Famex opens 3rd factory in Tampico, Mexico
By Thomas Russell -- Furniture Today, April 13, 2005
At the Market — Famex Export, a manufacturer of metal beds, occasional and accent furniture and accessories, has opened a factory in Tampico, Mexico that is triple the size of its other plants.
The 35,000-square-foot factory and warehouse in this Gulf Coast city, which employs 45, is more than three times the size of the company's two other factories, both of which are about 11,000 square feet. They are in Gonzalez, about an hour north of Tampico, and Victoria, an hour north of Gonzalez.
The Victoria and the Gonzalez operations will continue to manufacture the company's product line, a process that involves forging and welding parts together. Finishing, handpainting and packaging operations, previously done in Gonzalez, have been moved to Tampico.
The expansion, which company President Fernanado Osorio valued at about $1 million for the building and land, results largely from recent business growth. The 11-year old company does about 98% of its business in the United States, producing for other importers and for discount and high-end department stores.
Sales doubled from 2003 to 2004, to about $3 million, Osorio said. That includes catalog sales, which represents about 70–80% of the business, said Ely Osorio, company vice president of sales and marketing.
"We have been very blessed," she said.
She said the expansion ultimately will boost the company's capacity from two to three containers a week to about one per day. That could soon double the Tampico work force from 45 to 90 workers.
"We feel with the structure we have in place, we will have no trouble doing that," she said.
With its adjoining warehouse space, the Tampico facility also will help the company achieve better lead times. Times from order to shipment have been about eight to 10 weeks, and Famex expects to cut that to four to six weeks — as low as two weeks on some products.
The Tampico building also has an outlet store that will double as a showroom for visiting dealers who want to see the product line. That could help boost the company's sales in Mexico, but Famex likely will continue to rely on the United States for its core business.
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Famex opens 3rd factory in Mexico
Apr 14, 2005
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