 Holambra, Brazil
January 28, 2000
INCOTEC America do Sul Ltda., the
newest Incotec facility, was inaugurated today in Holambra, Brazil.
The ceremony was attended by Mr.
Antonio Marino Brandão de Alemeida, Mayor of the Municipality
of Holambra, Alejandro Rodriguez-Graue (President,  Seminis
Vegetable Seeds), Jan Willem Breukink (General Manager, Incotec
Worldwide), Henk Satter (General Manager, Incotec Brasil), and more
than 150 distinguished guests, including many INCOTEC customers.
INCOTEC had started exploring the South
American markets in the mid-eighties with trials organised together
with the Christians Family, today known as NIKITA Seeds & Plants,
located in Holambra Brazil. In the early nineties, these trials
resulted in commercial productions for Brazil, and later also for
Chile and Argentina. The market for lettuce and tobacco grew rapidly
in the following years and the volumes to be shipped from Brazil to
Holland and vice versa increased significantly.
 At
that time, we knew that Brazil was and would stay the biggest market
in that region. Other markets are important but relatively small
compared to the enormous market of Brazil. So a choice for Brazil was
easily made and we concentrated on the area in which the lettuce,
tobacco and other vegetables play an important role.
During the period of November 98 until
February 99, we explored several sites in the São Paulo state area
which could be optional places to put up a factory of Incotec. The
most important issues to screen were the reliability of operations
with regards to electricity, telephone, and other infrastructure
needs, the agricultural environment, the benefits and level of support
that could be expected from the local municipality, and the level of
education of people in the area. We found our best options in the
Holambra area, which also happenes to have a rich history with the
Dutch.
 From
January 99 onwards, an engineering team became active to realise the
set-up of this facility from blueprint to factory. We had a huge task
to realise this in less than 9 months, since we wanted to be
operational in October 99. The team made sure that a project plan was
put together in which this demand was expressed based upon facts and
commitments from suppliers, constructors etc.
In June 99 we saw the initiating of the
foundation of a pre-cast structure. Despite some minor delays,
construction proceeded on schedule. After very turbulent months of
construction, imports, supplies etc., we were able to declare the
facility "operational" on October 20th 1999.
Meanwhile, for several positions, we
selected people that met our high standards for this market in terms
of commitment, commitment to customer service, and technical skills.
Many of them went to Holland for training. Our pelleters stayed almost
3 months to be fully trained and well prepared for the needs of our
South American customers. On top of that we had some exchange of
skilled people from Holland to do the same on the spot. This procedure
will continue until the required level of Incotec skills has
been achieved.
The factory and its logistic set-up are
prepared initially to produce all lettuce and tobacco coming from
South America. In a second phase, it is easy to add a new building
which can cope with all needs of the continent. Expansion will take
place whenever the volumes are getting too high and the diversity of
products will increase.
 The
weather on inauguration day was beyond expectation. We welcomed a
bright and sunny day. The number of visitors reached a level of
approximately 150-160, including many of our customers. The official
program started with a number of speeches by Antonio Marino Brandão
de Alemeida, Mayor of the Municipality of Holambra, Alejandro
Rodriguez-Graue (President, Seminis Vegetable Seeds), Jan Willem
Breukink (General Manager, Incotec Worldwide), and Henk Satter
(General Manager, Incotec Brasil). We continued with a tour of the
factory and showed the people the main part of it. We experienced a
very pleasant exchange of information and had the impression that
people were very satisfied with the plant, information and atmosphere.
After concluding the tour we went to a restaurant in Holambra in which
we enjoyed a well prepared buffet in an informal atmosphere.
We concluded the day and were happy to
see that all preparations delivered a very good impression to our
guests. We want to thank our customers, suppliers, colleagues and
family for joining us.
Company news release
N2443 |
