai and APLF in Hong Kong. This is the answer for the global market.
International trade, in the past, has given Italian machinery manufacturers some difficult challenges over intellectual property. Does this still cause problems for your member companies today? What is the best way to address these challenges now?
Assomac has a collective trademark, registered with the European Union Intellectual Property Office and with the trademark authorities in China as well, and this gives more protection against counterfeiting. It also gives a guarantee of quality, of authenticity and of support to customers.
The geopolitical situation is making international trade complex in 2024. What advice do you give to your member companies about managing this?
The geographical situation is very difficult and there is great instability in the market. The cost of shipping is very high, partly because of the conflict in the Middle East. Some important export markets are affected by the conflicts. Other markets, including India, China, Bangladesh and Pakistan, which are also important for Italian technology providers, are not directly affected. All of this is making supply complicated, but some positive changes are taking place. Europe is becoming stronger in the production of key components, including microchips. There are new policies in Italy and other parts of Europe that aim to encourage local production of basic technologies like these. This is in response to the supply chain chaos.
All brands are pushing tanners to make leather in the most environmentally efficient way possible. What are the areas in which technology providers, your member companies, can make the biggest contribution to this?
There are three lines of support. The first focuses on traceability, which is very important. A first step is for technology to help manufacturers organise data for sustainability. Now, with imaging technology, artificial intelligence and other functionality technology is also available to help them organise a new model of traceability. The second is data management for controlling carbon footprint. The third aspect is the training of people so that those people can help create and support environmentally efficient enterprises. The technology can help make sure employees understand the importance of sustainability and help make sure the enterprises are able to present their results and their positive stories in their marketing and communication output. I make this point because the market is ready to work on sustainability programmes but not so much on communicating about sustainability, and this is important too. These are the areas in which Assomac can support customers in their sustainability efforts.
Large-scale technology solutions that improve processes and products can be expensive and can, perhaps, seem slow to provide a return on investment. In your opinion, what is the best way to achieve a balance between the need for patience and the desire for a quick return? What is the best way to convince tanners that investment in innovative technology is worth it?
What is happening is that there is a new programme for digital transition and the government in Italy supports this. New, digital technology, with more automation and more data capture, the upgrade we talked about, will help manufacturers standardise their production. This needs investment. The new digital technology is going to help brands do this. Digitalisation is important in general. It is important for the government to fund research into how incremental, non-disruptive digital innovation can help small and medium enterprises, too. Our new digitalisation programme is going to be a good tool to help companies make this transition. Brands want this and are asking for it.
Credit: Assomac
