Headquartered in Castelfranco di Sotto (Pisa province), Finikem launched last fall a new range of water-repellent and oleophobic products, completely devoid of fluorocarbon resins. Here is our interview with the firm’s general director, Emanuele Rappa.
At FINIKEM, firm based in Castelfranco di Sotto (Pisa province), just a kilometre away from the industrial area of Santa Croce sull’Arno, future has already begun. Established in 1990 and specialized in the making and sales of leather finishing chemicals for the tanning sector, the Tuscan enterprise has literally “rounded the corner” after the launch, last fall, of a new range of waterrepellent, oleophobic articles, devoid of fluoro-carbon resins, via the new, cutting-edge method called FINIDRY.
For FINIKEM – company belonging to Lapi Group, a world leader in the tanning market, featuring four enterprises specialized in the tanning chemistry field -, this is a strategy that helps keep a step ahead of competitors, thus focusing well in advance of the new regulations for the upcoming future. We broached this topic (that is, current and future projects) with Emanuele Rappa, general director since 2020 (“I joined the firm one week before Covid lockdown, a timely choice,” joked Rappa); previously, for approximately ten years, he dealt with environmental hygiene services and plastics recycling, with both management and executive tasks.
“I have joined a Group,” stated Rappa, whom we met at the beginning of February, “that, for over seventy years, has been a major player in the tanning industry, able to encompass all the divisions, from basic chemistry to finishing. Basically, we deal with the whole leather tanning supply chain, including the processing of by-products for the making of gelatines, the latter a sector characterized by a recent takeover in Spain. The Group manages the entire value chain when it comes to leather.”
What is your role played by FINIKEM inside the Group?
“Since we are involved in finishing procedures, we are placed in the segment closer to the end market, that is, the fashion world: it is our task to prepare leathers to be processed and turned into a bag, a shoe, a garment or a furnishing item. Historically speaking, the firms belonging to the group have always had fairly autonomous sales policies, but now, together with the management, we are striving to bring them together so as to generate value and critical mass: present and future are now tied to large-sized players, a small size can turn into a limit rather than an asset. Hence, we are cooperating to join forces, even though we are aware that we provide vastly different products and activities.”
As far as the global market is concerned, what is FINIKEM’s position?
“We supply solutions and systems rather than products. Finishing is deeply tied to technical assistance, both in Italy and abroad, not to a simple catalogue: more precisely, we sell specialties per kilo, and not commodities per ton or hundredweight, thus dealing with highly expensive raw materials.”
Your company has always shown a thorough commitment to research, a feat that has led to the launch of several cutting-edge innovations…
“It is part of our core values, given that finishing is the true flagship when it comes to innovations, new developments and trends. We have always invested in this field, especially sustainability-wise. Hence why, thanks to in-depth R&D projects, we try not only to launch new products, but also to upgrade the properties of those very same articles, by adding increasingly eco-friendly raw materials. In terms of outer appearance, our products may look the same, while we have improved their inner core, featuring a lower quantity of metals and a lower environmental impact.”
Acknowledged as one of your flagships, what can you tell us about the Free-Metal range?
“It is a line launched in the past, but that, in between 2020 and 2021,underwent a thorough reorganization, so as to guarantee top-notch properties as well as an even lower amount of metals compared to the fairly satisfying levels of the previous line. The ultimate goal is to meet the increasingly strict specifications put forth by the most prominent fashion brands. A commitment that does not go to the detriment of reliability and quality standards.”
Recently, you launched an even more innovative solution: what is it about?
“Last October, we launched the new FINIDRY line, that is, a group of waterrepellent, oleophobic products, totally devoid of any fluoro-carbon resins: technology-wise, this is a highly innovative range featuring four articles. Three solvent-based solutions, while the fourth one, called “Finidry Idro-Oil Water”, is water-based and is highly interesting. It is a line of metal-free, biodegradable products that we are currently testing and that is getting positive feedback from both domestic and foreign customers.”
According to your corporate philosophy, why will this range of products manage to catch the clientele’s interest?
“Because, by now, it is clear that the market in heading down towards that direction, pushed by eco-friendly brands. It is widely believed that fluoro-carbon resins will be most likely banned in the upcoming future in the textile sector, a measure that will be applied to the leather industry too. Therefore, companies will be forced to use innovative solutions; nevertheless, we strongly believe that are already brands and firms featuring a strong environmental awareness, already interested in the purchase of said articles for the finishing phase.”
Are you ready to face this new “era”?
“Actually, we have taken a further step forward, by adding the aforementioned products in the corporate catalogue: we are making “samples” and we are selling them not only in Italy, but worldwide as well, via the support of several distributors, thus registering a satisfying response. Obviously, these articles’ price is considerably higher compared to “standard solutions” used up to now. And that’s because they boast top-notch technological properties, the result of complex processing techniques featuring higher costs in terms of raw materials purchasing and of manufacturing cycle.”
For two years, global economy has been slowed down by the health pandemic, what is your assessment of the situation?
“Currently, our turnover is divided between an export share, 55%, and the domestic market share, the remaining 45%. This is not a surprise for us, given that the majority of our revenues proceed from abroad, especially China, India, South America, Mexico, as well as Europe. Our network encompasses approximately twenty countries and, in 2021, export results were more satisfying, as we registered higher growth and recovery margins abroad rather than in Italy. As for the domestic area, our turnover revolves largely around the Santa Croce district. As it happened to many other companies, Covid deeply affected our business; nevertheless, in 2020, we did not sit back: we developed an app, designed to give to Italian customers the opportunity to place their orders via mobile phone or PC. Furthermore, we studied and reorganized the furnishing line: originally, it was conceived for the Chinese market, but, given that we had no chance to go there physically to promote it, we ended selling it in South Africa, Europe and Italy.”
Emanuele Rappa, Finikem’s general director
FINIKEM AMONG THE PARTNERS OF THE TUSCAVIA PROJECT
There is also FINIKEM, company headquartered in Castelfranco di Sotto, among the partners involved in the Tuscavia Project, kicked off in 2021 and that will reach its conclusion by the end of the year: its goal lies in the production of active components derived from plant-based raw materials, available on the Tuscan local territory, and featuring antibacterial, antifungal and antiviral functions, suitable to be used in several end sectors. Funded directly by the Tuscany Region, this initiative allows to develop extraction processes of bioactive compounds, with the help of silicon predictive models, so as to guarantee an alternative to traditional chemical synthesis processes. The project will lead to the opening of a cutting-edge pilot system for smart extraction, a versatile and dynamic facility, in line with the Industry 4.0 strategies, and to the production of extracts that will be tested in plenty of application fields. Thanks to the collaboration between different types of enterprises and research hubs, the chemical-physical, nutritional, therapeutic properties of said articles will be assessed thoroughly.
Tuscavia is managed via an innovative digital 4.0 platform made and approved within the project itself, in order to monitor the setting accuracy applied to Research & Development, to the contractual formalization of collaboration relations and to the filing of patents for every project result achieved. The list of partners includes the Pisa University as well, with the involvement of the Pharmacy department and of the Translational Research and New Technologies in Medicine and Surgery faculty.
“This project,” explained Emanuele Rappa, “features the participation of Tuscan firms operating in different sectors, ours is the only enterprise representing the leather field. We have chosen to fully embrace this initiative, since it is a cutting-edge, high-tech activity. As far as we are concerned, production scraps proceeding from the Tuscan agro-alimentary supply chain, if properly processed, can become part of our products as antibacterial excipients and preservatives. We believe that this research field will pay off: it is an interesting, beautiful initiative that brings together, on the one hand, the tradition of the Tuscan agriculture’short supply chain and, on the other, technological innovation that helps recycle its by-products in eco-friendly, value-added applications.”
