Focused on the U.S. marketplace
One of the most established companies in the Vitória region of Brazil, Vixtiles Marmores e Granitos S/A of Serra, Espírito Santo, began as a specialist in tile production, and it now focuses on slab production - exporting traditional Brazilian granites as well as more exotic materials.
Vixtiles, which is located near the port in Vitória, maintains a deep inventory of blocks, which are processed on gangsaws from Breton, S.p.A. of Italy. The company is currently running four gangsaws, and at the time of Stone World’s visit to the facility, it was in the process of adding two more gangsaws to the operation.
Raw slabs are polished on an automated line from Breton, which is equipped with 19 polishing heads, and Breton vacuum lifting equipment is used to remove the finished slabs from the polishing line. The slabs are also treated with resin products, which are now used on 100% of the materials processed by Vixtiles. To optimize the curing process, the slabs are placed in driers from Rosh Industrial.
In all, Vixtiles produces a total of 100 to 120 containers of slabs per month, according to Luiz Felipe Moriondo Alves, director of the company. Nearly all of this production (98%) is exported to the U.S. market, and Vixtiles sells material in all regions of the country. All segments of the operation are carefully tracked, as a computerized system tracks production, inventory, invoicing, etc. The company has a total of 140 employees in all, including production, administration and sales.
Most of Vixtile’s slab production is 3-cm material, although it does produce other sizes on request. The company has created a showroom to display its products, with displays of classic Brazilian stones as well as exotics.
According to Alves, the company began working with exotic materials five years ago, and improvements in the resin products available have allowed them to sell exotic materials with an optimum level of quality and durability. The resins used during the process are from Tenax of Italy, Akemi of Germany and other international manufacturers.
Alves explained that he takes particular satisfaction in introducing new exotic materials and watching them gain acceptance in the marketplace. “We want to control what we have exclusives on, and what exotics we choose to introduce,” he said. “We have built a reputation on supplying materials that are not difficult to sell.”
Vixtiles sells exclusively to distributors in the U.S. - and it works to protect its customers by not selling direct to fabricators. Additionally, the company carefully controls its distribution network so there are no conflicts in the region between distributors.
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