Cosentino Group, a leader in the production and distribution of quartz and natural stone surfaces, opened a new factory and Cosentino Center in Vitória, Brazil, on February 25, 2010. The new Cosentino Latina Center in Vitória is the group’s affiliate distributor for Brazil, and it will give personalized service and attention to stonemasons, fabricators, interior designers, architects and kitchen/bath professionals from the State of Espirito Santo in Brazil.

Chaired by Francisco Martínez-Cosentino, Chairman of Cosentino Group, the official opening ceremony was attended by over 300 guests and coincided with the first day of the Vitoria Stone Fair. Attendees at the event included Brett Rugo, President of the Marble Institute of America (MIA), and Claudio Denicoli Dos Santos, the Secretary of the Environment for the Brazilian Government, as well as numerous industry leaders, including designers, architects, stonemasons, stone suppliers and more than 100 Cosentino Latina employees.

The Cosentino Center is a new concept being introduced by Cosentino Group, with the goal of providing an integrated service for professionals - combining distribution facilities, showrooms and exhibition areas as well as a training classroom dedicated to the profession of natural stone. The new Cosentino Latina Center covers over 480,000 square feet of space, of which nearly 215,000 square feet is comprised of warehouses. A space will also be dedicated to professional development, where employees can service customers and also receive training on new production techniques and processes for natural stone and product innovations. On the opening day, over 60 employees were trained in the new center in Brazil.

These state-of-the-art facilities reaffirm Cosentino Group’s commitment to increase its presence in the Brazilian market, an increasingly important strategy for the multi-national firm, which is headquartered in Spain. Cosentino Latina provides most of the granite materials that the group markets worldwide, particularly in the U.S.

In 2009, Cosentino’s Latina affiliate was recognized as the third-largest company for natural stone exports in Brazil by the Brazilian government (Ministry for Development, Industry and Exterior Commerce).

The total investment made by Cosentino Group in Latina has been $40 million since its inception in 2002. As a result of this commitment, the Group has tripled its granite production capacity to nearly 11,000 square feet per day, and it utilizes the latest cutting-edge technology required to produce advanced natural stone products.

Latina’s granite factory also places an emphasis on maintaining the highest environmental standards with pioneering systems, such as the collection and recovery of rainwater and an integrated platform for selective waste collection.

“We are an organization committed to our industry and the trade of stone masonry, both here in Brazil and around the world,” said Francisco Martínez-Cosentino, Chairman of Cosentino Group. “Brazil is a current and future pledge for Cosentino as it is the ideal market for the company’s products, and because of the tremendous potential of the people working at Latina.”

“The addition of the Cosentino Center in Vitória will be a great resource for industry professionals to learn about best practices for sustainability in this industry,” said Claudio Denicoli Dos Santos, Secretary of the Environment for the Brazilian Government. “The company is focused on exemplary sustainable development, both regarding its people and its production processes.”