Mindhive

22/05/2026

20 million hides graded. We had to stop and sit with that for a moment.

It's a big number, but what it really represents is thousands of decisions made faster, more accurately, and with less friction, for the people running tanneries and the teams working the lines globally, every day.

This milestone belongs to every customer who took a chance on a different way of doing things, and every person on our team who made it work.

The leather industry runs on quality. We're making sure that quality is something you can prove.

15/05/2026

A grader with 20 years on the floor carries knowledge that took a career to build. Pattern recognition that no spec sheet captures. That expertise is irreplaceable.

The problem isn't the grader. It's that their call vanishes once the hide moves on. It doesn't travel with the leather. It doesn't reach the customer. It doesn't protect the tannery when a dispute comes back.

The best operations we work with have found a way to keep that expertise and build a record around it. The grader's judgment stays. The decision becomes traceable.

We followed one hide, from a Brazilian cattle station to a Chelsea boot upper, to show exactly why that moment at the grading line determines everything.

Read it here → https://ap1.hubs.ly/y0Sbxf0

29/04/2026

Every leather product you have ever owned passed through a grading line. Most people never think about that moment. We think it's one of the most important in the whole journey.

This World Leather Day, we've published a piece that follows one hide through the leather manufacturing process - from early-stage processing through to the decision that determined what it became. We used a hide from Brazil to tell the story, but the journey is universal.

It's about craft, about the skilled work that has always underpinned this industry, and about what happens in a traditionally manual process when quality can finally be demonstrated rather than assumed.

Today the industry celebrates what leather is. We want to talk about what makes its quality possible.

Read the full story: https://ap1.hubs.ly/y0Pr-S0

Make it leather. Make it worth making.

Follow the journey of a hide from a Brazilian cattle station to a Chelsea boot upper to see why the grading decision at wet-blue is one that matters most.

21/04/2026

The question isn't whether to build the data infrastructure. It's how quickly you can start.

At the APLF Leather Supply Chain Conference, Mindhive COO Ray Connor and JBS Couros Head of Global Quality, Sergio Sfreddo discussed what verified hide data means for large-scale tannery operations, and why the window for early movers is closing. Real conversation, proven at real scale, across 13 sites in Brazil and counting.

Ray's take: “The sooner you start, the sooner you’re going to see the value.”

Watch the clip

17/04/2026

The leather industry grades millions of hides every day. Most of those grading decisions disappear the moment the hide moves down the line. No record. No way to check. No way to prove what was sent matched what was promised.

That's not a technology problem. It's a data problem. And it's been the industry's quiet cost for decades.

When a customer disputes a grade, the conversation defaults to relationship rather than evidence. The tannery that can show its work wins that conversation. Most can't.

That's the gap we work in. We're building the evidence layer the industry needs.

08/04/2026

If you missed the Leather Supply Chain Conference at APLF last month, this is worth catching up on.

Sergio Sfreddo Head of Global Quality at JBS Couros, joined our COO Connor on the panel to share first-hand insights from deploying AI-powered grading technology across their operations. Hearing the practical realities directly from the people running it at that scale made for a genuinely informative session.

The full discussion is now on our YouTube channel: https://ap1.hubs.ly/y0K_Zv0

What does it actually take to standardize quality across ten wet-blue sites, multiple shifts, and millions of hides a year? In this panel from the Leather Su...

29/03/2026

Sergio Sfreddo (Head of Global Quality, JBS Couros) and our COO Ray Connor sat down for an exclusive panel conversation with Martin Ricker from ILM to talk through their AI grading rollout across Brazilian sites at APLF.

Some things that stood out:

The defect catalog from their US pilot had 16-20 classes. Brazilian hides needed 30+. Then regional variation within Brazil meant each site needed its own adjustments. They weren't designing for one site, they were designing for ten.

Sergio expected resistance from graders, which didn't happen. Their role shifted from being checked by supervisors to monitoring the system.

They're nearly done with phase one (consistent grading across all sites). Phase two (intelligent order fulfillment) is what verified hide data makes possible: cross-checking inventory against orders, optimized allocation, eliminating re-inspection.

Ray's advice for other tanneries: start sooner, but invest in the design phase first. "That work is harder to rush than it looks, and skipping it costs more later."

Worth reading if you're thinking about this path:

JBS Couros shares their AI leather grading journey across 10 Brazilian sites with Mindhive Global. Exclusive APLF 2026 panel.

26/03/2026

At the Leather Supply Chain Conference ahead of APLF recently, our CEO James Bayly set the scene with a question the industry keeps circling: what happens when quality information stays trapped in silos?

The answer is that margins walk out the door. You send better product than you have to, just to avoid claims coming back.

That framing set up the conversation that followed.

Our COO, Ray Connor joined Sergio Sfreddo, Head of Global Quality at JBS Couros, for an exclusive panel with Martin Ricker of International Leather Maker. They walked through what it actually looks like to roll out AI grading across 10 wet-blue sites in Brazil. What worked, what surprised them, and where verified hide data is taking JBS next.

Beyond the panel, the day covered important ground for the industry. The LCA science that shows leather is being judged by a flawed standard. The new traceability standard thats been years in the making. A third-generation tanner making the case that producing leather from every hide is a habit the industry can no longer afford.

Seven sessions. Three threads running through all of them: leather is losing on methodology, not merit. Technology is not the obstacle. And quality data is the foundation everything else depends on.

The industry has the tools. The question is whether it moves towards implementing them.

We’ve put together all the highlights in our recap blog: https://ap1.hubs.ly/y0JC1h0

The Leather Supply Chain Conference at APLF 2026 brought quality, traceability, and sustainability into one conversation. Here's what the industry said.

08/03/2026

At APLFs Leather Supply Chain Conference 2026, Sergio Sfreddo from JBS Couros will walk through how they've implemented Mindhive’s AI powered grading across 13 sites in Brazil. Our COO Connor joins him for a customer-led conversation about the journey: what drove the decision, the operational reality of transformation at scale, and how verified hide data is changing the way they work.

Leather Supply Chain Conference, March 11th, 12:30pm at APLF Hong Kong.

If you're not registered yet, the link is in the comments. If you'd rather meet privately during APLF, reach out to Ray.

01/03/2026

We're proud to be a lead sponsor of APLFs Leather Supply Chain Conference 2026, and there's a reason we wanted to be part of this.

The industry is resetting. The tanneries that will lead are the ones building their operations on verified data: consistent, credible, traceable, precise. Quality that can be proven at every stage of the value chain.

That's the conversation we're here to have. On March 11, we'll share how the world's largest leather processor is doing exactly that.

Beyond our panel with JBS Couros and International Leather Maker, we'll be at the event throughout. If you want to talk about what this looks like for your operation, come find James Bayly, Connor, Blaine Ah Yuk-Winters or reach out to arrange a meeting.

See you in Hong Kong next month. 🇭🇰