We conquered the North American market!

For a demanding market, with a highly developed local packaging industry dominated by large multinationals, the sustainable and customized developments we have are a great competitive advantage.

We went beyond the usual technical conversation

The vision of high production efficiency added to the experience, technology and knowledge acquired in our markets in Colombia, Guatemala and Ecuador allowed us to reach North American market with innovative proposals and, sometimes, with exclusive proposals that had never been marketed there before.

It was not always so easy. Five years ago, in the United States, sustainability in packaging was a complex issue to assimilate; customers did not see it as an alternative. Therefore, when we opened North American market in Florida, and after several conversations with our customers, we had to adjust the strategy thinking about the functionality of the packaging, its barrier, the weight ratio and, finally, that it was economically viable.

A year later everything changed. Those same customers called us with a lot of interest asking about the issues we had previously raised, including incorporation of recycling, density reduction technology and life cycle analysis. So much value did they see in what we offer that we went from being outsiders to being officially in charge of their products sustainability.

Ninety percent of the product development projects we have taken on in North American market today involve sustainability, thanks to our comprehensive approach to the Sustainable Innovation Strategy.

Knowledge sharing with our customers

When we first began to have a presence in North American market, our suppliers were the ones who opened doors for us to contact potential customers, they recommended us when the local market had limitations for customized development, either by technology or volume, they presented us as an innovative group willing to listen and understand the needs to develop customized solutions.

The result? We have earned the opportunity to develop other products that can be replicated in more than one region:

• Applications we developed in another market such as flexible films replaced rigid packaging in North America due to sustainability and productivity issues.
• Developments based on the needs of North American market in which the introduction to Latin American market was faster.
• Completely new products under development, such as foamed PET trays, which were very well received.
• Exclusive developments in volume and characteristics for North American market that are only applicable to that region, such as salt bags used for snow.

Our customers were surprised when Plastilene Group presents itself with its broad portfolio. Their reaction is one of surprise, curiosity and satisfaction because it is rare to find this level of integration in a company in this region.

In the end, our presence in North American market has translated into mutual growth and closeness with our customers. They are no longer just customers, we are now friends.