Adalberto Aims For Global Market Share for its Own Brand
January 5, 2001
Santo Tirso, Rebordıes (Portugal) — Textile printer, dyer and finisher Adalberto Estampados is reaping the rewards of a major investment program and the establishment of its own collection of home textiles as well as fashion fabrics.
One of the biggest processors of its type in terms of flexibility, products and processes, Adalberto was started in 1969 when a group of technicians took over the printing department of a large vertical textile company. The group now has two mills in Santo Tirso.
Adalberto began operations with just 50 employees. It now has a workforce of 350 after growing rapidly, particularly over the past 10 years. The company's capacities for dyeing, finishing and printing have increased proportionately.
"Right from the start, the company's main objective has been to give the best quality and service to the customer," said managing director Mário Jorge Machado. "That tradition has continued right up to the present."
Commission processing of home textiles began in the mid-1970s and now accounts for about half the throughput, alongside fashion fabrics. Total turnover was expected to grow 20% in 2000 to just under $20 million.
Over the past five years, Adalberto has invested more than $10 million in equipment. The main objective has been to improve flexibility, productivity, quality and service, not to increase capacity.
The investment program included purchase of a new CAD/CAM system, a modern effluent treatment plant, computer software and hardware for online production control, and laboratory facilities and equipment for quality control.
New production equipment, which features a fully automated dyehouse, has been purchased with the aims of lower energy, higher speeds, greater accuracy and computer control.
The dyehouse features both jet and cold pad batch machines using reactive dyes for fabrics comprising such fibers as cotton, polyester, viscose and Tencel.
Rotary and flatbed printing technologies are employed to print fabrics up to 3.2 meters in width in up to 12 colors, using a wide range of dyes and pigments.
Adalberto also has its own collections of fashion and home textile fabrics, which now account for around 30% of sales. "We established these ranges to sell our brand mainly to the Portuguese market, but also to demonstrate to customers what we are capable of in terms of designs and finishes," said Machado.
"The next step is to establish the brand outside Portugal but within the European market. We have already had a good reaction, particularly in Scandinavia, due to the excellent design content of the collection.
"It is always very hard to establish a new brand. Customers need to build up trust and confidence in your designs. But we believe we have reached the halfway point in this process."
Machado said the company planned to increase productivity further with the existing number of employees. "We will invest less on production but more on quality control and plant maintenance.
"We plan to follow our current strategy, which has so far been quite successful. We made the right decision to invest and to establish our own brand. We will continue to develop our design department and also systems that will eventually lead to e-commerce."
An online system is planned so that certain customers will be able to view the progress of their orders. This should be installed by June 2001, he revealed.
• Estamparia Téxtil Adalberto Pinto da Silva SA, Santo Tirso, 4780 Rebordıes, Portugal. Tel: + 351 252 871571. Fax: + 351 252 873170. E-mail: adatex@mail.telepac.pt. Heimtextil: Hall 4.2 Stand H31.
One of the biggest processors of its type in terms of flexibility, products and processes, Adalberto was started in 1969 when a group of technicians took over the printing department of a large vertical textile company. The group now has two mills in Santo Tirso.
Adalberto began operations with just 50 employees. It now has a workforce of 350 after growing rapidly, particularly over the past 10 years. The company's capacities for dyeing, finishing and printing have increased proportionately.
"Right from the start, the company's main objective has been to give the best quality and service to the customer," said managing director Mário Jorge Machado. "That tradition has continued right up to the present."
Commission processing of home textiles began in the mid-1970s and now accounts for about half the throughput, alongside fashion fabrics. Total turnover was expected to grow 20% in 2000 to just under $20 million.
Over the past five years, Adalberto has invested more than $10 million in equipment. The main objective has been to improve flexibility, productivity, quality and service, not to increase capacity.
The investment program included purchase of a new CAD/CAM system, a modern effluent treatment plant, computer software and hardware for online production control, and laboratory facilities and equipment for quality control.
New production equipment, which features a fully automated dyehouse, has been purchased with the aims of lower energy, higher speeds, greater accuracy and computer control.
The dyehouse features both jet and cold pad batch machines using reactive dyes for fabrics comprising such fibers as cotton, polyester, viscose and Tencel.
Rotary and flatbed printing technologies are employed to print fabrics up to 3.2 meters in width in up to 12 colors, using a wide range of dyes and pigments.
Adalberto also has its own collections of fashion and home textile fabrics, which now account for around 30% of sales. "We established these ranges to sell our brand mainly to the Portuguese market, but also to demonstrate to customers what we are capable of in terms of designs and finishes," said Machado.
"The next step is to establish the brand outside Portugal but within the European market. We have already had a good reaction, particularly in Scandinavia, due to the excellent design content of the collection.
"It is always very hard to establish a new brand. Customers need to build up trust and confidence in your designs. But we believe we have reached the halfway point in this process."
Machado said the company planned to increase productivity further with the existing number of employees. "We will invest less on production but more on quality control and plant maintenance.
"We plan to follow our current strategy, which has so far been quite successful. We made the right decision to invest and to establish our own brand. We will continue to develop our design department and also systems that will eventually lead to e-commerce."
An online system is planned so that certain customers will be able to view the progress of their orders. This should be installed by June 2001, he revealed.
• Estamparia Téxtil Adalberto Pinto da Silva SA, Santo Tirso, 4780 Rebordıes, Portugal. Tel: + 351 252 871571. Fax: + 351 252 873170. E-mail: adatex@mail.telepac.pt. Heimtextil: Hall 4.2 Stand H31.
