César Castillo Inc. opening 3rd warehouse next month
This new warehouse will increase César Castillo’s total warehouse space by more than 30 percent.
Long-time third-party logistics provider César Castillo Inc. announced it will open its third warehouse in November after an investment of more than $1 million in equipment.
This new facility will expand the company’s capacity to serve its client base of more than 30 customers by adding 150,000 square feet of warehouse space and create an estimated 50 new direct jobs over the course of the next year.
“There is a great need in the pharmaceutical industry for cold chain storage,” said César Castillo Inc.’s Vice President César Castillo. “We are adding cold chain storage for more than 800 pallet positions that have been successfully qualified and validated in compliance with the pharmaceutical industry’s good manufacturing practices.”
This new warehouse will increase César Castillo’s total warehouse space by more than 30 percent, from the current 490,000 square feet to 640,000 square feet. The company has already signed two new contracts to occupy the additional space and expects to sign a third in the upcoming weeks. All three warehouses are designated as Foreign Trade Zones.
“After filling our present warehouses to capacity we decided to look for an additional location to continue to grow our presence in the current market. This new facility will be dedicated to serving clients in the pharma, medical devices and animal health businesses as well as target new areas of opportunity with the high tech and aerospace industry,” he said.
This expansion is the culmination of a strategic plan set in motion by management back in 2012, explained César Castillo Inc. Operations Director Juan Colón.
“The plan had two main elements, to increase warehouse capacity and expand services by creating alliances with other providers,” said Colón. As part of this effort, the company has established a series of alliances that have transformed César Castillo into a logistics one-stop-shop. These alliances include FedEx (2012), Néstor Reyes (2013), Clean Harbors (2014) and now with Va-Q-tec (2016), the world’s fastest-growing company renting temperature controlled containers.
According to Colón, César Castillo is now the largest logistics provider in Puerto Rico in terms of warehouse space, client base, and number of employees. Castillo attributed the company’s success to its main focus on the pharmaceutical industry and the way it runs its operations.
“We run this company as a multinational; we have processes for everything. We are always looking to become more cost effective,” he said, emphasizing on the company’s flexibility and agility as a locally owned business and his team’s ability to offer customized solutions for its clients.
Castillo pointed out that all of the company’s warehouses have redundant refrigeration and back-up energy generation systems. These energy generation systems allowed its operations, and those of its clients, to run without interruption during the recent island-wide blackout.
“We strive to offer our clients a better service at an attractive price in order to help our clients be more competitive and to grow their business,” said Castillo.
Investing to meet future challenges
As César Castillo Inc. gears up to celebrate its 75th anniversary next year, it is investing another $1 million to upgrade its SAP technological infrastructure to comply with all current and recently issued federal regulations, specifically the Drug Quality and Security Act.
These investments and long term plans signal the company’s strong commitment to the island and its economic future, explained Castillo.
“We strongly believe in Puerto Rico and are committed to continue investing in our people and our future,” he concluded.
