We spoke with Vítor Gil, Director of Operations at the Brasmar Group, and Fátima Macedo, Brand Manager at Brasmar, where we discussed the company’s growth in recent years and how Barcelbal scales have supported the production process throughout this time.
Eng. Vítor Gil on the left and Dr. Fátima Macedo on the right
Brasmar’s importance in Portuguese industry
The name Brasmar is a combination of the words “Brasil” and “Mar” (sea), conceived with the origin of the business in Brazil in mind. The founding partners of Brasmar had an investment in Brazil in the area of shrimp aquaculture and decided to export these shrimps to Europe. As this was a little-known product in the Portuguese market, it was necessary to educate customers and reinforce its advantages. As Brasmar gained position and recognition in the market, it realised that it should expand its range of frozen products.
“In 2003, Brasmar was founded and grew with the ambition of becoming one of the leading companies in the seafood sector. The evolution and constant investments in technology and process management over the last 18 years are proof of this.
– Eng. Vitor Gil
In 2007, the first production unit was inaugurated in Trofa and since then it has been growing in production capacity and references worked on over the years. At the end of 2016, its marketing department was created, whose initial mission was to rebrand Brasmar and define the global strategy for the brand in Portugal and in the various markets where it operates. Brasmar has a global marketing strategy, but one that is locally adjusted to the needs of each market. With the implementation of the marketing department, it is no longer only recognised by market players, but also by the end consumer.
“We operate locally and in line with the needs of each market, including the profile of customers we have in each of these markets.”
– Dra. Fátima Macedo
After 18 years, Brasmar has commercial offices in six countries (Portugal, Spain, the United States, Brazil, Norway, and Italy) and is present in more than 40 countries. Its main market is Europe, followed by Brazil and the saudade market.
With 420 employees in its three units in Portugal (Trofa, Vila Nova de Famalicão and Gafanha da Nazaré) and 170 employees in Spain (120 employees at La Balinesa and 50 employees at Foncasal), Brasmar had a turnover of €230 million in 2019. Of this, €180 million relates to Portugal and €50 million relates to the Spanish companies (La Balinesa and Foncasal).
It is present throughout the commercial sector, from large-scale distribution to retail. Brasmar operates in three main areas: frozen foods, savoury snacks and chilled products. One of Brasmar’s strengths is its product diversity, with over 200 different items. In the frozen foods sector, Brasmar offers four main product groups. Fish, shellfish, cephalopods and cod. Of these categories, we highlight our specialisation in the processing of octopus and cod. In the savoury snacks area, we work in three of our units, cod and chilled products, in addition to many other products, we highlight smoked salmon and cooked octopus, processed in our units in Spain.
Brasmar was awarded the “Flavour of the Year” seal for the fifth consecutive year in the octopus category and for the second year in the desalted cod category.
“Reaffirming the Taste of the Year seal of distinction on two fundamental and essential products of Portuguese gastronomic culture is undoubtedly exceptional and recognition of the work carried out by the entire team.”
– Dra. Fátima Macedo
Brasmar is a pioneer in the cooked octopus market and believes that although there is not yet a habit of buying cooked octopus in Portugal, this will be the future. Cooked octopus began to be produced in a traditional way, to understand what its main customers thought of the product. Over time, the quantities produced increased and they decided to invest in an industrial unit for the production of this product.
Engineer Vítor Gil argues that, “with cooked octopus, the same thing will happen as happened with desalted cod. We used to buy dried cod and desalt it at home, and now we buy desalted cod.” Dr Fátima Macedo adds that “for both consumers and restaurants, cooked octopus is an added value. Restaurants achieve greater profitability, facilitating food costs, because the change in the weight of cooked octopus is practically nil.”
Sustainability is in your DNA
Sustainability is the order of the day at Brasmar. When it comes to natural resources, the entire chain has a huge responsibility and challenge because these are frozen products. Brasmar is part of the MSC (Marine Stewardship Council) and ASC (Aquaculture Stewardship Council) projects, reinforcing sustainable fishing practices. We have been working with our partners to find more sustainable subsidiary materials, capture and processing methods. At the beginning of the year, the trays used for packaging frozen octopus were replaced with ones made from 80% recycled raw materials and 100% recyclable. And this year, it plans to invest in a photovoltaic system.
“At Brasmar, we haven’t used gas to heat water for five years. All hot water is heated by using energy and heat from the machines.”
– Eng. Vítor Gil
Brasmar already has grassroots projects in the area of sustainability. For example, whenever it launches a new product, it is concerned about the amount of plastic in the packaging and tries to reduce its thickness so that as little plastic as possible is delivered to the end consumer.
“I couldn’t take any other position, as we are dependent on Mother Nature. We work with what the oceans can give us, complying with all legal standards and procedures implemented at Brasmar. As such, our main goal for the future is sustainable growth,” emphasises Engineer Vitor Gil.
Engineer Vítor Gil – Director of Operations, Brasmar Group
Engineer Vítor Gil has been working in the food industry for 21 years and at Brasmar for 10 years. He joined Brasmar because he was presented with an ambitious and successful project for a company that wanted to be a leader in the domestic market.
“I joined Brasmar because I was presented with a winning project. The project was presented with five-year goals, and after two years we had already achieved them. (…) It was clearly a winning project for a company that wanted to be a leader in the domestic market, and I ask myself: who doesn’t want to be with a leader?”
-Eng. Vítor Gil
The engineer says that the challenge has remained the same since he started his career at Brasmar: the ability to adapt to new situations. But he adds that what attracts him is the constant challenge and the fact that no two days are the same.
“The most ridiculous situation happened a few years ago! We soaked cod with water from the fire brigade. We had problems with the water collection holes, and we had to call on the Trofa Volunteer Fire Brigade to provide water tanks to fill our reservoirs. That was the only way we could get water to cool and soak the cod. It was a ridiculous situation, but stressful, because we had tonnes of cod to soak.”
-Eng. Vítor Gil
Weight of Brasmar’s production system
Brasmar produces 14,500 tonnes in Portugal and sells 28,500 tonnes. In other words, 50% of what it sells is processed in its factories and 50% comes from external producers.
In 2016, Brasmar invested €6 million in expanding its logistics centre in Trofa, in order to keep all its products in-house and manage the needs of the factory and its customers more effectively. However, four months after the project was completed, it needed to return to cold storage suppliers for pallet storage. This demonstrates Brasmar’s rapid growth and the trust placed in it by its customers. Today, it already has two more projects in the pipeline: the expansion of the factory and a logistics centre.
In addition, Brasmar wants to increase its presence in the Spanish market. Not only commercially, but also physically through processing units. It was with this objective in mind that it acquired La Balinesa and Foncasal in 2019. In the year it bought the companies and in the year of the pandemic, it achieved 20% growth in both.
The pandemic had a negative impact of around 25% on Brasmar. One of the main channels it works with is catering, which stagnated due to the pandemic, forcing it to adapt to the new reality.
One of Brasmar’s objectives is the continuous improvement of its production system. Productivity is monitored daily and down to the penny in order to achieve total cost control and thus become more competitive.
“We don’t want to be the biggest in the world, we want to do our job in a focused and well-structured manner. We want to grow step by step to ensure that no mistakes are made.”
– Eng. Vítor Gil
Barcelbal’s importance in Brasmar’s production process
Barcelbal scales are an integral part of Brasmar’s production process. In fact, in order to control productivity, everything that enters and leaves a production line is weighed by Barcelbal scales.
ProLine Barcelbal Floor Scale at Brasmar
“Barcelbal scales are part of our daily production and logistics process. Every day, not every minute, but not far off, we use Barcelbal scales. We work with Barcelbal on a daily basis.”
– Eng. Vítor Gil
The integration of Barcelbal scales with Brasmar’s management software was essential, as it allows for online monitoring of key performance indicators. As the goods are weighed, the information is sent to Brasmar’s software, eliminating the need for paper records.
Engineer Vítor Gil says he has nothing negative to say about Barcelbal. Laughing, he points only to the prices, arguing that if the price were a little lower, Brasmar would be even more satisfied.
Professionalism, rigour and technical problem-solving skills were the compliments given to Barcelbal by engineer Vítor Gil. He adds that when he started working at Brasmar, Barcelbal always gave him fantastic support and solved all problems quickly.
Barcelbal does not just sell weighing equipment, it is concerned with solving its customers’ problems, because sooner or later, due to the extreme conditions of the production environment, scales end up breaking down. And a quick and effective response is needed, because a broken scale can mean the shutdown of a production line.
Brasmar has been a Barcelbal customer for 18 years and we hope it will continue to be so for many more. We would like to thank Mr Vítor Gil and Dr Fátima Macedo for their availability for the interview.
Brasmar’s success is our success!
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