Emile Janique featured on TV5 Monde: our expertise in manufacturing leather seals and bellows
In 2018, the Tendance XXI programme on TV5 Monde came to film a report in our workshop in Reyrieux, in the Ain. The programme is dedicated to French creativity and to the expertise that transforms its sector. Each week, its journalists travel across France to meet the craftspeople and manufacturers who do something different. They found us. And they spent a day filming our way of working leather, from cutting to shaping, via skiving and hide treatment. The report can be viewed from the 21st minute onwards.
Leather seal and bellow manufacturer since 1893: what TV5 Monde came to film
Yann Fèvre, our manager, welcomed the TV5 Monde team to talk about what we do and why we still do it. He told them about the history of leather in industry, its applications on the Eiffel Tower, about the leather seals that keep France's largest dams operating and about the expertise we have been preserving for more than 130 years. The programme takes you through our workshop and shows you all the manufacturing stages of a leather bellow. The cutting of the hide, the skiving, the treatment, the shaping on a wooden mould. Gestures we have been repeating since 1893 and which very few manufacturers in Europe still master.
Leather seals and bellows on the Eiffel Tower and French dams: our references speak for themselves
In the report, Yann Fèvre mentions two applications that illustrate better than any speech the reliability of our leather seals and bellows. First, the Eiffel Tower, for which we have supplied leather parts for its mechanisms. Then, France's major dams, some of which have been operating with our leather seals for decades. These applications do not tolerate failures. A part that fails on a dam is a critical infrastructure that stops. Our parts hold because we choose the right materials, work them correctly and manufacture them with the same rigour for more than 130 years.
Leather forgotten by engineers: what Yann Fèvre raises in the report
In the programme, Yann Fèvre says something that perfectly sums up the problem we regularly encounter with our clients: "Engineers are no longer taught about leather. Today, we are capable of manufacturing objects at a very significant extra cost because we no longer know that leather exists." This is a reality we live in our workshop. Clients come to us with complex sealing problems for which they have tried several synthetic materials without success. Often, the leather solution resolves the problem quickly, without significant tooling costs and at a price that polymers cannot achieve on small series. Leather is not a material of the past. It is a material that engineers stopped learning about even though it still solves many problems that synthetics cannot.
The manufacturing stages of a leather bellow in our workshop
The report shows you concretely how we manufacture a leather bellow in our workshop. Here is what you can observe.
We begin with hide selection and cutting. We primarily purchase bull and ox hides of at least four years old, thicker and more resistant than young hides. The cutting is done to the exact dimensions of the part to be manufactured.
We then carry out skiving, an operation that consists of thinning the leather where necessary to obtain the exact thickness required by the application.
The leather then goes through our treatment stage. Depending on the application, we apply our Janiflon treatment based on fluorinated resins to make the leather hydrophobic, or other treatments according to your working environment constraints.
Finally comes the shaping on wooden mould. The leather is hand-formed on the mould to obtain the exact geometry of the bellow. This is where our 130 years of expertise make all the difference. Leather well-formed on the right mould gives a part that holds its dimensions and lasts over time.
An artisanal expertise recognised as Entreprise du Patrimoine Vivant
What TV5 Monde came to film is an expertise that the French State recognised by awarding us the Entreprise du Patrimoine Vivant (EPV) label. This label identifies companies that hold an excellence in artisanal and industrial expertise in France. We are also certified ISO 9001 and ISO 14001, the only ones in Europe to hold both certifications for the production of leather seals and bellows. This means that every part we deliver to you is manufactured within a documented and traceable quality framework. Not only because a standard requires it. Because it is our way of working since 1893.
Do you need leather seals or bellows for your application?
You have watched the report and you wonder whether leather can meet your sealing need? Send us your application. We will look at your need and tell you quickly whether leather is the right solution, in which material and within what lead time we can deliver. No minimum quantity. No tooling costs. Single unit or large series, we manufacture everything in our workshop in Reyrieux.