10 years of Fort Paletes and new plans of 100% growth until 2014
Easily accessing reforested raw material, once our plant is located at Itararé, largest reforestation area at São Paulo State, joining a dynamic and optimized production and administrative teams and applying most advanced technologies during production processes, Fort Paletes reaches its 10th foundation anniversary projecting operation´s growth for the near future. The goal is 100% expansion in the next five years.
According to Marcelo Canozo, Fort Paletes CEO, the first action is improving the production capacity, jumping from 3.500 pallets to 5.500 pallets a Day pursuing the goal of reducing the production/delivery cycle to 12 hours.
The budget planned to this expansion reaches € 1, 5 million, always considering that more than money, this challenge will demand lots of energy, dedication and faith! "Once Fort Paletes reached its 10th anniversary, the efforts now are get prepared for the 2nd decade challenges. Among some of our efforts, the ISO 9000 certification and equipment update are top priority”, says Canozo. Today Fort Paletes is really close to produce 1.000.000 pallets yearly.
Our growth efforts are precisely calculated besides the economy turbulences, and we strongly support our investments based on customers highly satisfied with our delivering agility, quality and environment respect.
"Cacau Show has chosen Fort Paletes as supplier because we share common believes as environment protection, and best products offer”, says Alexandre Tadeu da Costa, CEO. Cacau Show is the largest food franchiser in Brazil.
The agility on delivering high quality pallets, at the right time, with the right amount, according to customers demand, is a differential, according to Marcelo Canozo. Victor Hugo Figueiroa Soares, logistics analyst of Prysmian Cabos e Sistemas do Brasil Ltd attests: "After choosing Fort Paletes pallets we experienced no more delivering delays, and the pallets quality reached patterns never seen before”.
Tradition
Canozo name is deeply related to wood pallets production in Brazil, known as one of the pioneers. For decades, Canozo Madeiras was one of the largest pallets manufacturer in Brazil. 10 years ago, Augusto Cesar Canozo Júnior, 35 years old, and Marcelo Canozo, 32 years old, experienced since teens while working at Canozo Madeiras, founded Fort Paletes, an independent company, and kept track of history at Itararé – SP.
"We´ve chosen Itararé because the city is surrounded by the largest reforestation area in São Paulo State, and also close to the largest economic centers of South and Southeast Brazil´s”, says Augusto Cesar Canozo Júnior. At that moment the two entrepreneurs established local partnerships with suppliers and logistics companies assuring the best results. "We made our choice considering that we could reduce costs and become more competitive”, remembers Marcelo Canozo, a 32 years old executive that runs the company.
At the beginning the challenges were the same of any new company. Production capacity was not so expressive, neither the plant size: manufacturing was placed in a 500m2 area with few machines. “In order to outcome all limitations we´ve adopted the motto: we will expand, and to be capable of doing in the best way, we must be quality driven! We must improve our product quality, day after day; “that was our belief and our first commitment”, remembers Marcelo Canozo.
The strategy succeeded and today Fort Paletes has 100 employees and expanded its plant to 3.500 m², inside a 10.800 m² site at Itararé industrial zone. As an example that we never stop, we continuously renew our manufacturing equipments, sawn timber kilns and etc, says Canozo.
Fort Paletes is committed with environmental sustainability employing just reforested woods during manufacture. All suppliers are FSC certified, and the manufacturing plant recycles 100% of its disposals.
New trends on location
Ahead of market innovations, Fort Paletes offers a new business model where customers can rent non-returnable wood pallets. "The concept is very similar to financial leasing, offering the customers a very competitive business alternative”.
Concerned with wood pallets industries future, Fort Paletes is affiliated to ABRAPAL (Brazilian PBR pallets manufacturers association) and its CEO, Marcelo Canozo, was recently elected association´s chairman for the second time within 6 years. The association represents the Brazilian manufacturers, preserving ethics and quality.
