Laurent Muzica started working in the tannery Carriat in 2000. After finishing his military duties, he was looking for a job and the job was offered by an interim company. He knew nothing of the field and his first impression was not grand. Premises were old, machines were impressive and noisy, handling them was difficult. The first contact was not the stuff dreams are made of and work didn’t seem really attractive.

However, Laurent has now been working in the tannery for 14 years and while his first wish was to obtain an unlimited contract and good wages, he now really wish to stay. Through the years he saw and took part in the modernisation of workshops and production processes.

Laurent works at currying. After going through different workshops, he is now foreman and, although he sometimes also work on his own, he handles a team of six, monitoring the follow-up of hides in his workshop, making sure his colleagues work well together.

His job is very important in the production process because delays are increasingly shorter and customers more demanding.

Guided by the size of the batches that come out of the drying station after dyeing, he works on various machines (sander, palisson, vacuum plate and study), organises teamshifts and works in direct contact with the production manager. He also takes care of drums and “turbulents” all across the production process, making sure that leather is soft and smooth.

The main difficulty in Laurent’s job is to set up the day’s schedule in order to proper coordinate work between various operators in keeping with production priorities and urgent requests from the trade department, in direct contact with customers.

Laurent is proud of his work as he learned it on the spot. Thanks to his older colleagues, their advice and know-how, Laurent has succeeded in understanding how production works, how to anticipate problems and set up an adjusted schedule while keeping the working environment as friendly as he likes it to be. He loves the complexity of his work and how subtle it is when customers must be satisfied with impeccable products.

To complement his experience, Laurent has followed a CTC (Centre Technique du Cuir, Lyon) training that was both interesting and pleasant. It gave him a global vision while teaching him specifics of leather manufacturing, a material he has learned to know and understand.