INFOCODE

Capacity Building (2006-2007)

The European social partners, EURATEX, COTANCE and ETUF:TCL, developed a project - with the support of the European Commission - aimed at building the capacity of the TCL social partners in the New Member States and Candidate Countries.

On 30th & 31st May 2007, over 150 representatives of the national members of TCL European employer and trade union organisations Euratex / Cotance and ETUF:TCL came from more than 20 European Countries to assemble on the occasion of the closing Conference of the project "Promoting Sectoral Social Dialogue in the Textile, Clothing and Leather/Tanning industry in the New Member States and Candidate Countries".

For more details on the project and the Closing Conference, see our dedicated project site : http://www.buildingtrust-tcl.org/

Restorm (2002-2006)

Developed under the RDT Programme, the Restorm project conducted research directed at resource management to ensure a sustainable tanning industry for the future. Coordinated by BLC Leather Technology Centre, its partnership included: AIICA, COTANCE, Pittards, Colomer, Filk as well as various universities and other interested parties. For more information, please visit: www.restorm.org.

In November 2005, "Restorming into the Future", a document outlining the project was presented at Lineapelle, the most important leather Fair in Europe. The Acrobat Reader file is available for download. 

(2003-2005)

Conference on the INFLUENCE OF THE EU ENLARGEMENT TO THE DEVELOPMENT OF TEXTILE, APPAREL AND LEATHER SECTORS IN THE NEW MEMBER COUNTRIES ,Vilnius, Lithuania, September 7, 2004

The Perfect Link project (Pan-EuRopean FEderations of Clothing, Textile and Leather Industries Networking and Knowledge building programme) is developed in cooperation with EURATEX, the European Apparel and Textile Organisation under the BSP2 programme. Initiated in April 2003, it will extend over a period of 24 months.

The general aim of PERFECT-LINK is to improve capacities and skills of participating BROs (see hereunder) in retrieving and disseminating information and documentation usable by their own member companies on those issues of the acquis that are relevant to the textile/clothing and leather industries. This will improve the state of preparation of local companies in the accession countries to operate and compete successfully in an enlarged European Union. By identifying and training local specialists, the BROs will be able to offer better services to their members and to improve their image and standing as active and knowledgeable counterparts of local authorities with regard to the implementation of the acquis and all other legislative and regulatory issues that have an impact on the performance of their member companies.

The CEECs BROs leather and textile associations that are partners in this project are 15, covering all the 10 CEECs countries and including 7 textile associations, 3 textile/leather associations and 5 leather associations (of which one is a research institute participating as associated partner – see below), namely:

SILIC-SALT (2002-2005)

The general objectives of Silic Salt were to develop and (partly) implement new curing methods for freshly flayed hides and skins, whereat the common curing salt (i.e. NaCl) will be replaced by alkali silicates. Remarkably less silicates will be required for curing and a significant reduction of salt content in treated tannery effluents will be achieved. This reduction will make such effluents re-utilisable for agricultural purposes. The innovative techniques will only be in the chemical process and will not require investment on new tannery equipment. Therefore, all tanneries in developing countries will be able to implement these procedures, especially since all auxiliaries are not expensive. In addition, the results from a CRAFT – project have indicated a better exhaustion of later applied tannery auxiliaries. This lead to less contaminated tannery effluents and reduced sludge volumes from effluent treatment. 

At the end of all beamhouse–processes, untanned, silicate-stabilised pelts will be obtained. Since these pelts seem to be storable over longer periods, they can be seen as new starting material for European tanneries. Interesting in this respect is that, so far, only pre-tanned starting materials (mainly chrome-tanned wet blues) were exported. With silicate-stabilised pelts, any required tannage (with chrome, synthetic and/ or vegetable tannins) can then be carried out.

The project partners were COTANCE and GERIC members VAL/Austria, and LGR/Germany, as well as CLRI (Central Leather Research Institute, India), BLRI (Bangladeshi Leather Research Institute), BLCT (Bangladesh College for Leather Technology), Lederfabrik Vogl GmbH, Dr. Boehme KG as well as Mr. R. Daniels as an independent expert. An Observer Group includes ERRC (Eastern Regional Research Centre USA), CSIR-Australia, the Tokyo Metropolitan Leather Institute and the University of Chengdu-China.

The project started in 2002 and was completed in 2005.

Self-Training Kit for the Leather Industry (Leonardo) (2002-2004)

This project initiated in 2002 under the EU Leonardo programme aims at the development of methodologies and products concerned with auto-assessment, self-training and training evaluation in the leather industry. Coordinated by the Portuguese research centre (CTIC), with partners including COTANCE, ETUF:TLC, BLC, LGR, ELKEDE, the Polish PCSLI, and Scalconsult, the main result of the project was a Self-Training Kit (STK) for the Leather Industry.

The STK for the Leather Industry is available in 5 different languages (Portuguese, English, German, Polish, Greek) and aims at three particular professional profiles within the industry, Foremen, Sorters & Graders and Salesmen, although it is prepared to be used by anyone in the industry or anyone interested in knowing more about the Leather Industry.

Each STK consists of a manual, covering several modules and self-assessment questionnaires that will help in pinpointing the modules where skills would benefit from further enhancement. The STK also contains final assessment questionnaires that will help the employee understand whether he has progressed to a stage where he is competent in the modules identified as critical by the training needs self-assessment.

The modules in the STK are dedicated to the following subjects:
Leather Technology | New technologies | Quality Control | Health and Safety at work | Environmental technologies | Production Management | Maintenance | Team Work | European Law | Marketing | International Trade Rules. 

The STK contents are available in a paper version – Dossiers – and also in a digital version – CD-ROM. Anyone interested in obtaining a copy of the STK, must contact one of the partners of the project.

The project was completed in December 2003.

Wasserglass (2001-2003)

Developed under the CRAFT programme, the Wasserglass project aims at the optimization and transfer of the procedure promoting Wasserglass (soluble alkali silicates) for the shaving and liming processes. It started in December 2001 and ended inl December 2003. Coordinated by COTANCE, it was developed by the following partners: VOGL, VAL, LGR, SSIP

Tanweek (2002)

In conjunction with the ESTW, COTANCE developed Tanweek to highlight how European tanners use science and technology innovations in practical applications that significantly enhance the lives of both tannery employees and the general public. The main event of Tanweek was an open conference in Bologna, in the framework of Lineapelle, the world’s largest leather fair. The conference was also a showcase for the information materials produced during the year:
A 12-page colour brochure explains the impact of science on the tanning industry, and shows how the latest R&D breakthroughs contribute to a cleaner environment. The brochure is available in English, Greek, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish, French and Swedish. 
A video illustrates how science has improved the production of leather in Europe, highlighting the environmental benefits and how they positively affect the public. 

Tannet (1998-2001): 

TANNET stands for Tanning and Network, an initiative lauched in April 1998 aiming at pooling scientific and technical expertise for the benefit of the European leather industry and supporting thus its economic development and its environmental sustainability.

TANNET II, a continuation project by the same partnership, as developed in 2000/2001.

Eureka - Training Multilingual Leather Technical Dictionary

Sponsored by the EU Commission in the framework of a Leonardo project,  8 leather research and training centres (AIICA/ES, BLC/UK, CTC/FR, CTIC/PT, DTI/DK, ELKEDE/GR, LGR/DE, SSIP/IT and ICPI/Romania), working under the umbrella of their European trade association (COTANCE/BE), produced EUREKA, a computer based glossary of leather terms providing easy access to 9 linguistic versions of about 2300 terms, clearly defined in English. With interactive and multi-media support, this tool fosters the understanding of the terms, and improves communication with partners speaking a different language. You may order your own copy here!

Leather Infocode

The Infocode project, sponsored by the European Commission in the framework of the MLIS (Multi-lingual Information Society) programme,  created a working model of a multilingual thesaurus/databank relevant to the needs of one industry sector (the leather trade in this specific case). The thesaurus was then included as a demonstrator of the DINT principles so that other sectors can exploit it.

FAIR: Factors affecting hide and skin quality: Development of strategies for improving the raw material of the leather industry.

Under this 38-month project (1998 to 2001), ten European partners developed a network of European researchers working on hide and skin quality. Their aim was to exchange information in order to enable co-ordination of efforts, to produce a range of information on protecting hide and skin quality - including leaflets, computer training packages and a web site, and to develop a working document outlining the needs for further work.

The training software (CD-ROM) can be obtained from COTANCE.