2023-08-06 18:44:00
The company Hidromet, leader in bathroom and kitchen faucets and accessories, made an investment of more than USD 1 million to expand its production capacity. With financial support from Banco Argentino de Desarrollo BICE and the Crédito Argentino CreAr Program, it incorporated state-of-the-art technology that allows it to launch new products on the market.
The project enables the company to improve its competitiveness and manufacture products that were previously imported from China, which represents an improvement in sales of approximately USD 10 million per year. In addition, the expansion plan includes the opening in the next three years of showrooms in various parts of South America: Rio Grande do Sul (Brazil), Asunción (Paraguay), Montevideo (Uruguay), Santiago (Chile) and Santa Cruz de la Sierra (Bolivia).
The president of BICE, Mariano de Miguel, visited the company’s industrial plant in the Buenos Aires town of San Fernando and met with its owner, Luis Enrique Schamun.
“Today we are learning regarding the investment of a national SME that set out to produce more, generate qualified employment and export once more throughout the region. Another case that shows that the economy is still going and that the CreAr Argentine Credit Program implemented by Sergio Massa and José Ignacio de Mendiguren has a direct impact on companies and their contribution to the country’s development,” said De Miguel.
“In the first semester, 80% of the projects financed by BICE were accompanied by this program that offers long-term loans and a subsidized rate. BICE was one of the first banks to implement it with a total amount of $50,000 million and due to the great demand we had, we expanded that quota by $25,000 million more,” he added.
Hidromet SA is a family business founded in 1980. It has two production plants, one in San Fernando with 6,000m2 and another in San Luis with 8,000m2, and today employs 100 people. “Hidromet is an SME with more than 40 years of history, work and effort. We went through very complex times a few years ago, but today we are committed to investing and growing, we are hopeful. We are going to produce more and better, and we are going to generate new qualified jobs”, advanced Schamun.
With the financial support of the bank We are launching new 100% national products for the segment that we call first price, quality, but cheaper. This will allow us to substitute imports from China for a total amount of approximately USD 10 million per year and to manufacture and sell these faucets in the local market. In addition, we want to return to export to South America, which shows a great demand for these products, with a potential of USD 15 million annually for the company”, he added.
The project is part of a comprehensive investment by the firm that includes the acquisition of a machine from Italy, molds, dies and the generator set to supply it. The equipment is already in the industrial plant and will be operational from next month.
The launch of this new line of single-lever faucets products is aimed at the first price segment, where until now they had no participation and they hope to increase installed capacity by 30% through an improvement in factory efficiency and the reduction of variable production costs of 40%. With everything, the firm plans to achieve a 25% share in the argentine faucet market by the year 2024.
The work was financed with a long-term investment loan from BICE subsidized by the CreAr program. The bank was one of the first entities to implement these credits promoted by the National Government to assist the productive sectors.
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