The industry based in Trissino took part in Tanning Tech in Milan after the recent acquisition of the majority of the shares of Costa Impianti, which will allow innovative machinery to be launched on the market
A winning combination was presented for the first time at Simac Tanning Tech. At the stand reserved for Gemata, a world leader in the production of leather finishing plants and regenerated leather, the brand of Costa Impianti, based in Montebello Vicentino, also in the Arzignano district, was also clearly highlighted.
“This operation,” explains Gianni Maitan, CEO of Gemata, “allows us to be able to offer the market highly innovative systems, both in the leather sector and in the synthetic materials sectors, especially for automotive. The acquisition of Costa Impianti was strategic because it not only operates in the leather sector, but also in the synthetic and composite materials, fabric lamination and wood sectors. Costa Impianti has recently installed, at a major company in Arzignano that produces automotive leathers, an innovative finishing line for whole leathers with a high production capacity that is an alternative to the current traditional leather finishing systems and highly competitive in terms of quality and production costs. The market demanded the possibility of processing whole hides with the well-known transfer technologies using release paper or silicone matrices, which are currently limited to half hides.
Costa Impianti, after lengthy experimentation, and after filing a patent application, has installed a 3200-working space production line in its tannery, which for several months now has been processing whole automotive hides in two shifts at a speed of 13 meters per minute.” “The feature of the new technology, in addition to being able to also finish whole hides,” adds Maitan, “is that it does not use release paper, or even the adhesive film for cleaning the paper itself, but a thin, highly malleable plastic film to protect special embossing cylinders similar to the current cylinders of printing presses. A further advantage is the low cost of the film, less than 10 euro cents per square meter, and the possibility of recycling the film itself, thereby promoting the environmental aspect. The new finishing system will not completely replace release paper, particularly for footwear and leather goods leathers, where the paper in addition to the grain must transfer a final surface appearance that does not require further treatment, but it will allow for the first time to process whole leathers. In addition to finishing machines, Gemata is known for its reliable leather automation and stacking plants and for being the first to offer automatic introduction, through-feed splitting machines for tripe leather after fleshing without the need for manual operator intervention. Even today, Starplit splitters are unrivalled for their reliability, high production capacity and low consumption of usable materials.
The company expects to close its 2023 budget with a 20 per cent increase over the previous year. “Since I have been in Gemata in 1992,” concludes Gianni Maitan, “we have always recorded a profit, improving on the previous years’ financial statements. The only exception was in 2020, when although we closed with a profit, we suffered, like all companies in the sector, a significant drop in turnover due to the worldwide Covid, but in 2021 and 2022 we returned to high levels and this year we are up 20% compared to last year, indicatively we expect to exceed 30 million euros in turnover. For next year it is difficult to make forecasts because of the conflict in Ukraine and the more recent one in the Middle East, which are affecting the world economy. In any case, our Research & Development department continues to work to meet the needs of the market, which demands increasingly automatic plants that guarantee high quality standards, low production costs and controls for each processing step. Meanwhile, we observe that more and more pictures of animals, which have long been our signature feature, are starting to appear on other stands. This makes us really proud, as it shows that we are considered a point of reference.”
Gianni Maitan
