CAST Lighting, a manufacturer of landscape lighting products, announced that work is underway for construction of a new manufacturing facility in Barranquilla, Colombia. The facility will be located in Zona Franca, an Industrial Free Zone, strategically situated near the Barranquilla port.
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Officials from Zona Franca presided over groundbreaking ceremonies for the 36,000 square foot facility. CAST Lighting currently produces its solid sand-cast bronze fixtures in neighboring Venezuela and will continue operations at that location. The new facility will utilize state-of-the-art sand molding equipment for high, medium and custom molding operations. The addition of the new facility will increase production by four times the current output. Production is expected to come on line in the third quarter of 2008.
CAST Lighting President, David Beausoleil, commented on the new expansion. “The building of a new facility in Colombia enables us to further expand our distribution, to broaden our product line, ensure a steady supply and to keep prices at a minimum.”
When asked why CAST Lighting chose South America for production while their competitors are moving to Asia, Beausoleil responded, “It’s extremely unfortunate that nearly all lighting manufacturers base their production in Asia. The result is that they sacrifice quality and subject themselves to the copy-cat market, all for saving a few dollars per fixture. It costs more to produce in South America, but we get a great deal of control over production, quality, engineering and the work environment. We also find that the workers there excel in the kind of artistry required for the sand-casting process.”
Steve Parrott, CAST Lighting Media and Marketing Director, explains other factors that differentiate CAST Lighting from its competition.
“From its inception, CAST Lighting delivered on a highly principled value proposition," he says. "Not only do we provide exceptional quality in materials and workmanship, we focus on strategies that increase profits for our distributors and their customers. These strategies are centered around education, training, high quality products and technical support. The phenomenal growth of our company is confirmation that we are on the right track.”
CAST Lighting was founded by David Beausoleil just six years ago. At that time he was running a successful lighting distributorship but was frustrated by poor quality fixtures and manufacturers that did not understand distribution. That perfect storm drove Beausoliel into starting his own manufacturing company.
“With minimal advertising, we grew from a small start-up to a major force," Beausoleil says. "This new expansion in our production capability allows us to make further progress in our mission to bring quality products and solutions to our distributors, their contractor customers and ultimately to the homeowner – everyone benefits.”
For more information about CAST Lighting, go to www.cast-lighting.com or call 800/914-2278.