Tikur Abay Shoes Share Company commenced trial production of ‘safety shoes’ designed for industrial wear as of last month.
The manufacturer installed new machinery from German Company, DESMA at a cost of 1.1 million US dollars.
Tikur Abay had floated the international bid for the supply of the machinery required to the manufacture the safety shoes in 2009.
Although Anbessa shoe factory has began the manufacture of safety shoes a couple of months ago, Tikur Abay is claiming that its place as a pioneer due to its use of direct injection technology.Direct injection refers to the manner whereby the upper parts of the shoes is attached to the soles which is essential to the construction of air tight safety shoes according to Hailekiros Debesay, Shoe Manufacturing Technology Directorate Director with the Leather Industry Development Institute.
Ethiopia used to import ‘safety shoes’ with an estimated 151 tons of such footwear imported in the 2009-10 fiscal year at a cost of 501,210 US dollars and 173 tons valuing 647,730 US dollars imported the previous budget year.
Safety shoes are designed to protect feet from accidents in industrial settings as well as offering insulation to extreme weather and electricity as well as being water resistant as per the standards set by the International Organization for Standardization.
Tikur Abay is at present exporting its products to countries such as Burundi, Canada, Italy, Rwanda North Sudan, South Sudan, Uganda and the United States with management planning to increase exports by 23% this financial year.
Tikur Abay has not disclosed at what price it will market its line of ‘Safety shoes’ although indicating that the price will be less than the 800-1900 birr range of the imported equivalents.
Source: Addis Fortune
