Anual Report

Annual Report on activities carried out during the period July 2008 - June 2009

Talks and Lectures

Two talks and two lectures were conducted:

August 28, 2008
The Magazine’s OPEN TALK was held with the presence of representatives from the different sectors and of professionals involved in its production.
The changes introduced were presented and evaluated, and possible future changes were analysed. The talk was organised by the Magazine’s Committee.
October 14, 2008
LECTURE: “Research, development and innovation in the future of the hide value-chain and other issues” by lecturers Dr. Adzet and Dr. Castell. The closing lunch was sponsored by AIICA (Research Association for Leather and Related Industries).
March 12, 2009
LECTURE: "Influence of synthetic and vegetable retanning agents on leather heat-ageing and on chromium(VI) formation. Part III." by Dr. Ramón Palop.
Lecturer: Mr. Enrique Comes, from the company Cromogenia Units S.A.
Closing lunch sponsored by Cromogenia Units S.A.
June 2, 2009
SERIES OF TALKS: “Origin and development of the Argentine tanning industry: Old tanneries in the current City of Buenos Aires”.
1st Open Meeting: Introduction. Villa Crespo neighbourhood and La Federal tannery.

Courses

September 26, 2008
2nd Module of the “Leather Finishing” Course for Technicians (a 2-module course comprising 4 classes of 4 hours each) given ad honorem by Jorge Vergara, Claudio Salvador, Alfredo Halack and Martín Gelaf.
September 30, 2008
Traceability course given by Claudio Salvador at Arlei Tannery at the request of a consulting firm.

Events

October 29, 2008
Members’ Annual General Meeting and election of new authorities.
Tanner’s Day celebration at AAQTIC’s premises.
December 17, 2008
AAQTIC hosted the customary Year-End cocktail.

The activities related to lectures and social events are carried out without professional assistance and organising them demands significant effort. Several of them involve payment of catering expenses, invitation costs, etc.

Other activities

2nd National Technical Symposium of the Tanning Industry
The Symposium was held on November 20 and 21, 2008. It was coordinated by the Organising Commission presided over by Andrés Naab and consisting of Joaquín Castellanos, Roberto Maciel and Ricardo Echezuri. An event management company was hired to organise it.
Financial contributions were provided by five Platinum sponsors, six Silver sponsors, five supporters, and a special contributor that covered part of the dinner cost.
Registration reached 200 people, of whom 165 attended the symposium.
On November 20, the inauguration cocktail was offered and credentials for the event were handed out in the Alfonsina Storni Auditorium of the Paseo La Plaza Complex.
Works, including a monograph, were presented in oral and poster format with the approval of the Scientific Committee, coordinated by Lic. Patricia Casey and consisting of Víctor Vera, Jorge Vergara, Arnaldo Luppi, Alicia Bazar, and Claudio Salvador.
On November 21, the nine oral presentations were delivered in the Pablo Neruda Auditorium of the same Complex. The authors of poster presentations were furthermore allowed 5 minutes to summarise the main points of their papers. Posters were exhibited in the Storni Auditorium. Also included was a monograph, invited for presentation in poster format, from the Monograph Competition for technicians aged less than 35 years old.
Two coffee breaks were served in between the presentations.
A closing dinner was held on the night of November 21 at the Palais Rouge Salon.

Round Table: “The market requirement for furniture upholstery leather”
This event, jointly organised with the AUQTIC (Uruguayan Leather Industry Chemists and Technicians Association), was held at the Conference Room of the LATU (Technological Laboratory of Uruguay) on July 25, 2008. Lic. Jorge Vergara and Claudio Salvador assisted in the main presentation; Eng. Willie Tucci and Ricardo Hourdebaight participated as local panellists. The presentation was based on the development of the conclusions of the Round Table on the EN 13336 Standard conducted at AAQTIC in May 2005 and published in Leather Technology No. 57.

XVII Latin American Congress of the Chemists and Technicians of the Leather Industry
The Congress, organised by ABQTIC (Brazilian Association of Leather Industry Chemists and Technicians), was held on October 8 through 10, 2008 at the Rio Othon Palace Hotel in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Even when they had to travel at their own expense, some executive members of our association attended the event, namely: Jorge Vergara, Patricia Casey, Dolores d’Avis, Claudio Salvador and Andrés Naab. Several AAQTIC’s members were also present.
On October 8, the opening ceremony and the inauguration cocktail took place. Oral and poster presentations as well as invited lectures were delivered on October 9 and 10. A closing dinner was held on the last night.

FLAQTIC (Latin American Leather and Chemists Federation) Meeting
The meeting, presided over by Mr. C. Kiefer, took place on October 9, 2008. Numerous AAQTIC’s executive members participated in it. Although in a split vote, Uruguay was chosen as the site for the next Congress, to be held in 2012. AAQTIC supported the Uruguayan peer association AUQTIC.

In November 2008 and in May 2009, AAQTIC was present with an institutional stand at the EXPOCAIPIC (Footwear Industry Suppliers Exhibition). The Magazine was distributed at both events. In 2008, the opportunity was taken to promote the 2nd Symposium. Several Association members attended both editions of the fair.

AAQTIC’s 50th anniversary
The Association’s president gave a short speech at the first meeting of the series on Old Tanneries, where he also paid homage to two founding members present on the occasion, Víctor Mare and Beatriz Confalonieri, who were awarded honorary membership ad referendum of the Members’ Meeting’s decision.

Leather Technology Magazine

Issues number 67, 68 and 69 of AAQTIC’s magazine, “Leather Technology”, were published during this period as follows:

Leather Technology No. 67 - August 2008.
Leather Technology No. 68 - November 2008
Leather Technology No. 69 - April 2009

The same team of suppliers continue providing their services under the coordination of the Magazine’s Committee, who conduct the publication without relying on a publishing company. Companies’ contributions are invoiced and collected directly by AAQTIC.
The distribution to organisations directly or indirectly related to our sector keeps on increasing. It was decided to temporarily reduce the number of annual issues from four to three.

Publication related tasks–including, among others, writing, content selection, proofreading, as well as coordination of suppliers–are voluntarily carried out by the Magazine’s Committee, consisting of Patricia Casey, Jorge Vergara, Arnaldo Luppi, Victor Vera and José Barna, and directed by Claudio Salvador.

APTA (Argentine Technical and Specialised Press Association): Our magazine’s membership has been renewed every three months.
Leather Technology participated, together with other technical publications concerned with different subjects, in the competition for the 2008 APTA/Rizzuto Award in the categories Editorial Product (publications from institutions) and Contents (technical works). In the latter, it obtained the 2nd (Accesit) Award for the work “Hide Preservation. The First Argentine Patent: a recipe for preserving leathers” by Dolores d’Avis, published in issue No. 64 of the Magazine (December 2007) and invited for presentation in poster format at AAQTIC’s 2nd National Technical Symposium of the Tanning Industry.
Furthermore, Leather Technology published its Technical File in APTA’s Technical and Specialised Media 2008 Guide.

Library

The subscription to World Leather magazine was renewed.
The library acquired the book “A ciencia rumo a tecnologia do couro” by Mariliz Guterres.
Member Victor Mare donated the following titles:
Modern Practice in Leather Manufacture, John A. Wilson (1941)
The Chemistry an Reactivity of Collagen, K. H. Gustavson (1956)
Stiasny Festschrift (1937) (Collection of works presented on the occasion of the 65th birthday of Edmund Stiesny)
The Chemistry of Leather Manufacture, George D. McLaughlin/Edwin R. Theis (1945)
La Tannerie, Louis Meunier and Clément Vaney (1936) (2 volumes)
Tanning Processes, August C. Ortmann (1945)

Membership

The current number of active members is 171.
Six active members were removed from the register and 10 were enrolled.
There are 28 patron members.
Four new patron members joined the Association and 2 resigned.
Arnaldo Luppi was nominated Honorary Member by the Members’ Annual Meeting.

Member identity/payment card: the company Dineromail was assigned the printing of credentials, which will make the identification of members and the payment of membership fees easier.

Website

The web page is constantly updated to provide details about activities already carried out or planned. It has maintained its position in search engines, which facilitates the contact with sectors that seek information relating to leather. Moreover, the design adopted in the previous period has been kept.

A special section was included to allow access to all the information concerning the Symposium, such as requirements for the submission of works, relevant topics, etc. The works presented and photos of the event were incorporated after it was held.
A special section was created to promote Rio de Janeiro Congress. All the works presented were later added in the website. A link to ABQTIC’s page was also included to access photographs of the Congress.
A link was added to a section which contains information on the activities carried out by other institutions and chambers of our sector.
A special section was incorporated on the occasion of AAQTIC’s 50th Anniversary, including a link to the history of its foundation. The Association’s Articles of Agreement and minutes of the first Members’ Meeting will be uploaded to this link, as well as a list of active members, honorary members and adherent members.

The design is made by a design studio that has collaborated with the Association since the beginning of the website, but all the materials are supplied by AAQTIC.

Other actions

IULTCS (International Union of Leather Technologists and Chemists Societies): The steps for payment of 2008 membership fee were completed. In addition, the annual membership fee for 2010 has been paid.

Institutional activities

We maintain good relations with the CITEC/INTI-Leathers (Leather Research and Technology Centre/National Institute of Industrial Technology), the CICA (Chamber of the Argentine Tanner Industry), the IULTCS, Latin American peer associations, as well as with the CIC (Chamber of the Footwear Industry), ACUBA (Tanners Association of Buenos Aires Province), CAIPIC (Argentine Chamber of Industrial Suppliers for the Footwear Industry), CIMA (Industrial Chamber of Manufactures of Leather Goods and related products of Argentina), and with other institutions and universities.

The exchange of magazines and information with the above mentioned chambers has continued.

RESCA (Network of Argentine Scientific Societies): In 2008, the Argentine Scientific Society invited the various technical and scientific organisations to form part of a network to achieve common objectives. AAQTIC has participated since the beginning of the initiative. At the end of this reported period, rules of procedure were about to be approved and authorities were about to be appointed.

A digital camera was bought so that events can be better depicted in our Magazine and our Web Page.

EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE