The manufacturer of the ‘Supertite’ glue has already incorporated the manufacture of containers into its Spanish plant. Next year will also bring tails.
The Unecol group, manufacturer of adhesives and glues, is immersed in an investment process to relocate all its manufacturing in the central facilities, located in Almussafes (Valencia).
The company has two main divisions, with their corresponding brands: Unecol, aimed at the professional plumbing segment, and Supertite, aimed at consumers, and which is distributed 80% through the multi-price channel and the rest in retailers, such as hardware stores.
In 2020 the group acquired Chubb from Murcia, with which it has entered the cleaning sector, and which also moved its production to Almussafes last year.
The group was one of the first to outsource to China, in 2006, but the current situation makes it advisable to bring the entire process back to Spain, as explained by its general manager, Carlos Gómez.
For this reason, last year it invested two million euros in two production lines with which it brings 80% of its Chinese production to Spain, mainly plastic blisters. Now the packaging has been modified to make it in Almussafes and cardboard.
This transfer will be followed, next year, by the rest of the manufacturing, which are some white glues, will require the installation of another manufacturing line, and an investment of around one million euros. “In this way, all our adhesives will already be made in Spain”.
With this, the current workforce of 105 people will be expanded with another ten workers.
Gómez points out that the strategy of bringing production closer responds not only to a financial issue -although he recognizes that the manufacturing that is now being proposed in Spain is more profitable-, but also to sustainability criteria, with the reduction of transport. He adds that the supplies of very specific parts or materials that continue to be imported are moving closer and closer to countries in Europe or North Africa.
In Almussafes, the group settled in 2007, and has a surface area of 22,000 square metres, in which it still has the capacity to expand its production.
Gómez explains that the group is not thinking about acquisitions, although the purchase of a company in the chemical sector is not ruled out.
The Unecol group had a turnover of 28 million euros last year -two million contributed by the acquisition of Chubb-, compared to 21 million the previous year. This year, the budget points to a turnover of around 30 million, according to Carlos Gómez.
It also details that in the professional channel, half of its production is marketed under its own brand and the rest in co-manufacturing for other brands.
The manager explains that the latest cost increases have increased the cost of its main raw material, solvents, which have doubled their price. Although they are adjusting their margins, he acknowledges that they have applied an average price increase of 20%.