Belgian automotive supplier, ECA says it has achieved hide efficiency of up to 80% using Lectra's Versalis cutting solution.

ECA changed from die cutting to automation, with the former process necessitating cutter blades taking weeks to produce and having to be changed for each new car programme.

Go deeper with GlobalData

Premium Insights

The gold standard of business intelligence.

Find out more

Related Company Profiles

View all

"Before working with Lectra, we used die cutters," said ECA business manager, Lode Garmyn. "That was not so flexible because, for every model, you needed to have the right cutting knives."

By adopting automated cutting, ECA adds it "significantly scaled back start-up time while also eliminating OEM tooling costs," making the firm more attractive to its customers.

The automated Lectra leather cutting system also allowed ECA to implement automatic nesting enabling zero-buffer cutting. "A worker cannot nest the knives as efficiently as a computer," noted Garmyn.

See Also:

"Once we switched from die cutters to the first Lectra solution, we saw an improvement of 10%. When we were using the dies, we were at 60% of efficiency of hides.

How well do you really know your competitors?

Access the most comprehensive Company Profiles on the market, powered by GlobalData. Save hours of research. Gain competitive edge.

Company Profile – free sample

Thank you!

Your download email will arrive shortly

Not ready to buy yet? Download a free sample

We are confident about the unique quality of our Company Profiles. However, we want you to make the most beneficial decision for your business, so we offer a free sample that you can download by submitting the below form

By GlobalData
Visit our Privacy Policy for more information about our services, how we may use, process and share your personal data, including information of your rights in respect of your personal data and how you can unsubscribe from future marketing communications. Our services are intended for corporate subscribers and you warrant that the email address submitted is your corporate email address.

"Now we've increased that to 70% to 80%. On the manpower side, we see that Versalis allows for a higher output with the same personnel. ECA is now moving from labour-intensive to technology-intensive processes."

Field engineers make regular visits to the premises, while technical experts have improved overall efficiency by recommending training to develop proficiency in Lectra software usage and hide marking.

"Between the first Lectra solution and the Versalis, we saw another 4% to 6% improvement," said Garmyn.

"Once Lectra's experts assessed our cutting room processes, we gained another 8% to 10% in material usage."