At Tanning Tech 2023, Italprogetti launched several innovations to operators and clients. The expansion of the plant is ready with the addition of another seven thousand square meters
Among the leading companies at latest edition of Simac Tanning Tech, stood out Italprogetti Spa, based in San Romano (Pisa), which has been operating for more than 45 years in the tanning industrial district of Santa Croce sull’Arno. The range of activities of the Tuscany-based company includes tannery and plants for the production of leather, machinery and plants for the treatment of waste water, sludge and gas, in the leather, paper and industrial sectors in general. Italprogetti also operates in the food industry and in particular in extra virgin olive oil filtration.
“At this trade fair,” the president, engineer Mario Serrini, who founded the group in 1977, explained at his stand, “we have presented numerous innovations. Most interesting is the drum for the measurement of LCA, i.e. the assessment for each type of tanning process and the consumption of carbon dioxide and therefore the impact on the environment. The drum is equipped with very advanced detection systems and software. This was a specific request from the market, as the new regulations now coming in require the need to classify processes according to their environmental impact. The software is able to parameterize the different processes, both in terms of energy and chemical consumption, and last but not least, the quality and quantity of waste water. The customer can organize the different processes and evaluate each time which ones are truly the best and have a lower environmental impact. In our opinion, this is a mandatory path to undertake today, as it is the only way to understand what we are dealing with.”
Italprogetti Spa has always been committed into research investments, today particularly focused on sustainability and waste disposal. “To the operators at the fair and to those who came to visit us at our stand,” says Engineer Serrini, “we show the very innovative and interesting research project, related to the re-use of leather waste. In the Florence area, where the most important leather goods factories linked to the main fashion houses in the world are based, a large quantity of leather cuttings and various trimmings are produced; we are talking about tanned and dyed leathers, and these residues cause a massive environmental impact. We are working to find a solution and solve this problem. Considering the importance that the big fashion houses give to environmental impact, a solution for this problem is a priority: to date, these materials have no destination.”
Italprogetti does not only work in the tanning sector. “For many years now, the company has operated extensively in the food sector, in particular producing equipment for filtering extra virgin olive oil. Another growing sector is also the treatment of hides for the production of food jellies. For the company, however, investments related to tannery automation are always a priority, another field in which we have been at the forefront for some time: the data gathered from the LCA measurement help us to design new types of drum that guarantee the lowest possible environmental impact.”
This increasingly broad and varied industrial plan carried on by the Tuscan company is destined to grow further, in turnover and personnel, even in 2024. “Being able to diversify and range over different areas,” concludes President Serrini, “has allowed us to understand many things that would not have emerged if we sticked to a single sector. This is one of the main advantages of Italprogetti, which lately has also been working a lot in the paper sector, particularly in the environmental impact of paper mills. This widespread activity in various economic sectors allows us to have a complex structure from a managerial point of view: currently our workforce counts around 180 employees, but we expect to reach 200 soon. We are expanding the plant, with an additional 7,000 square meters of covered area, and hiring new employees in different fields. In recent years our customers have increased, both in number and in importance: we now have very good growth prospects.”
Engineer Mario Serrini with his son Leonardo
