(From left) Chairman Christian Llanos; Minister of Funding Senator Aubyn Hill; and Normal Supervisor Dwaine Williams minimize the ribbon on the new facility. (Images: Karl Mclarty)
BERGER Paints Restricted is increasing its footprint within the regional and home coatings business with a $130-million funding to improve its trowel-on facility at its Spanish City Street location. The growth doubles manufacturing capability, enhancing effectivity and assembly rising market demand.
“We made the choice to speculate considerably on this plant — not simply to serve Jamaica, however to satisfy demand throughout the complete Caribbean. The brand new equipment is able to producing 980,000 litres in a single shift,” stated Chairman Christian Llanos throughout a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Wednesday.
In 2022 and 2023, Berger Paints struggled to maintain up with robust demand, as its earlier gear produced solely 450,000 litres per 12 months throughout two shifts, resulting in order delays of as much as two weeks. With a single shift, Berger Paints can now produce a million litres yearly. If demand continues to rise, the corporate has the pliability to develop to a two-shift operation, successfully doubling output. Llanos highlighted a number of benefits of the upgraded facility, together with elevated manufacturing effectivity, improved manufacturing processes, and better precision in color matching. He famous that the enhancements would additionally enable Berger Paints to fulfil customised orders with better pace and suppleness.
“This growth will allow us to satisfy demand throughout the area, not simply regionally, whereas additionally supporting our sister crops throughout Caricom and showcasing the most effective of Jamaican manufacturing,” stated Normal Supervisor Dwaine Williams.
Berger Paints is already a serious producer of Trowel-On and textile coatings in Jamaica and the broader Caribbean. The corporate at the moment provides merchandise to Trinidad and Tobago, Guyana, and the Cayman Islands, with earlier exports to Belize. Nonetheless, plans are underway to additional prolong its regional attain.
“We do provide international locations outdoors of Jamaica presently, and we have now additional curiosity,” stated Operations Supervisor Ross Albert in an interview with the Jamaica Observer.
Domestically, Berger can be trying to broaden its consumer base, concentrating on architects, contractors, home-owner associations, and improvement teams.
“They [contractors] are doing new development right here in Jamaica, and we need to get into that house, however on the similar time, we’re throwing some our bodies on the bottom in addition to our sister corporations in Barbados, Grenada, Trinidad and Tobago, and Guyana,” Albert stated.
Presently, 95 per cent of Berger Paints’ merchandise are regionally manufactured, with over 30 per cent of its suppliers being native companies. Whereas touring the newly upgraded plant, Albert led an illustration of the manufacturing course of, from begin to wall utility, showcasing three several types of trowel-on coatings. Past growing manufacturing capability, the brand new facility is designed to drive product innovation. Berger plans to launch quite a lot of regionally manufactured choices, together with roof compounds, joint compounds, and ready-to-use crack fillers. A few of these new merchandise have already reached the market and can be found at {hardware} shops, with a number of core venture prospects already incorporating them into their work. This expanded capability, together with new improvements, might additional contribute to Berger Paints’ profitability. The corporate recorded a 4 per cent enhance in income final 12 months and achieved a turnaround in pre-tax income, shifting from a lack of $255 million in 2023 to a revenue of over $150 million in 2024.
(From left) Chairman Christian Llanos; Minister of Funding Senator Aubyn Hill; and Normal Supervisor Dwaine Williams minimize the ribbon on the new facility.
Evrol Thompson from Scott Portray demonstrates the appliance of Trowel-On following the tour of the brand new trowel-on facility at Berger Paints, on Spanish City Street.
WILLIAMS…“This growth will allow us to satisfy demand throughout the area, not simply regionally, whereas additionally supporting our sister crops throughout CARICOM and showcasing the most effective of Jamaican manufacturing.”
Operations Supervisor Ross Albert leads a tour of the brand new facility, demonstrating the manufacturing course of to utility and showcasing the brand new machines designed to boost effectivity and scale back manufacturing time.
Berger Paints’ Trowel-On product being crammed on the market.
From left: Normal Supervisor Dwaine Williams, Minister of Funding Senator Aubyn Hill, and Chairman Christian Llanos observe the packaging course of as new machines raise massive buckets of Trowel-On, designed to enhance effectivity and ease the workload for workers. (Images: Karl Mclarty)
