The company was established in 1938 by Ruggiero Cortellino as Cortelgomma, a small workshop where shoes were manufactured using the tyres of military trucks for the soles and military uniforms for the uppers. The founder’s passion and enterprise let the small workshop turn into a company in few years, producing hundreds of pairs per day, distributed all over Italy.
In 1983 the company became COFRA which is now managed by Giuseppe Cortellino, the founder’s son, and the internationalization process has begun.
COFRA keeps on growing thanks to a wise and innovative management, which has led it to become a leader in the safety footwear market as well as a well-known brand in Europe and all over the world.
Since 2004 diversification and product increase has started.
Giuseppe Cortellino - Managing Director OUR DATES
1938 Cortelgomma was born
1983 Cortelgomma became COFRA
1989 The beginning of the Safety division
1997 COFRA, the first footwear manufacturer in Italy to obtain UNI EN ISO 9001 Quality System Certificate
2003 the beginning of international market expansion outside UE (Middle East, Eastern Europe, Australia, Canada, USA)
2004 the beginning of the Workwear division
2004 establishment of COFRA USA
2008 D&B rating 1 company recognition, acknowledgment for highest creditworthiness, still confirmed
2011 protective gloves collection is launched
2012 protective masks collection is launched
2013 protective glasses collection is launched
2016 personal fall protection equipment is launched
OUR NUMBERS
Head office in Barletta
645,000 ft² total area
415,000 ft² covered surface
330,000 ft² stock surface
400 employees
7,000 linked industry employes
26,000 units sold everyday (footwear, workwear, dozens of gloves, dozens of protective glasses and masks)
Factory sited in Albania
430,000 ft² total area
325,000 ft² covered surface
1,800 people directly employed
10,000 pairs of footwear produced every day
COFRA controls all the whole production process, to grant high quality standard.
Production progress begins with the purchase of raw materials, selected with care and subjected to internal tests before accepting to verify the compliance with quality standard.
Raw materials warehouse
LABORATORIES
Laboratory test: two internal laboratories, chemical and physical which test both raw materials and finished product, to be certified by authorized Bodies.
Physical laboratory
PRODUCTION SITE
1,100 people directly employed in the production of shoe uppers.
600 people directly employed in the application of soles.
Nine direct injection rotating machineries are handled and adapted to each production demand, with the aid of implemented and integrated anthropomorphic robots. Three rotating machineries are dedicated to production of rubber and TPU sole up to 4 colours.
Production of rubber soles
Production of TPU soles
In the plant in Barletta there is an innovative department dedicated to the production of rubber/polyurethane boots made of excellent quality and technology. One rotating machinery produces polyurethane boots and the other one produces PVC boots.
Production of polyurethane boots
Production of PVC boots
Finishing and packaging department. During packaging, further controls are carried out to guarantee the quality of finished product.
100 people employed in two production lines of workclothing in cutting, wrapping and packaging operations.
In an extraordinarly efficient semiautomatic warehouse of 330,000 ft², managed according to the newest logistic standards, everyday we arrange shipments up to 15,000 pairs of footwear, 6,000 pieces of workwear, 5,000 units consisting of gloves dozens, masks dozens, and eyewear.
AUTOMATED AUTOSTORE SYSTEM WITH INTEGRATED PACKAGING LINE
To provide the best possible service to our customers with minimum processing times and extreme precision in the preparation of orders, the company has recently introduced an important autostore system of 18,000 ft2, with a high storage capacity, which works with the picking strategy “goods to man”.
33 robots, in a totally automated way, pick up the items required for each order.
The operators compose the cartons on 6 workstations and put them back in the automation phase, which consists of an integrated packaging line, where the following phases take place: weight, taping, volume calculation, labelling, closing and sealing. Finally, the operator’s intervention allows the sorting of cartons for the shipment.
Weight and volume are checked to verify compliance with theoretical data and then they are mentioned on the label. In case of discrepancy, the carton is discarded and double-checked.
Operators are equipped with a finger barcode scanner that guarantees smooth operation while keeping their hands free.
To ensure the best ergonomics and comfortable work spaces free from obstacles, the cartons, only when directed towards the operators, come down from an initial height of 3.20 m to 65 cm, which is the optimal height.
SHIPPING PLATFORM
