Anual Report

Talks and Lectures, Courses, Events, Other activities, Leather Technology Magazine, Library, Membership, Website, Other actions and Institutional activities

Annual Report on activities for the period July 2010 - June 2011

Talks and Lectures

Three conferences and one talk were held:

April 27, 2011
Talk: “Presentation on Press Communications” Lecturer: Robin Laight, specialized Press and Communication consultant.

March 17, 2011
Conference: “Latest developments in non-chrome articles” Organized by Units Sudamericana S.A. Lecturer: Enrique Comes from Cromogenia Units. Work prepared in Spain with the collaboration of Ramón Palop and Olga Ballus.

August 26, 2010
Conference: “Theory of Restrictions applied to production planning in a leather finishing plant” Lecturer: Guzmán Gracia from AUQTIC, Zendaleather. Work presented at the 17th Latin American Congress of Leather Technicians and Chemists, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, October 2008.

July 1, 2010
Conference: “REACH directives for leather; present and future. Reduction of conductivity in pickling-tanning baths” Lecturer: Enrique Comes - Cromogenia Units.

Courses

E-learning was launched in order to incorporate students from other Argentine provinces and other countries into the training groups. Additionally, 2 courses were held in AAQTIC’s offices and one course was held in company:

June 6, 2011
“Processes of the Wet Sector. Module 1 – Beamhouse and Tanning” Duration: 8 weeks Instructors: Enrique Santelli, Graciela Galego, Jorge Ghiglione. Attendees: 49

May 2, 2011
On-site course: “Beamhouse and Tanning” Duration: 5 classes, 3 hours each. Instructor: Luciano Antonio Attendees: 7

October 18, 2010
On-site course: “Beamhouse and Tanning” Duration: 5 classes, 3 hours each. Instructor: Luciano Antonio Attendees: 10

September 7 and 9, 2010
In-Company Course: “Leather Types for Footwear”. For Laboratorios Lenor S. R. L. Duration: 2 classes, 3 hours each. Instructors: Jorge Vergara and Claudio Salvador.

Events

December 9, 2010
Annual General Meeting, where the new members of the Board of Directors were appointed. By unanimous vote, the honorary membership of Víctor Vera, Alberto Sofía and Élida Gómez Brizuela was renewed.

The Conferences and Social Events were organized without hiring outsourced expert services. They demanded great effort by the Secretary’s Office and AAQTIC’s Board of Directors. Most of them involve expenses in catering services; invitations, etc., which were covered by AAQTIC, except for the Conferences given by the companies.

Other activities

November 2010/May 2011
EXPOCAIPIC, Footwear Supplier’s Expo: AAQTIC had an institutional stand in both expos, distributing our magazine and promoting AAQTIC’s future activities (Simposya, Conferences, etc.).

25-26 November
3rd National Technical Symposium of the Tanning Industry: This Symposium was held at the reception hall of “Complejo La Plaza”. It was organized and coordinated by AAQTIC’s Board of Directors. The opening cocktail was held and the accreditations were completed at Alfonsina Storni hall on November 25. The presentations were given at Pablo Neruda hall on November 26. Approved by the Scientific Committee (coordinated by Patricia Casey and made up by Víctor Vera, Jorge Vergara and Bettina Galarza), 5 oral and 5 poster presentations were given. During the Symposium, there were other activities such as an invited guest lecture and a Monograph Contest for younger technicians. The Best Monograph award was given to Paula Álvarez. The Symposium was closed with the Round Table mentioned below.

Round Table: “Some aspects of the current problem of tanning effluents” Lecturers: Martín Gelaf, Horacio González, Jorge Garda, María Inés Iribarne and Carlos Gotelli. Coordinator– Moderator: Patricia Casey The presentations were edited in a CD-ROM that was given in a suitcase to attendees, along with all other materials. There were coffee breaks between presentations. There was a total of 145 enrolments and 131 actual attendees. Fifteen sponsors contributed to the Symposium, 4 of which placed their stands. The stands were located at the hall of Pablo Neruda room. Institutions and media from the sector were invited to bring their stands, free of charge. One institution and 5 press media were present.

September 29 and October 7, 2010
Presentations at the Merchant Marine University: “Tanneries in the City of Buenos Aires”. Organized by the University Extension Office. The presentation was aimed at students, professors and the general public. Lecturer: Claudio Salvador.

July 29-31, 2010
1st Conference of the Beef Industry, History and Beef Products in Mataderos: Organized by the civil association Foro de la memoria from Mataderos. Held at Ludavico Macnab José L. Suárez Auditorium. AAQTIC participated with the presentation “Tanneries in Mataderos” given by Claudio Salvador.

Leather Technology Magazine

In this period, we published 4 issues of AAQTIC’s magazine, “Leather Technology” (Tecnología del Cuero): issues no. 70, 71, 72 and 73:

Leather Technology No. 74 - August 2010.
Leather Technology No. 75 – November 2010
Leather Technology No. 76 - April 2011.
Leather Technology No. 77 - June 2011.

This publication continues being managed without any intermediaries, under the coordination of the Magazine’s Committee, without the participation of a publishing company. Companies’ contributions are invoiced and collected directly by AAQTIC.

We maintain the policy of distributing our magazine to companies directly and indirectly related to the sector.

Due to new memberships, exchange or mere diffusion, Leather Technology issues are sent abroad to countries such as Uruguay, Paraguay, Brazil, Mexico, the United States, Spain, Italy, Switzerland, Turkey, India, Japan, the United Kingdom, Peru, Ecuador, Bolivia, Germany and Colombia.

Publication related tasks, such as writing, content selection, proofreading, as well as coordination of suppliers, are carried out by the Magazine’s Committee composed by Patricia Casey, Jorge Vergara, Eduardo Tavani, Víctor Vera, José Barna, Patricio Bigoglio and directed by Claudio Salvador. Their participation is voluntary and on their own expense.

AAQTIC’s Magazine is a member of APTA (Argentine Technical and Specialized Press Association).

On October 28, 2010, APTA held the annual dinner and the “APTA-Rizzuto” award ceremony. Leather Technology was given a distinction award for its 50 years.

Web and Newsletter

The website is constantly updated to inform about all the activities of the Association and those related to the leather industry in general.
The hosting was expended to 10GB.
A new section was created to provide information on the Third Symposium.
 Seven issues of our newsletter were distributed, informing inform of AAQTIC’s news, past and projected activities, etc. via e-mail.
From the very beginning, both the website and the newsletter have been designed by a design studio, but all materials are supplied by AAQTIC.

Library

Subscriptions:
We renewed our subscription to World Leather and Informe Ganadero.
We subscribed to La Industria Cárnica.
We continued to exchange magazines with Brazil, Spain, Italy, Switzerland, Turkey, India, Japan and the United Kingdom.

Books:
By courtesy of CADMIRA, we incorporated the book Artes y Oficios en la Argentina: Dos siglos de trabajo Nacional, by Aracelli Bellota
The following books were donated by Mauricio Herzovich
-XXI Congreso de la IULTCS: Compendio de temas avanzados sobre la Tecnología de Curtido; Volume 1 - AQEIC (Spanish Chemical Association of the Leather Industry).
-XXI Congreso de la IULTCS: Compendio de temas avanzados sobre la Tecnología de Curtidos Volume 2 - AQEIC (Spanish Chemical Association of the Leather Industry).
-XXI Congreso de la IULTCS: Compendio de temas avanzados sobre la Tecnología de Curtidos; Volume 3 - AQEIC (Spanish Chemical Association of the Leather Industry).
-Acabado de la piel; Volume 1 - AQEIC (Spanish Chemical Association of the Leather Industry).
- Acabado de la piel; Volume 2 - AQEIC (Spanish Chemical Association of the Leather Industry).

Membership

The current number of active members is 179. Seven new members have joined the Association.
Four new patron members were enrolled, while 6 were removed from the register.
The total number of patron members is 31.

Miscellaneous

IULTCS (International Union of Leather Technologists and Chemists Societies): the annual membership fee for 2011 was 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), UCA (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.

Building

The restrooms have been refurbished to meet the requirements of the legislation in force, in line with the municipal authorization proceedings started some time ago.

BOARD OF DIRECTORS