Latin America. From its headquarters in Costa Rica, Aislamart has become the point of sale for insulated panel wholesalers in the region.
What is the purpose of opening a thermal insulation wholesale store? When we decided to found Aislamart of Central America, some people asked us that question. It meant that what we saw was not so obvious.
In fact, the first thing they thought was: how could we think about that? How can we have the necessary knowledge to import and market such products? Who needed these products? So when we said we would open a company and sell these products, their initial reaction was to laugh at us because they couldn't imagine what we would do. They didn't think it was possible. But we believed in ourselves, and we also felt that, if we wanted to succeed, we had to invest all our efforts in our business.
Let's take a step back: our first visit to Costa Rica was in 2011. At that time, we had decided to visit that country because we wanted to understand why such a small country would buy insulating metal panels for cold rooms in Italy. After that trip, we discovered that Costa Rica is one of the largest exporters of fresh fruit to Europe and the United States. That fact surprised us because it was not what we expected. When we discovered it, it radically changed our point of view. That visit was followed by many more, and in 10 years we have exported to Costa Rica a huge amount of insulating panels for refrigeration.
Since then, we have investigated what depends on the demand for thermal insulation, which made our company successful. We have identified two main reasons that I briefly present below:
1. The growing demand for fresh food around the world has led to the construction of refrigerated facilities to harvest, process and ship refrigerated food abroad. To give an idea of what we are up against, 40% of food is refrigerated and refrigeration absorbs 15% of the energy the world produces.
2. The rising cost of energy is changing the behavior of companies to use thermal insulation when building or remodeling their facilities to save money on cooling and heating, in the long run.
During our visits to Costa Rica, we learned that the installers or the end customer were facing an important issue: where to buy thermal insulation and insulating metal panels in the country.
We've been looking for dedicated, specialized wholesalers, but couldn't find any.
At this point, it is essential to mention the main obstacle facing importation: shipping.
Insulated metal panels are a bulky commodity; the only way to send them is by sea containers, it is not feasible to send them by plane.
Shipping by sea forces the customer to buy a fully loaded container, so the final cost of the product is higher.
In fact, the price increase of the product could be even greater because importers have to pay import duties and taxes. And the problem is that most installers or end customers are not aware of these additional costs. They don't have the financial means or experience to negotiate with factories or find a way to import at a fair price. Therefore, they can only buy from importers, who have no interest in becoming wholesalers or investing in this specific market.
We decided to open Aislamart when we realized how difficult it was for installers to buy suitable products for their cold room projects.
We wanted to become a wholesale distributor of thermal insulation products in Costa Rica and eventually in Central America through official distributors. By becoming wholesale distributors, we can offer our customers significant savings in the purchasing process.
The first step was to choose a name for the new company. We decided on Aislamart, which recalls a store that offers a lot of thermal insulation.
Aislamart's mission is to always have available everything that installers need to acquire for the assembly of cold rooms: insulated metal panels, floor insulation, PVC profiles and accessories to hang the ceiling or build a cold room door.
To fulfill our commitment to the customer, since the middle of 2021 we have sent more than 25 containers to the Aislamart warehouse.
What makes it so sensational?
2021 has been the worst year for the supply of raw materials, which caused the cost of insulated metal panels and insulating plates to skyrocket.
It has also been the worst year for shipping when shipping rates have increased fivefold.
But we succeeded and delivered on our promise, keeping our 500-square-meter warehouse full of the best insulation products.
When we started Aislamart in February 2021, that scenario had not yet been clearly shown, but Costa Rica as a country was not doing very well and the outlook was quite bleak. But we decided to take a leap.
Our goal was to keep the warehouse full of insulating products from the beginning.
When the first container arrived at the end of May, we immediately received an order from a company that needed insulation to build a cold room. The installer was desperately looking for sandwich panels for immediate delivery.
We took care of everything and were very excited. It is very important to work with a company that trusts us and we are honored to do so.
The installer was delighted with our services and became a regular customer.
Since then, our team has worked to make Aislamart the leader in the Costa Rican market, delivering to many installers throughout the country.
In one case, a refrigeration company from the Guanacaste region sent a text message to our team in Italy and immediately passed the contact to the sales team in Costa Rica. The customer finished the purchase the same day and came to pick up the panels from the cold room the next day.
So what products can Aislamart offer the customer? Everything the installer needs to set up a cold room, and in particular:
• Insulated metal panels are in permanent stock in thicknesses ranging from 30 to 150 mm
• Sound-absorbing insulating panels, with ROCKWOOL insulation
• Stainless steel sandwich panels
• Insulating board in PIR foam, already with its own vapor barrier, 40 and 50 mm thick
• PVC sanitary profiles
• PVC bumpers
• Hardware for swing and sliding doors for cold rooms
• Cold room doors, already assembled
• Japanese hats for ceiling suspension
• Compensation valves, for small and large cold rooms
• Metal moldings
• Insulated windows
• Quick roll-up doors
• Loading docks
• Flexible industrial protections
What sets Aislamart apart from others?
Suppose that the permanent stock of thermal insulation is not enough to visit us. In that case, Aislamart has the deepest product knowledge in the country because we specifically train our team in the latest trends in the insulation market, especially Aislamart sells only certified products.
Periodically, we organize training courses for installers, where we solve all doubts about the technical characteristics of products for thermal insulation.
The last course we organized was in November, right after the AHR Expo in Costa Rica.
We had invited a product specialist from the factory of thermal insulators in plates, which was very interesting and useful for everyone.
Installers who attended the course ended up satisfied learning valuable concepts and types of applications.
We know how important it is for the installer to buy the right product, and we make sure the installer can always find the product they need.
* An article by Alberto Adriano, Director of Sales Globe Panels. www.globepanels.com - Email: [email protected]
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