Tailor made solutions for tanners

Feltre have a close collaboration with the Scottish Leather Group. Five years ago, Lang were seeking a more efficient means of processing hides from desalting to fleshing. In conjunction with the tannery management, technicians and operators, Feltre designed and installed a system catering to the specific needs of the client, involving a bridge conveyor to connect the desalting area with the deliming vessels in a separate building. According to William Alexander, Lang's engineering manager, the system has minimised health and safety concerns. Now no one actually physically lifts the hides before they exit the fleshing machine. It has also created more space, which is a precious commodity in a tannery which was originally built in 1842. The latest project which takes hides from chroming drums to grading, saves time, manpower and further improves the working environment. Chrome drums unload the wet-blue into bins. A forklift then carries the bin to the platform. 1. The bin is chained/locked into place for safety and the platform elevates and inclines; on incline, the Feltre designed bin door opens automatically and hides spill out onto the stock conveyor. 80-90 lime split hides or 60-70 full substance wet-blue or wet-white hides are contained in each bin. The advantage of having some float in with hides is that they come out in a flume along the conveyor. 2. Operators control the speed of movement of the hides along the conveyor and clamp them. Hides are then transported via a continuous chain clamp system through a bath which removes any loose fibres from the hide. 3. A laser senses the presence of a hide and releases it from the clamp into the hands of the Bauce sammying machine operators in one fluid movement - the operators do not have to bend or lift. After sammying, the hide travels on to the viewer which can be programmed to either stop the conveyor at the point which gives an optimum view of the whole hide or focus on the central area. The viewer is much closer to the hide than in a 'bridge' system and so can grade the hide more accurately. The operator then tells the computer the selection required. Next the hide is conveyed for automatic folding where it can be folded into two or four. It then exits, allowing an operator to move it to the relevant pallet according to the grader's decision which appears on a screen in front of him. According to Steven Jones, Feltre's agent in the UK, automated systems such as this give buyers confidence. 'When leather buyers visit a tannery they are looking for efficient, modern processes which impact on the quality of the finished product and they are interested in working conditions.' More immediate benefits are provided by a more efficient process, include savings in terms of production time, manpower and the costly purchase and maintenance of forklifts. W J & W Lang Ltd Wet-blue tanners W J & W Lang of Paisley, Scotland, process salted and fresh hides from various European sources into wet-blue and chrome-free leather for sister Scottish Leather Group companies and many export customers worldwide. Lang, now in their 135th year, having been established in 1872, have 55 employees, producing 8,500 hides per week.