KUBIEC-CONDUIT

Interviewee Henry Yandun, CEO of KUBIEC-CONDUIT

Growth with Innovation

"I’m proud of this company and how it’s growing more and more each day, now it has an impeccable size for Ecuador and it continues to develop rapidly and with more resources," says Henry Yandun, CEO and founder of KUBIEC-CONDUIT.

    The company emerged 19 years ago, beginning with a total investment of $ 40,000, which Yandun and his co-founder each paid half of. Its first employees were two disabled workers; therefore, the company was complying with Ecuador’s Labor Law that requires for at least four percent of the human resource to be disabled.

    KUBIEC-CONDUIT currently takes in more than $100 million per year and is listed as number 135 among Ecuador’s most successful companies by sales volume.

    "Every step is a milestone”, Yandun said. “We have defined our company with an effective business model and with innovative products."

Highly Performance Logistics

KUBIEC-CONDUIT follows a strategy built around "promptness," buying time for the customer, the manufacturer and the supplier.

    As time is an important differentiating factor, the company has been noted for its expertise and fast delivery. Additionally, it has increased efficiency in the production process due to technological renovations, such as modern equipment to elevate productivity and machinery to handle higher volumes.

  "Our strategy is to impose solutions that will facilitate the construction process because we compete with Asian products,” Yandun said. “We have done well so far because we have promptness and expertise versus imported products from Asia. Here we are unbeatable."

A Sustainable Steel

Given that the company works with steel, which is a one hundred percent recyclable metal, all operations have become sustainable due to KUBIEC-CONDUIT’s environmental commitment and support from a shareholder who owns the largest steel recycling plant in Ecuador.

    "All the damaged steel is sent directly to the mill,” Yandun explained. “Therefore, we have no waste. It becomes rod elements for construction or for other industrial applications."

    An example of the company’s green innovations is the material used in roofs produced with cyclopentane, which is a modified polyurethane that doesn’t harm the atmosphere. Yandun recalls that this advance was implemented before the Kyoto Treaty—an international agreement that restricted the use of polyurethane in Ecuador because of its high pollution.

Suppliers

The company imports all the raw material, mostly steel, from international suppliers; therefore, it is constantly reinforcing alliances and partnerships with major steel providers. These allies send steel from some of the most important mills in the world.

   "You have to be very competitive if you have to import your main raw material, process it in Ecuador and export it to other countries,” Yandun said. “But the steel needs to be competitive too, in price and quality."

Industrial Expansion

In the next five years, KUBIEC-CONDUIT plans to increase its productivity and exports in Chile, Bolivia, Peru and Colombia.

    Within Ecuador, the company expects to increase its works and solutions between other construction sectors and strong Latin American economies, such as Chile, where it subsidiary ECOACERO operates, and a second Kubiec location in Colombia. In the next few years, it is looking to open a new business unit in Peru.

"They are our arms and traders in these countries," the CEO said.

    After opening the Petrillo Industrial Plant in the province of Guayas in Ecuador last year, the company integrated a high-tech manufacturing plant and launched two new lines with advanced automation in this new factory.

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Web profile in Spanish about KUBIEC-CONDUIT

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