THE LOOKOUT | AIP in Alcanena as part of the roadmap for the country’s manufacturing industry

President of the Portuguese Industrial Association, José Eduardo Carvalho (center), on a visit to the Couro Azul Group, in Alcanena. photoDR

The Portuguese Industrial Association continues to visit several companies on a tour of the manufacturing industry and was at Couro Azul, in Alcanena, which has been tanning cowhide leather with innovation and sustainable manufacturing for 85 years.

The president of the Portuguese Industrial Association (AIP), José Eduardo Carvalho, accompanied by other directors and technicians from the institution, visited the Couro Azul Group, in Alcanena, a 100% Portuguese company in the fourth generation, 85 years of activity in the tanning industry, with 690 workers, exporter and supplier of major brands in the automotive, railway and aeronautical sectors. During the visit, on April 17th, the company revealed that it had a turnover of 80 million euros in 23 markets.
The “Route for the Country’s Manufacturing Industry” is an initiative created by AIP whose “objective is to recognize the quality of management and competitiveness of the best companies in the industrial sector, as well as to allow AIP operational directors to become aware of the new reality of this sector”, highlighted the president of AIP. The chairman of the board of directors of Couro Azul, Pedro Carvalho, recalled that the business was founded in 1939, at the beginning of the Second World War, by António Nunes de Carvalho, “an example of initiative and vision” in the tanning industry.
The brands of excellence and high quality standards that Couro Azul displays today “are the result of permanent research and investigation for the development of innovative and sustainable products and manufacturing processes, and reflect the values ​​of its founder, who based the business on manual production of sheep and goat tanneries, destined for the footwear industry”, he added. “Ahead of its time”, says Pedro Carvalho, to record an innovation introduced by his grandfather António Carvalho: “In 1950 it was one of the first factories to install electricity and industrial machinery”.
Couro Azul processes 1,300 hides per day and they go through several stages before being transformed into the leather that covers the steering wheel of a Porsche, a chair on a CP train or a TAP plane, or even on the handlebars of a truck to capture the driver’s vital signs (CardioLeather – Smart Leather for monitoring health, well-being and safety in vehicles). Another example of innovation is the RARISS project – Indigenous Breeds, Traceability, Innovation and Sustainable Solutions. Skin tracking, and respective certification, is carried out from the animal’s birthplace, covering its origin, history and surroundings, until its transformation into a product and its impact on human health and the environment. This “DNA” registration is essential in the circular economy and is included in the list of requirements of international brands that are clients of the Alcanena company that are investing in a new business model, called TraceLeather.
The art of tanning leather in this titan of the tanning industry returns to its origins, by recovering the acorn capsule, rich in tannin, to obtain a natural extract and make a vegetable tannery, that is, free from chemical products. “This leather meets the most demanding specifications in the automotive sector, is based on a specially developed innovative vegetable tannery, maintains the softness and touch of a premium leather, and also guarantees the necessary resistance”, explains the CEO.
Pedro Carvalho highlights that Couro Azul “has become one of the most innovative tanneries on the market”. The top representative of this fourth-generation family business goes even further by pointing out other agents that contribute to the competitiveness of Portuguese industry, such as universities, research centers and chemical companies.