Leather Maker Invests $8.7 Million In Greener Tannery
ISA Tan Tec's new tannery in Vietnam will use advanced technology and conservation methods to use 50 percent less water than the average tannery.
Leather manufacturer ISA Tan Tec is spending $8.7 million on its new, Vietnam-based, tannery, which will produce leather using fewer resources than industry standards.
The Ho Chi Minh City location, set to open in mid-2009, will have 280 employees churning out 2 million square meters of leather a year, supplying companies including Timberland, Rockport, New Balance, Simple and Hush Puppies. Last year, according to founder and CEO Thomas Schneider, ISA Tan Tec's sales went up 16 percent in the footwear sector.
The Vietnam facility is set to employ many of the same resource-saving and energy-cutting procedures in place at its tannery in Guangzhou, China. At that location, in a span of 18 months, the company reduced electricity used for retanning by 76 percent and reduced heavy oil use by 28 percent.
The company's overall process for making its LITE (Low Impact To the Environment) leather uses 30 percent less energy and 50 percent less water, and emits 35 percent less carbon dioxide, than industry standards derived from the British Leather Technology Center. The company's LITE concept also stipulates continuous monitoring of the company's energy and water use. How much water the company uses is recorded daily and the company analyzes it for where they can make reductions.
The Vietnam tannery will utilize a solar panel system (which will include panels on top of the parking lot's roof) to heat water used in the retanning process, and cold water that is used to cool hydraulic machinery will be reused after being funneled into the hot water tank. Solar panels at the company's China facility generate about 30,000 liters of hot water a day. ISA Tan Tec also takes water that is condensed from the leather during the drying process and reuses it for cleaning.
The Ho Chi Minh City location, set to open in mid-2009, will have 280 employees churning out 2 million square meters of leather a year, supplying companies including Timberland, Rockport, New Balance, Simple and Hush Puppies. Last year, according to founder and CEO Thomas Schneider, ISA Tan Tec's sales went up 16 percent in the footwear sector.
The Vietnam facility is set to employ many of the same resource-saving and energy-cutting procedures in place at its tannery in Guangzhou, China. At that location, in a span of 18 months, the company reduced electricity used for retanning by 76 percent and reduced heavy oil use by 28 percent.
The company's overall process for making its LITE (Low Impact To the Environment) leather uses 30 percent less energy and 50 percent less water, and emits 35 percent less carbon dioxide, than industry standards derived from the British Leather Technology Center. The company's LITE concept also stipulates continuous monitoring of the company's energy and water use. How much water the company uses is recorded daily and the company analyzes it for where they can make reductions.
The Vietnam tannery will utilize a solar panel system (which will include panels on top of the parking lot's roof) to heat water used in the retanning process, and cold water that is used to cool hydraulic machinery will be reused after being funneled into the hot water tank. Solar panels at the company's China facility generate about 30,000 liters of hot water a day. ISA Tan Tec also takes water that is condensed from the leather during the drying process and reuses it for cleaning.
