Amorim Florestal was formed in 2003 as a business unit focused solely on the purchase of cork, following the restructuring of Corticeira Amorim. Amorim Florestal is responsible for negotiating, buying, storing and preparing the raw material for the group’s other business units. Around 95 per cent of Amorim Florestal’s sales go to Corticeira Amorim.
Amorim Florestal’s mission is to guarantee the sustainability of the business today, tomorrow and in the future. It plans all its projects on the Balance Cork Card, which is based on three pillars.
The first pillar is all about growth, and we’re here to help you with that. We’ll make sure you have all the raw materials you need in future by negotiating and purchasing them well. The second pillar is all about making as much money as possible from all raw materials. And the third pillar is all about making sure your processes are as efficient as possible by reducing costs and making sure everything runs smoothly.
Amorim Florestal has industrial units in Portugal and the Mediterranean basin (Spain, Italy, Morocco, Tunisia and Algeria) and around 750 employees in Portugal and North Africa. The annual turnover of Amorim Florestal is around 190 million euros (within the group alone).
In Portugal, Amorim Florestal is responsible for the initial sorting and selection of cork for natural stoppers, discs and cork brokens. In North Africa, Amorim Florestal’s production process extends to the production of natural cork stoppers, discs and cork brokens, as local policies require the export of finished products to protect the local economy.
Sustainability first
Amorim Florestal Ponte de Sôr
Climate change affects the amount of cork available every year, as its raw material supplier is the environment. Amorim Florestal favours sustainable forests and rewards producers with FSC certification.
“We are committed to sustainable forests and actively reward producers with FSC certification. At Amorim Florestal, our PIF (Forest Intervention Project) is not just about finding new silvicultural techniques to boost cork oak growth; it’s also about studying the cork oak genome and identifying stronger, more resistant trees to maximise our cork yield.”
– Dr. Marco Castelo
Planning is essential because, although cork is not scarce, it is limited. The first cork bark can only be extracted from the cork oak after 25 years. Stripping takes place every nine years, and cork stoppers can only be produced after the third stripping. Amorim Florestal is investing in the acquisition of cork oak forests to test new techniques for producing more cork in a shorter period of time. Amorim Florestal currently owns three estates: one in Castelo Branco (2,700 ha), one in Palmela (3,300 ha), and one in Alcácer do Sal (25 ha).
“We are promoting new methods and new ways of planting cork oaks. This includes new irrigation techniques and cork oaks with different characteristics that guarantee quality.”
– Dr. Marco Castelo
22 years at Corticeira Amorim
Dr. Marco Castelo
Dr Marco Castelo joined Corticeira Amorim in 2001 as controller of Corticeira Amorim Indústria. After seven years, he became head of marketing at Amorim Cork Composites, a position he held for two years. Then, Dr Marco Castelo returned to the finance department as head of management control. In 2012, he was appointed Financial Administrative Director at Amorim Florestal.
“When I joined Amorim Florestal, I was determined to take on a new challenge. I wanted a more ambitious role with different responsibilities. I’ve worked in various areas within Corticeira Amorim, and I’ve learned a lot from each experience. Every business unit has its own management, and moving between companies has allowed me to get to know new processes.”
– Dr. Marco Castelo
Dr Marco Castelo has faced challenges throughout his career at Corticeira Amorim. The first challenge was the merger of Corticeira Amorim Indústria with Amorim Industrial Solutions.
“As they were two large business units, it was a tough and challenging process, but the outcome was very positive.”
– Dr. Marco Castelo
The second challenge was the installation of the SAP, overseen by Dr Marco Castelo. The first installation took place in March 2018 at Amorim Florestal. Four years on, SAP installations are ongoing, with implementation in Morocco and Tunisia in 2022.
Innovating to protect the future
Amorim Florestal Ponte de Sôr
There are two methods of extracting cork: the traditional method and the mechanised process. The traditional method uses axes, which requires highly skilled labour, as the process is entirely manual. However, this labour is scarce. Amorim Florestal has been testing the mechanised process. This process uses saws that detect the depth/thickness of the cork and approach the trunk using moisture readers.
“At the moment there are around 70/80 pieces of equipment distributed among various teams of draughtsmen, so that they can experiment, test and validate the process.”
-Dr. Marco Castelo
A major partnership
Amorim Florestal Ponte de Sôr
The various systems used in Amorim Florestal’s different units made it difficult to consolidate information. SAP software was the answer.
In 2018, when Amorim Florestal started using SAP, it was integrated with Barcelbal’s TruckinGest software. According to Dr Marco Castelo, the integration was challenging because they were two different pieces of software and Amorim Florestal has very strict security and quality policies.
Barcelbal had to adjust and adapt to the requirements and policies of Amorim Florestal’s IT systems.
“We managed to integrate successfully and on time. I don’t remember any major problems with downtime or system errors.”
– Dr. Marco Castelo
TruckinGest software
Software TruckinGest
The TruckinGest software directly sends the weighing records made on the Ponte Pesa Truck Scale, among other relevant information, to SAP and is connected to Amorim Florestal’s video surveillance system, thus guaranteeing the reliability of the weighing, since in addition to recording the weight displayed on the Ponte Pesa Truck Scale, it also records whether the lorry is being weighed correctly.
Previously, the weight was entered manually into Amorim Florestal’s RP software, but there were typing errors and a lack of control. Today, it is no longer possible to change the weight recorded by the Ponte Pesa Truck Scale.
“Portugal lacked experience in this area when we made this kind of connection. This project was also a pioneer for Barcelbal. Barcelbal had the necessary skills to help us, and they never gave up. Sometimes I thought Cláudio (Barcelbal’s IT Director) would say he couldn’t do certain things (laughs), but we reached a good place. We chose the right partner to do this project. We can evolve a little. I’m satisfied with Barcelbal’s software, given the objectives at the time, but we can’t stagnate. There are possible developments.”
Dr. Marco Castelo
Amorim Florestal’s success is our success!
