Nobody can or will deny that we are living a period of time where everything is digitalized, which may be your computer, your phone, your domotic home or, further from home, high tech industries like the production of cars or airplanes. So why not the leather industry?
In the age of digitalisation, the biggest challenge with systematic control is choosing the right technologies and solutions that will deliver the most benefit with low risk. Hüni has put the AGILE method on its agenda in the digitalization of processes, taking into account various technologies such as big data and IoT. Tailor-made to fit the perception of value, market strategy and daily challenges in the tannery, it benefits the highest level of operations in the high-end transformation process to generate real profits.
Not an option!
Nobody can or will deny that we are living a period of time where everything is digitalized, which may be your computer, your phone, your domotic home or, further from home, high tech industries like the production of cars or airplanes. So why not the leather industry?
The leather industry is indeed digitalizing but in a three-tier system. Those tanneries or tannery groups that have adopted at the first opportunity the digitalization of their production, those that consider digitalization or have made a few timid steps, and those that refuse the step into the future. Unfortunately for the latter, digitalization is not an option but a must. Those that refuse digitalization will find themselves at the short end of the rope and will fall off.
Until some 10/15 years ago the industry was run in a rather informal way where experience of the founders of tanneries counted. Fingerspitzengefühl, instinct, were the factors that brought these tanneries forward but with the new generations taking over the helm of tanneries, sure, leather processing experience is of great importance, but needs to be indivisibly coupled to technology. Tannery chemistry is a science, not an instinct. It is closely connected to public health and environment. So is digitalization.
Digitalization of a tannery is becoming a must for all tanneries, big and small. It is actually closely if not directly connected to the audit protocols of the Sustainable Leather Foundation (SLF) and Leather Working Group (LWG). Digitalization allows tanners to run their tannery in the most efficient way, containing costs, eliminating for a very large percentage human errors, and most of all have a complete and detailed view of the process.
Digitalization is ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) based where specialized for tannery developed software is used to provide support for practically all operations in the tannery. The ERP can both actually manage purchases and sales as well as the whole production of a tannery, or it can simulate each of these processes. ERP controls stock positions both of chemicals, raw materials, and anything a tannery needs to buy based on its needs to produce actual or planned sales. These stock positions are not just in the warehouse(s) but also throughout the production floor. They comprehend raw, semi-tanned, crust and finished leathers. Each item has a price and the quantities of chemicals, water, power etc used during processing are recorded and hence a) update the warehouse position real-time but b) also the cost of each produced item at each production stage. Stocks are signaled to be refilled, considering also the lead-time from purchase to arrival, based on actual or presumed orders. The enormous benefit is that stocks of chemicals and raw materials are not a matter of guessing but based on actual production figures and thus the financing of stocks is reduced to what’s needed. It is obvious that the system is Cloud-based and each section is accessible to the authorized persons, wherever they are.
So, here is an example. A sales person is on a sales visit with a client. The client wants to order 10’000 sqft of article “1”. The sales person pulls out his or her laptop, tablet or phone and checks real-time if the article is in stock. That may be finished stock or any stock position throughout the production. Once the article is found in any of the stock positions, which obviously may be raw stock, the system calculates the delivery time based on all planned orders under or planned processing. Similarly, the sales person can calculate the cost of the article based on actual raw material costs, which includes obviously water, effluent treatment, power, transport, wages, overhead etc etc based on the processing formula, add his margin and conclude a sales price, knowing what profit he will make of the sale and give the client a realistic delivery date. Once the goods are ready, the system will make invoices, packing lists, labels, certificates of origin or CITES certification.
ERP takes into account planned maintenance of machines, and adjusts delivery dates of the leathers accordingly. In case of a machine breakdown, the system recalculates the delivery date and signals that. Stocks of required spare parts both for the planned maintenance as well as a basic stock for repairs are kept on a daily basis.
In order to be able to function the ERP needs to collect data in order to be able to elaborate that data. The data collect is a vital part for the functionality of the system. No input, no output. The output can also take the form of statistics on stocks, consumption, efficiency, sales, outstanding credits or debits. Such visualization can be in the form of lists, graphics or whatever is convenient or desired by the tannery. The solutions are almost infinite.
Last but not least: Industry 4.0! To be complete the system should ideally be connected to each of the machines used in the process. It executes with precision the processing formulas, avoiding human error, but machines need to be adjusted for substance, pressure, temperature. So, if the ERP is able to communicate with let us say a shaving or splitting machine, it can adjust for each lot the required thickness of the leathers or with a press it can adjust for each individual lot the temperature and pressure of plates or rollers. The result is the smart tannery where costs, times and quality are constantly controlled with a total traceability of each and every product and action.
Hüni’s Datatan 4.0 ERP is for all tanneries, not just the big fancy tanneries. The cost of buying a license for a complete ERP system and its maintenance is peanuts compared to the savings such a system allows a tanner to make. The most important saving is the quality consistency of the end-product that the system provides.
Sam Setter
