Think of how long it takes to pattern, cut and sew a full set of seat covers at your auto upholstery shop. Now consider this: Katzkin Leather Interiors, Inc. boasts a same-day turnaround time and is about to get even faster.
The Los Angeles Times recently published an article highlighting Katzkin’s plans to become even more efficient. According to the article, they’re streamlining their manufacturing process with the recent purchase of a state-of-the-art automated leather-cutting machine.
“The Lectra Versalis cutting machine, recently installed at Katzkin Leather Inc., wastes less leather and requires less energy to run than older versions, said Delgado, an engineer at the Montebello company. But mostly, Delgado loves the speed.
“Twice as fast as the other cutters we have,” Delgado said. “Like magic.”
The LA Times reports the machine costs just over $500K. A hefty sum for sure, although not much when you consider how much Katzkin stands to make this year.
“The company is projecting record sales this year of $73 million, up from $53 million in 2009.”
Impressively, this is just the first phase of Katzkin’s manufacturing expansion plan.
“We have stepped up in technology,” said Mitch Hubbard, Katzkin’s creative director. “We have four other older cutting machines. We are going to phase them out and we’ll be doing twice as much work.”
As previously noted, Katzkin already leads the industry in turnaround time, with their ability to receive a custom order and have it shipped the very same day.
“Every order is made up of 200 parts that have to be cut, combined, sewn, inspected, packed and shipped,” Giddings [marketing vice president] said. “All of that has to take place within several hours.”
This overwhelming task is made possible through Katzkin’s skilled staff of 22 teams of four to six sewers and assemblers who specialize in specific makes and models. This time-proven method allows Katzkin’s employees to churn out 500 to 800 leather interiors a day.
And that’s just the beginning. By utilizing machines like the Lectra Versalis, Katzkin aims to turn around more interiors each day. However, we’ll have to wait and see what the next phase of its expansion plan looks like.
To read the full article, “Katzkin Leather turns to cutting-edge tech to speed car orders” and see a video of the Lectra Versalis in action, check out the LA Times.
That’s funny. Just ordered a kit from them last Monday and it was going to take a week to receive the kit. There is no reason for it to take that long.
That’s actually really quick. One day to cut and sew the pattern and then 4 – 5 days ground shipping.