Hypermarcas opens research center and new plant
Valor Econômico 09/23/10
At lunchtime, one of the meeting rooms of Hypermercas, in the head office of the company in the South side of São Paulo city, is turned into a sort of family restaurant. At the table, the marketing, planning and finance staff almost always has lunch together. Claudio Bergamo, President of Hypermarcas says he gains time with that. What is discussed in the informal lunchtime conversations has recently been one of the main focuses of action of the company, considered the largest national capital company of the consumer goods sector of the country, with products in the areas of foods, personal care, household cleaning and medicines. The earnings this year may get to R$ 3.8 billion (US$ 2.2 billion), according to estimates of analysts.The team of executives of Hypermarcas has worked in an attempt to draw out projects and take initiatives to grow faster organically. Under discussion today, in the corridors of the company, are some of these projects underway. Hypermarcas will erect a research and development center in Alphaville, in the Metropolitan Area of São Paulo, where R$ 10 million (US$ 5.7 million) will be invested. The place will have three thousand square meters; it is in process of improvement and it will accommodate a new team. The executive Sônia Tuccori was hired four months ago for the office of Director of P&D in Alphaville. "We will bring the consumer into the company, show the relaunched brands, carry out studies and analyses of consumer behavior. We want to develop what we haven't created yet", says Marcio Santos, Operations Executive Officer of the area of consumption of Hypermarcas.
The company will also create one single manufacturing structure for the production of over the counter drugs. The plan is to finish, by the end of 2011, the greatest enlargement ever performed in the unit of the group in Anápolis (GO), which belongs to Neo Química, the OTC area of the company acquired by Hypermarcas in 2009. Little more than R$ 110 million (US$ 62.9 million) will be invested in the place according to the Government of Goias. The manufacturing plant that should receive R$ 60 million (US$ 34.3 million) of the investment, will gather production lines of all the brands of the group in the segment, such as Rinosoro, Benegrip and Lisador. The rest of the amount invested (R$ 50 million/US$ 28.6 million) is being invested in the creation of a drug distribution center next to the plant. The space will be the largest logistics and storage center of a manufacturer of OTC products in Latin America. Two units of the area of medicines of the company, located in Barueri and in São Paulo, should be shutdown. That includes the plant of DM Farmaceutica, acquired in 2007.