São Paulo, Brazil, December 29, 2006--In 2006, company Solarium Revestimentos, a manufacturer of floor tiles and facing, has expanded its production capacity, inaugurated a new plant, and begun exporting to Angola and Greece, initiating a brand globalization process. The company also had a 22% increase in revenues compared with 2005.
"We attribute our growth to the training work developed by our sales team," says architect Ana Cristina de Souza Gomes, founder and president of the company. Solarium mostly exports its Classic product line, designed for external areas and pools. "Our sales to foreign countries were recommended by Brazilian architects to construction sites abroad. Therefore, they were shipped to predefined destinations," she explains.
The Arab countries are also on the manufacturer's list of potential importers. "The Middle East has been building resorts, which would be excellent environments for us to place our products," claims Ana Cristina. "We have been contacted and invited by several potential importers. One company in Portugal is interested in representing us there," she says.
For 2007, Ana Cristina explains that the company strategy is to invest in a new plant, this time in the northeastern Brazilian region, and to continue visiting and providing training in Brazilian capitals and interior cities in São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Santa Catarina and Paraná.
According to Ana Cristina, 2006 was a year marked by important achievements for Solarium. The first novelty was the broadening of the company's product mix, with the inclusion of a product line developed by Quartzobrás, consisting of floor laying materials made of white and grey mortar, and tile grouts in 11 different colors, specially designed for cement floors. The company also launched By Sol, a product line for cleaning, protection and hygiene designed for the brand's coatings, developed in partnership with the Italian company Bellinzoni, which specializes in surface treatment.
Still in the first half this year, Solarium announced an investment in cutting-edge technology for the textile unit in the city of São Paulo, in southeastern Brazil. "We are still implementing an extremely modern automation project in our plant in Diadema (greater São Paulo), aimed at increasing our production by approximately 40%," says the businesswoman.
In September, the company inaugurated in the city of Porto Alegre (southern Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul) a plant especially designed to increase production and to cater to the growing demand in the southern Brazilian states of Rio Grande do Sul and Santa Catarina. The new plant has an area three times larger than the old company headquarters, also in Porto Alegre.
The most recent addition was the Carrara product line, introduced in November, which presents a proposal of environmental protection that is in keeping with the global trend of taking a new approach toward natural materials, such as raw, unpolished marble.
Solarium Revestimentos was established in 1997. The company is based in the city of Porto Alegre, in Rio Grande do Sul, where it also has a factory. Solarium also has factories in the cities of São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro (southeastern Brazil), and Brasília (mid western Brazil). The company employs 110 people. In addition to direct job positions, it has an outsourced sales force and a network of 160 representatives throughout Brazil.
The company pioneered the market segment for cement floors in Brazil and owns a national patent for cement-based, non-thermal, anti-slide coatings. Presently, Solarium has a mix of 110 different products, available in 12 different colours.
