ALPLA and Fortiflex first collaborated in 2017 in the wake of Hurricane Maria. ALPLA was able to get the power supply at its production plant in Guayama, Puerto Rico, back up and running quickly after the damage caused by the storm – unlike Fortiflex. ‘We were originally only meant to handle some of Fortiflex’s production temporarily,’ explains Richard Lisch, Regional Manager with ALPLA Caribe, ‘but a partnership that worked well developed between us, and we then made it official with our strategic alliance.’
Entire production activities taken on
In accordance with the agreement, ALPLA will take on all of Fortiflex’s production for a ten-year period. A total of twelve injection moulding machines were transferred from Dorado to the ALPLA plant in Guayama in autumn 2018. Around 30 new jobs have been created at the site. The contracting partners have agreed not to disclose any further Details.
Both sides benefit
Fortiflex Inc. was founded in 1976 and is well known in the Caribbean and in Central America for the high quality of its products. Its product portfolio includes waterers, troughs and crates for the agricultural sector and thin-walled containers for decorating and building needs as well as for food. ALPLA also offers product decoration, as did Fortiflex, using offset printing, heat transfer or in-mould labelling (IML) to apply high-quality imprints to the packaging.
‘An emergency situation resulted in collaboration that offers advantages to both parties,’ says Lisch positively. ‘ALPLA’s global presence and Fortiflex’s regional reputation are helping us in jointly positioning ourselves as the preferred manufacturer of innovative packaging solutions in this region.’
ALPLA Caribe fact box:
- Plants: 2 sites in 2 countries (Puerto Rico since 1976, Dominican Republic since 2005)
- Employees: 350
- Technologies used: EBM, SBM, injection moulding (caps, containers), injection moulding preforms, compression moulding (caps), large-container EBM (up to 230 litres)
- Product portfolio: Wide array of standard packaging solutions and customer-specific bottles and caps for food, cosmetics, household cleaning products, oils and lubricants, the automotive sector, and industry
- Customers: Pepsi, Coca-Cola, Clorox, Lanco, Industrias San Miguel (IMS), Goya, Agua Planeta Azul (APA), MercaSID
About Fortiflex:
Fortiflex, Inc. was conceived in 1973 by Jaime Ballester to manufacture 5 gallon industrial pails and agricultural feeders and waterers. After his father’s passing in 1974, Fortiflex, Inc. was inaugurated by José Ballester and began manufacturing operations in 1976.
From there the company grew manufacturing industrial containers of various sizes, adding decorating capabilities to the different sizes and exported agricultural items mainly to United States and Canada, including Germany, Spain and the UK.
The manufacture of agricultural products was moved to continental USA in 2012 and that of industrial containers remained in Puerto Rico. Today Fortiflex exports to 16 different countries in the Caribbean, Central and South America and Singapore. The US operation, Fortex-Fortiflex, was incorporated in the state of Oklahoma and became a self-standing corporation.
