With 100 million euros in turnover in 2011 and a hundred employees FACA, the Catalonia-based specialist of standard plastic jars, is passing through the difficulties of the Spanish economy. Its secret? “Having proved able to adapt ourselves to the highest standards in quality,” we were said at the company’s headquarters in the suburbs of Barcelona. Hence the creation of a clean room to protect products from contamination, from the injection process to the packaging.
The family business generates 90% of its sales abroad. Mainly in France, the company’s biggest foreign market, in Northern Europe and in the United States, with customers such as Clarins, Sisley, Filorga or Estee Lauder.
This success was built on the extent and the quality of the company’s offering, especially for thick-walled or double walled jars for the industry (80% of sales). FACA, which operates its own workshop to create new models, boasts its range of standard jars as one of the largest in the market. "And of course, since all brands want to differentiate themselves, through colours and decorations, we can take care of screen printing, pad printing and hot stamping operations ," said the company.
As far as trends are concerned, let’s highlight FACA’s great interest for square shapes and cylindrical pots with straight edges, such as the T22/40, one of the latest production by the in-house studio, a 50ml jar.
Moreover, as brands, in particular in the high-end segment, are still looking for a transparency as similar as possible from the one of glass, many of FACA’s items are made from acrylic or SAN, despite the fact that these materials are not accepted by Ecocert.
That does not mean environmental issues do not concern the company. On the contrary, FACA‘s management is actually very concerned about the company’s environmental impact. “We seek to minimize our releases of greenhouse gases and waste. Thus, we have equipped the production site with a heat recovery system and we also reuse all our manufacturing residues. But it is especially on these manufacturing issues that we are mainly investing. Indeed, the demand for environmentally friendly packaging is still marginal. It’s a niche market, driven by small businesses and where volumes remain low.”
