Leather

41 Comments Posted on by Zodumo New Projects

Sustainable Development of Leather Accessories and Footwear Fashion Industry in South Africa

[this project is one of the feeder attribute components of the crade-to-grave blockchain for leather provenance]

We have no choice but to manage our natural resources in a sustainable way or they become depleted. We have no option but to be Eco-friendly or face consequences of global warming. We have no choice but to improve our economy or we risk opening doors to poverty. In everything we do, we have the next generation to consider.

Sustainable development is hard to define without appreciating the interdependence between economic growth, social protection, and environment impact.

  

South Africa’s sustainable development vision is charted in the National Framework for Sustainable Development (2008) as “South Africa seeks to be a sustainable, economically prosperous and self-reliant nation that safeguards its democracy by meeting the essential human needs of its people.  Managing its scarce ecological resources responsibly for current and future generations, and by advancing efficient and effective incorporated planning and governance through national, regional and global collaboration”.

The vision above will serve as a guide in this study. Focusing mainly on the economic affluence of this sector and intense competitive challenges it faces at present.

The topic of research will look at issues of sustainable development of leather accessories and footwear. The core research question for this paper is: what are the challenges faced by South Africa in its strides to ensure growth, competitiveness and continuity in the leather accessories and footwear fashion sector? The paper seeks to gather valuable insights on key areas of focus and issues requiring attention in the short, medium and long term. Supported by practical and implementable action plans to build on existing best processes, programmes, and Initiatives.  

Current Challenges

The leather industry is one of the fast-growing commercial segments in the world. Studies suggest that world leather production is currently running at least between 21 and 22 billion square feet”. In South Africa, this sector accounts for over 22% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), employ 23% of South Africa’s total employment. The success of this sectors is critical to our economy and a better life for all.

As lucrative as this sector is, it currently faces lots of challenges which threatens it’s economic competitiveness. The challenges are as follows:

  • Ageing workforce and lack of transferable skills
  • The sector is labour extensive and lacks innovation
  • Lack of competencies particularly at the managerial level. Resulting in poor productivity
  • Limited design capabilities result to low level of competitiveness
  • China imports stifle local leather goods sales

Possible solutions

One can tell the future of the organisation from the way it takes care of its employees and the environment. Sustainable and appropriate employment motivates staff and results in increased productivity. When it comes to sustainability, continuous improvement is critical. One can never say he/she have arrived. Sustainable solutions will be sought through investigating the following areas:

  • Researching ways to strengthen local industry’s design capabilities to design for longevity.
  • Investigating strategies for improving management skills and transparency in design and production to enhance
  • Researching technologies that can create conditions for companies to produce footwear at reasonable prices for local markets with a view of improving local their cash to cash cycle time.
  • Critically analyse the challenges of entering into subcontracting agreements abroad to fast track skills and technology.
  • Developing train the trainer initiatives intending to preserve skills and ensure continuity in this sector
  • Encouraging collaborations such mentor-mentee relationships as well as at peer level
  • Researching creative ways for promoting the development of regional markets for finished leather products. To strengthen technical skills and production capacity which ensure continuity and serve as a buffer when the market expands.

 

Available policies supporting the country towards sustainable development

There are few enabling policies which can help in moving the sector towards being more competitive long-term. They are as follows:

  • New Growth Path: setting out critical indicators for employment creation and growth and finds where viable changes in the structure are
  • Ten-year innovation plan: showing that South Africa is well positioned to lead research on the continent regarding understanding and projecting variations to the physical system; the influence of these ups and downs; and easing to reducing their effects in the long run
  • National Strategy for Sustainable Development and Action Plan

Conclusion

This paper leads to the conclusion that for Leather Accessories and Footwear sector to win this battle, players in this sector ought to form a close – knit team of like-minded individuals united by a common thirst: to help the transformation of our country.  There is much to be done to improve the competitiveness of this sector. However, this cannot materialise when we work in silos it requires the collaboration of all stakeholders within the industry. On our own we are fantastic, together we are unstoppable!

23 Comments Posted on by Yathin New Projects

Integrated Occupational Health and Safety Management in South African Tanneries

[this project is one of the feeder attribute components of the crade-to-grave blockchain for leather provenance]

The need for management systems in industry

The current business environment is characterized by fast and unexpected changes as a result of increased population, economic growth and environmental impacts. This has resulted in a shift from companies focusing solely on production. The success of companies now depend heavily on its ability to provide skilled labour and product quality therefore the needs of the employees, the environment and customers have to be considered and measured to ensure legislative compliance, competitiveness, continuous improvement and sustainability

As companies grow larger or more complex, it becomes harder to maintain consistency in the operation of informal management systems therefore in order to achieve these objectives, it is important for organizations to adopt and formalise management systems that proactively address quality, safety and environmental issues in the workplace and surroundings

Implementing an OHS management system will proactively facilitate safe working condition; protect co-workers, their family members, employers, customers, suppliers, nearby communities and other members of the public who are impacted by the work place environment

The need for OHS management in Leather Production

Leather production entails converting raw hide, a highly putrescible material, into leather, a stable material, which can be used in the manufacture of a wide range of products. The process involves a sequence of complex chemical reactions and mechanical processes which are facilitated by workers and will therefore impact their OHS. At many stages of the process waste, chemicals and other materials are discharged into effluent streams and may also impact health of employees and surrounding communities

The Need for OHS management in the South African leather industry

South Africa has enabled itself to be a major contributor to the leather industry by establishing an integrated supply chain from importing of hides and skins, processing in tanneries and distributing of various products to customers in both domestic and export markets.

Table 1 : Growth Potential for the South African Leather and Footwear industry 
Investment Value ( billion ZAR) 2011 2016 Growth Growth %
Output 12.0 13.4 +1.4 +12%
Domestic 9.1 10.8 +1.7 +20%
Exports 2.2 4.9 +2.7 +123%
Formal Employment 13926 15996 +2070 +15%
Capital investment ( 2016-2020) R1.7bn
Capital investment (GBP)

(17 ZAR/GPB)

 £100m

One of the proposed investment opportunities comes in the form of a Leather Processing Hub that will be situated in KwaZulu Natal (KZN) South Africa. KZN houses one of the largest shoe manufacturing companies in South Africa called Dick-Whittington Shoes. KZN accounts for 70% of footwear production in South Africa and 40 % comprises of leather upper

The proposed layout encompasses integrating multiple leather processing units, outlets and leather auxiliary factories in one location. Highlights include a new effluent treatment plant, training facilities, facilities for shoes, garment and, furniture and ample parking space.

Advantages of The KZN Leather Hub include:

  • Easy access to leather raw materials as KZN has the largest number of cattle
  • Tanneries never retain stock due to high demand
  • Direct contact with leather producers
  • Reduced freight costs, customs, clearing and forwarding costs

Sunderland’s tannery is seen as a major contributor and stakeholder to the development of the hub which will involve interaction with stakeholders, community as well as creation of employment.  More employment encompasses greater risk with regards to ensuring a safe and healthy workplace.

This, together with the existing demand for leather regarding the domestic, import and export market highlights the opportunity and need for integrating an OHS management system in South African tanneries.

The objectives will be to investigate current OHS management practices at Sunderland’s tannery , compare and contrast OHS management systems across South African tanneries , determine the possibility to benchmark OHS management practices across South African tanneries and finally establish and recommend best suitable method for integrating OHS management across South African tanneries.

This will be carried out using qualitative analysis and guidance from ISO 18001 across different tanneries in South Africa.

11 Comments Posted on by Nataliya New Projects

Recycling in the Leather Industry

[this project is one of the feeder attribute components of the crade-to-grave blockchain for leather provenance]

Background

Proper waste management is an integral part of a successful economy. An average person generates about 2.6 pounds of waste daily (Loki, 2016). In 2012, world’s urban centres were producing “1.3 billion tonnes of solid waste per year” (Hoornweg and Bhada-Tata, 2012). This figure is projected to “increase to 2.2 billion tonnes by year 2025” (Hoornweg and Bhada-Tata, 2012). Based on the projected increase in global waste generation, it can be concluded that the demand for efficient waste disposal is increasing. In order to deal with this raising demand, it is important to consider innovative ways to reduce, reuse, and recycle human waste. Improper waste disposal has potential to contaminate water sources, pollute air, and increase health risks in local population (Shah, 2007).

 

Based on the initial research conducted using The University of Northampton Nelson search engine, it appears that there is a limited amount of information on the number of recycling programs in leather industry. According to the gathered information, it seems that recycling in the leather industry is mostly limited to the shoe sector. Shoe manufacturers, such as Nike, encourage their consumers to send them back any old or defective shoes to be sorted and recycled in their factories (Lee and Rahimifard, 2012).

 

From the initial online research it appears that there is an increasing trend for the use of recycled materials. For example, several companies in different parts of the world are manufacturing leather goods from the recycled leather material. According to the initial research using Nelson engine, it can be concluded that some of the companies in the leather recycling market, such as Remade USA, reuse old leather pieces to make smaller leather items. Others compost leather fibres from the old material and, after combining those with additives, produce new synthetic leather products. A few companies such as Ecodomo and Looptworks are going a step further by producing innovative products from the composted leather, such as blended fabrics and tiles.

 

This project will attempt to address the lack of leather recycling initiatives in the industry and provide recommendations based on the collected data.

 

Aims and Objectives

Objective 1: Determine the post-consumer leather waste disposal trends

 Aim 1: Analysis of historical and current leather waste disposal trends

 Aim 2: Through upcycling manufacturers’ interviews identify the non-financial value of the leather recycling

Aim 3: Through literature review and interviews, identify strategies and challenges associated with reutilisation of recycled leather by manufacturers

Objective 2: Determine ways to increase post-consumer leather recycling

Aim 1: compare and contrast trends in plastics and paper industries to predict possible benefits/increase of leather recycling

Aim 2: conduct consumer questionnaire to determine the non-financial value of the leather recycling

Objective 3: Provide recommendations of potential ways and create a possible plan to effectively deal with post-consumer leather disposal

Methodology

  1. Electronic sources for literature review
  • U of N Nelson Search Engine
  • Google Scholar
  • University and Local Libraries

In this part of the project historical data will be collected and analyzed.

  1. Leather recycling industry interviews

Interviews of various up-cycling industry manufacturers will be conducted to determine the challenges they’re facing and the non-financial value behind their work.

  1. Leather consumer questionnaires

Consumer questionnaires will be conducted to identify the attitudes and perspectives of the consumers. The data will be analyzed to trends and used to create a potential recycling plan.

 

Conclusion

Through literature reviews, consumer questionnaires, and leather upcycling manufacturers’ interviews, the value of the leather recycling will be assessed. Attitudes of the consumers, challenges of the manufacturers, and the historical trends and comparisons will be taken into account to create a potential leather recycling plan.

 

References

HOORNWEG, D. and BHADA-TATA, P. (2012) ‘What a Waste: A Global Review of Solid Waste Management’, Urban development series, pp. 20.

LOKI, R. (2016) ‘America is a wasteland: The U.S. produces a shocking amount of garbage’, [Online]. Available at: http://www.salon.com/2016/07/15/america_is_a_wasteland_the_u_s_produces_a_shocking_amount_of_garbage_partner/. [Accessed 24 February 2017]

LEE, M.J. and RAHIMIFARD, S. (2012) ‘An air-based automated material recycling system for postconsumer footwear products’, Elsevier, vol. 69, December, pp. 90-99.

SHAH, R. (2007) ‘Waste Statistics’, Workshop on Environmental Statistics, July, pp. 1-36.

10 Comments Posted on by Johannes New Projects

Research into Leather Sustainability

[this project is one of the feeder attribute components of the crade-to-grave blockchain for leather provenance]

Why was this project chosen?

Modern businesses place a high price on sustainable practices.  Sustainability that covers all aspects and people involved has been a hard concept to define throughout history.  These turbulent times of change are indicative of the necessity to adapt and change to a changing environment.  With an appropriate definition, a benchmark can be set to identify challenges, goals, a strategy and a measure for success or failure.  The concept of TBL aims to cover all the necessary spheres of sustainability.  This includes social, environmental and economic sectors.  True sustainability occurs through a synergistic relationship between these sectors.  Similarly, CSR is referred to as business practices that benefit society, the environment and doesn’t impede financial growth.  There is a growing level of adoption of CSR and TBL philosophies throughout businesses, this includes the leather industry. 

The economic sector can be represented through the financial value of a company.  This is tangible and easily measured. Environmental actions can also be quantified in terms of energy and water consumption, effluent discharge and carbon footprint to name a few.  These are included in CSR policies and add to the social impact of the company.  A lot of research has been done on CSR and the impact it has on financial performance.  However, measuring the intangible value of socially sound practices in a comparable way proves to be challenging.  This is due to the different ways of quantification and a large array of definitions.  The social dimension includes the impacts of environmental practices and economic performance on social systems. This needs to be considered at regional, national and sometimes global level.  Major companies publicise their CSR aspirations on their websites or as annual reports to show transparency in their operations and gain loyalty from stakeholders.  Organisations are forced to adopt more transparency due to increasing pressure from stakeholders that demand socially and environmentally responsible practices.  There is a need to quickly and easily associate a product with the conditions of manufacture, composition and social influence associated with it, ensuring the absence of animal abuse, modern slavery, safe chemicals etc.

There are several well-known initiatives within the leather industry that promote the concepts of TBL and CSR.  These are all implemented to promote sustainability and a better image for the leather industry.  The LWG’s environmental audit protocol promotes sustainable and responsible use of natural resources, human resources and waste management.  The roadmap to zero’s ZDHC campaign, which aids in the construction of MRSL documents, further increases the industry’s careful environmental considerations as well as the safety of employees and consumers (LWG – leather working group).  Large CSR campaigns and strategic planning is prevalent in many companies associated with the leather supply chain.  These include tanneries like Bader leather (which is also LWG certified), and chemical supply companies such as Stahl.  The problem arises once more as to how these detailed sustainability and CSR practices can be measured and compared as a way of benchmarking and marketing the industry as clean, safe and sustainable.

Provenance is defined in the Oxford dictionary as the beginning of something’s existence or something’s origin.  The country of origin can often influence social perceptions toward a product.  This fact also holds true for the conditions under which it was produced.   The value of a product can be affected by customers’ association of quality or luxury with a specific country or city and be degraded through negative impressions.  The association of a product with good practices can serve as an extra marketing incentive.  How this impacts the community needs to be measured.   In addition to this employee empowerment carries significant social value, particularly in South Africa. Comprehensive skills development initiatives such as the one from the FP&M SETA aims to uplift previously disadvantaged citizens.  Trained staff will convey a positive message toward the community and add to the social value of a company.  A potential way of calculating the effect of training and social impact in terms of job satisfaction is presented in.

Various implementations of metrics have been used to measure intangible value added components.  Many of which are computer aided software capable of accessing various databases for information gathering.  An increasingly open and accessible international trade market has increased the role of small suppliers to comply with international standards (e.g. labour laws and quality).  Through measuring the provenance, social impact and process conditions and comparing the measurements the true impact of “good deeds” and ethics can be compared.

A method developed by Olinga Ta’eed trademarked as seratio (social earnings ratio) was established as an internationally recognised form of measuring social value after the founding of the CCEG in 2013.  It measures the social impact of business through complex metrics, sentiment analysis and correlations with various applications.  Companies are assessed and a total value is assigned according to its price earnings and profit earnings ratio. The empirical data obtained from this method allows for easy articulation of the CSR practices of a company.

The aim will be to:

Quantify CSR initiatives as a non-financial value which can be used to compare the effectiveness of different components on the leather supply chain.  Evaluate the differences in intangible value between businesses in the supply chain and its impact in the industry.  Ultimately establish how the total value, consisting of tangible financial and intangible non-financial value, is affected by CSR initiatives.

This will be done through considering various companies throughout the supply chain that will be mapped out prior to the commencement of the project.

Sentiment analysis and the establishment of a total blockchain of value will be the main means of comparison between different companies in the supply chain as well as the effectiveness of the strategies they employ

12 Comments Posted on by David New Projects

REDUCTION OF WATER FOOTPRINT IN THE LEATHER PROCESSING PLANTS IN SOUTH AFRICA

[this project is one of the feeder attribute components of the crade-to-grave blockchain for leather provenance]

Water scarcity
Water is one of the most important natural resources on earth. About 71% of the Earth’s surface is occupied by water and only 29% consists of continents and islands. With 71% of the water on earth, only 3.5% is frozen water locked up in the polar ice caps and freshwater lakes. The remaining 96.5% of all the water on Earth is salty seawater (Williams and Williams). Water is becoming, even more, scares and it will soon become a commodity resource.

Source: UN: FAOWATER, Water Scarcity, July 2009

‘Water for Life Decade’ campaign of the United Nations (UN), has made it clear that every continent is already affected by water scarcity. Around 1.2 billion people live in a shortage of water and are faced with economic water shortage because other countries lack the necessary infrastructure to access the water from rivers and aquifers.

Water use in the Leather industry
In most cases, industries including tanneries require clean water to carry out their manufacturing processes. Leather making processes involve huge quantities of water, especially in the beamhouse steps. The Leather Working Group (LWG) is also aware of the water consumption in the leather industry, it designates that efficient tanneries consume about 127 liters of water whereas inefficient tanneries consume three times more than efficient tanneries, about 351 liters of water is consumed to produce 1 m2 of leather from raw to finished (LWG, 2010). This is a challenge that the leather industry is facing today; the industry consumes a lot of water and most of the water that is consumed ends up being polluted.

Source: ECOLOGIST, Photo: Danwatch, October 2012

There are a lot of things involved during leather making processes, in fact, wastewater from the leather industry is considered to have huge amounts of organic and inorganic substances and its purification is a crucial activity around the globe (THORSTEN & MARTIN, 1996). Typically, the beamhouse steps generate high amounts of toxic, hazardous, and non-benign substances to the environment like salt, sulfide used for unhairing during liming sub-process and ammonia during deliming step. Leather production result into removal of undesirable things from the pelt, like; hair or keratin, unwanted protein, fat and other things, most of these things are removed using heavy chemicals.
According to the mass balance of chemicals in the leather processing by the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO), most of the chemicals used in the leather making process does not end up in the final product. A total of 452 kg/ton of chemicals of wet salted hide is added in the process but only 72 kg/ton of chemicals end up in or on our desired product, meaning that 84% of chemicals ends up in the wastewater (Jakov & Ivan, 2015). If an effluent is not discharged accordingly, it ends up contaminating the freshwater and indeed contribute to greywater footprint.
Leather industry in South Africa
South Africa has approximately 20 tanneries of different sizes which are in different parts of the country. These tanneries process more than two million hides/skins per year, and they consume about 0.6 million m3 of water (Steffen, et al., 1989)
South Africa being a water-scares country, it is crucial to use water responsibly and in a sustainable manner. Therefore, it is also important to explore new or better technologies to reduce water footprint in the South African leather processing plants.
Aims and objectives
Aims
• The main aim is to conduct a literature review on the latest technologies and assess the viability of the technologies contain within that review.
• To point out possible and acceptable latest technologies that will help to reduce the water footprint in the South African leather processing plants.
• Assess the best technology preferred by the South African leather processing plants
Objectives
.
• Collect water footprint data of the sub-processes involved during leather making process from at least five South African tanneries.
• Collect available data of the South African leather industries from other sources like the department of trade and industry (the DTI), that works closely with all the South African tanneries.
• Prepare semi-quantitative questionnaires, question and answers session, and ask them in a structured way to score the best technologies that can be implemented in the South African leather processing plants.
• Promote the technology that will possibly reduce the water footprint within the South African leather industry based on collected data analysis.

Methodology
To collect data and evaluate the challenge that the South African leather processing plants are facing, an accessible and dynamic semi-quantitative questionnaire will be developed. The presentation about the available and practical technologies on the reduction of water footprint will be prepared and presented to the South African tanneries. The main aim of this presentation is to expose the latest technologies that are commercially available that the South African industries are not familiar with. These will also encourage them to share the latest technologies that they aware of and also be able to share their knowledge by assessing which technology is the best bases on different reasons that they might know of. Question and Answers sessions will also be performed in order to the information that will be useful for this research.
The questionnaires will be asked in a structured manner and they will be asked in a fixed question list.
I will then critique and Annalise the data collected based on the questionnaires and question and answers sessions and carry out my study on it.

16 Comments Posted on by Rohith New Projects

Increase the efficiency of Traceability of hides and skins in India

[this project is one of the feeder attribute components of the crade-to-grave blockchain for leather provenance]

INTRODUCTION :

                                      Raw material is a prime concern of tanners in India. The tanning industry which supplies footwear, furniture, automotive, clothing etc are wholly dependent on their raw material on supply of cattle hides and sheep skins are vibrant to the tanning industry, they may just be the by-products of meat but it represents almost 50-60% of the cost of producing a piece of leather. When the hides and skins reaches consistent quality allowing tanners to get confidence on the material which can make a good leather and reach the market targets. Quality of a leather can be determined  by the quality of raw hides and skins. The value of the hide and skins depends upon the end use to which the leather goes , eventually reflects on what the tanner pays for the raw material. The quality of the hides and skins are highly related to the amount of damage on the grain or the other surface. Hides and skins have greater economic return than most agricultural products and by products . management practices should ensure that health of animal and reduce the likelihood of injuries that could damage the skins

    
DAMAGES AND DEFECTS ON HIDES AND SKINS :

                                    Damages and defects are caused in the place where animals live and during animal husbandry practices, farming, transportation, slaughtering            

                         There are more than 300 different types of damages and defects occur on raw material which is basically due to physical or mechanical damages and damages from disease

 

PREMORTEM DEFECTS
PHYSICAL AND MECHANICAL DAMAGES

                                    Physical and mechanical effects are often referred to as carelessness effects, because they are potentially avoidable or preventable mechanical damages seen in hides and skins. Sheep skin basically subjects to scratches due to thorny bushes and in cattle damages such as thorn scratches, branding, whiplash, horn gauge, harness or yoke marks, skin disease and ticks. Most noticeable defects on hides and sins are brand marks, scratches, scars and bruises which are caused by mechanical means. Defects as a result of the animal’s age, sex and the genetic makeup are intrinsic.

 

POSTMORTEM DEFECTS                       
 SLAUGHTER HOUSE DEFECTS OF HIDES AND SKINS :

                                      It comprises of inadequate bleeding , and also defects which are due to unnecessary use of knife which may lead to ripping of full flesh or damage to the grain of damage of skins by bacteria or enzymes and defects due to improper and inefficient preserving and transportation. They may also get damaged due to improper storing of the slaughtered skins.

 

 

                

 

Traceability is used as a tool,

To avoid or reduce these types of damages or defects on the hides and skin and also to access the sustainability of the whole leather chain  Before, during or After the tanning process. The improvement of authentication system is vital to the guaranteed traceability along the chain from the sourcing of raw material at the abattoir to their use when manufacturing a finished product.

 

 

 

OBJECTIVES & AIMS :

             The project is about what traceability can achieve in a leather industry in India

 

MAIN OBJECTIVES & AIMS :

           

To make a research on breeding farm and the diet followed by the animals and deeply enhancing  the defects or problems on the animals skin

 

Tagging of animals and  updating records

 

 Assorting has undergone in the breeding farm with respect to their sex , Health and  defects on the  skins and making reports on the animals

 

Research on how the animals are transported to the slaughter house and   the damages occur on the skin during the transportation

 

Execute stamping and labelling system in the slaughter house followed by  the tagging in  the breeder farms

 

Make a research on how the animals are slaughtered and  the damages occur on the animal skin during the slaughter period

 

Analyse the effect of defected hides and  skins on tanning, retaning, and finishing process

 

Analyse the effect of defected hides and  skins on machining operations

 

Critically analyzing the difficulties faced by the tanners to get quality raw material and maintain the consistency of the quality raw materials

 

Analyse the effect of  physical and chemical properties  on the defected skin 

 

examine the difference between the efficient traceability skins and the normal skins

 

Strengthen the communication and the cooperation among tanners, slaughterhouse, farmers as a mutual benefit

 

Qualitative And Quantitative Analysis of Hides and Skins

 

MATERIALS AND METHODS :

                       

METHODS TO PREVENT HIDES AND SKINS FROM DAMAGES AND DEFECTS :

 

Many as one quarter to one third of all hides and skins have various defects, where most of the defects occur in during the preslaughter stage of production while the animals are alive. Impacts created by post slaughter defects are due to poor management and treatment of skins in slaughter house. unskilled person on the slaughter house may result in many visible defects on skin

 

Awareness importance and values of hide and skin among the communities should be created

Accessibility of veterinary service should be delivered near the  breeding farms to prevent and cure the defects on skins and hides

 

There is a strong need to prepare comprehensive training manuals and extension packages on live animal management, such as feeding housing, slaughtering and post slaughtering  of hide and skin management

 

 

 
 
MATERIALS TO MAINTAIN EFFICIENT TRACEABILITY

 

  TAGGING AND ASSORTING :

                                Tagging should be done on animals initially which will help the farmers to assort the animals according to their age, sex, health conditions and defect on the skins, the tag contains a serial number  which  includes letters and numbers on it  for example  AG1234567

 

The tag also consist of bar coding which will help to record the data of the animal in a computer system . During the assorting, the animals are being assorted according to their age, sex health conditions and the defects on skin which will be  helpful in separating  a lot of each category and record the data  in a computer system before it goes to the slaughter house.

 

SLAUGHTER HOUSE :

                      

                       A Stamper has to be installed in the slaughter house which  makes an impregnation on the hides and skins as shown on the image below. The serial number which is carried out in the breeding farms is to be impregnated on the hides and skin after slaughter and record the defects on the hides and skins attained during slaughter period and record the data in the computer system

 

(Stamping should be done on the neck or on the legs of the origin)

                                        

 

 

 

 

THE IDENTIFICATION SYSTEM  GOALS

 

Can be applied while the hide is still on the animal

Human readable/human Decodable

Code can be externally generated

Selectable numbers and alphabets can be used

Lasts through a finished leather

100% retrieval

Readable with hair on and off

Machine readable

Unique code on each piece

Applied and readable on the grain and the flesh

 

The integration of stamper on the leather should not have any significant effect on the final product of the leather.  Leather as a finished product should not be  changed, the colour,  touch, thickness and handle should not change due to stamping  on the leather. When using leather the stamping appearance should remain constant. Cutting, gluing, sewing and shaping the material should not affect the stamp. Must remain stable with time resistance to mechanical, thermal and chemical operations applied during the leather making.

 

THE SUPPLY CHAIN BETWEEN THE TANNERS, SLAUGHTER HOUSE AND THE FARMERS

 

The main objective of the leather sector is make research on both qualitative and quantitative methods and a combination of both primary and secondary sources of data. They found the problem starts from the animal husbandry stage and goes up to the production of finished leather.

 

The leather sector should educate the farmers about the importance of by-product and take them as employers and pay them to maintain a healthy growth of the animal skins and hides

 

Install veterinary services near the breeding farms which helps in preventing or curing the defects on the skin of the animals

 

Educate the workers in the slaughter house about the importance of the skinand also educating them with slaughter  methods

 

Safety transportation vehicles should be installed to carry the animals from breeding farms to slaughter house and then to the tannery

 
ETHICS :

               I would like to affirm that the information supplied by the farmer, employees of abattoirs and the staff of the tannery will be presented in a way that the supervisor will understand . All information obtained during the study will be managed highly confidential and a confidentiality agreement will be signed with the people involved in the supply chain operation before any data is collected. I would keep up the promise and maintain my honesty and strive to be consistent all the time

 

 
  RISKS AND COSHH:

 

         There is a risk of affection for the workers at the breeding farms and the slaughter house when working with animals and handling with waste material that may be contaminated with microorganisms or working in a area such as meat waste or the animals contaminated. Members of public who  pass through the farms can be exposed to infection.

 

 Safety measurements should be taken into consideration such as

 

IDENTIFY THE HAZARDS

 

ASSESS THE RISK

 

CONTROL THE RISKS

 

CONSIDERING THE RISK TO THE EMPLOYERS

THE RISK OF INFECTION HAS TO BE FORSEEABLE BEFORE IT CARRIES OUT AN ASSESSMENT AND TAKE MEASURES TO CONTROL THE RISKS

21 Comments Posted on by Dinh Ho Active Projects

Supply chain provenance from cradle to grave

Leather Industry with Ethical Issues

In the new era of sustainable markets, like all industries buying a leather bag carries with it ethical connotations. In reality, consumers are offered little provenance information about pieces of clothing, footwear or fashion accessories. With greater recognition surrounding animal protection, human right, sustainable development and chemical processing the leather industry is facing a growing demand for transparency in their supply chains.

Each year, the leather industry slaughters more than a billion animals and tans their skins and hides. Not only the skins of cattle or calves, with the diversity demanded by customers, suppliers need to meet discerning consumer demands for sustainable practices. Although, for example, the typically alligators can reach up to 60 years, in farms, the animal is slaughtered before the age of 2 due to length considerations. Animal husbandry during those brief years plays an important part.  

Worker, Moroccan Tannery

The scandal of child worker in leather tanneries in Bangladesh in 2012 highlights that leather products are sometimes produced by underpaid workers in unacceptable conditions. Modern Slavery is not by any means an issue unique to the industry but needs to be tackled when found.

Apart from the impact on humans and animals, leather manufacturing can have environmental considerations. The older more traditional tanneries use by necessity toxic chemicals which then necessitates extensive waste processing. There is a drive in the industry towards much greater responsible practices.

To combat growing consumer awareness of such issues, the transparency of product provenance, trace-ability and effective control of suppliers are key to the growth of the sector. The question arises as to how this can be achieved most efficiently, with least cost, and maximum impact.

Potential of Block-chain Technology

One essentially need to prove to customers that they are buying a ‘good’ product, rather than one with questionable provenance. With the development of international trade and global value chains, making any product is complex intertwining a large number of suppliers with multi-step  processes. Each step involves the creation of  data, storage and centralized access. Technically, having detailed information of products from birth to death is impossible. These complexities make supply chain provenance a significant non-trivial exercise.

Block-chain technology can potentially improve the transparency and trace-ability issues within the manufacturing supply chain through the use of immutable record of data, distributed storage, and controlled user access. All data in each step of the supply chain will update directly and securely in block-chain. All stakeholders could trace and access information of the product with every detail of the animal husbandry, labour conditions, chemical processes and other intangible KPI’s that directly effect the tangible price of the product at each stage.

The Proposed Framework

The proposed approach comprises of a decentralized distributed system that uses blockchain(s) to collect, store and manage key product information throughout its life cycle. This creates a secure, shared record of exchange for each product along with specific product information.

We propose three main stage.

  • The first stage is collecting data. As a product moves through its life cycle, it is defined by a variety of actors – eg producers, suppliers, manufacturers, distributors, retailers and finally the end consumer. Each of these actors play an important part in this system, logging in key information about the product and its current status on to the block-chain network. Each product would have a unique digital profile containing all related information, populated during various life cycle stages.

 

  • The second stage is verifying data. In this stage, all data collected from input stage will be gathered and compared with the block-chain. This is double verification process to ensure that all data input is identical and acceptable.
  • The third stage is calculating data. All data, both tangible financial data as well as intangible non-financial data must be represented in a consistent way to allow comparisons. In this stages, data also will be encrypted and added to block-chain.

Overall, the movement of total value will be parallel processed from farm to land-fill.

In each step, the financial value and non-financial value will be tracked –  evaluated, added or subtracted from the product provenance. Through all stage of the production cycle, the total value of product will be illustrated and articulated in simple metrics including at the end to the consumer to allow decisions to be made.

A Collective Vision

When you can measure it, you can influence the sustainable development of the cycle.  It allows for both upstream and downstream controls to be enabled and embedded, from farms to land-fill. In effect a product can carry a digital passport that contains all the information you need to make and direct decision making at each stage.