Guatemala, Plastilene Group’s formula for growth in Central America

Since we started in Guatemala, we have come a long way. Today we have a modern factory, with state-of-the-art technology, enviable equipment and a market that covers the region from Mexico to Panama.

It all started when we were looking for green marble quarries.

In the 1990s, our CEO attended a marble fair in Verona, Italy. There, a mining machinery supplier put him in touch with some North Americans who were thinking of investing in green marble quarries in Guatemala.

He decided to travel to Guatemala but, while there, plans changed. He did not partner with North Americans, but with a local marble supplier. From that moment on, a tablet plant was built on a lot adjacent to their plant. Both reached North American market, promoting and marketing the products of both plants.

What about packaging?

While in Guatemala, we began to investigate and found great opportunities for Plastilene. In the words of our CEO, Stefano Pacini:

“It was clear to us that in that region there was not so much development in the packaging world and that we had good products to offer, so we sent a salesman with the following mandate: Develop the market in Central America and see what comes out.”

He succeeded! When there was enough volume we decided to send the first used machines. The first markets we approached were those of staple foods such as water, soft drinks, sugar, etc.

In a short time we were local

Our culture of respect, appreciation and trust was very well received.

Contrary to what we were told that it was difficult to have educated employees in Guatemala, we set ourselves the challenge of training them. For this reason, we developed internal programs so that our team would have at least a high school diploma. Today, many of them are technologists, professionals and even master’s degree holders.

Currently

Technofilms has been in Guatemala for approximately 17 years. We are the second largest company in the Group and we have state-of-the-art German and Italian technology. Since we started our operations we have sought the best performance of the packaging for our customers, this includes:

• Gauge reduction without neglecting stability in product processes.
• Reduction of grammage thanks to foaming technology
• Enhancing mono-materials

We have been extruders of flexible film all our lives, but now, thanks to the support, geographical coverage and experience of the entire Group, we also develop other structures.

Our experience in Guatemala has allowed us to conclude that sustainability is not always costly.