Recently we celebrated 40 years of initializing operations at Enka de Colombia S.A. These 40 years have been full of satisfactions and difficulties, but always generating workplaces, wealth and wellbeing for our employees, the community and the country.
In this special occasion it is important to remember our origins.
Initial Idea
The idea to establish in Colombia a factory to produce polyamide yarn as raw material for the textile industry began in 1963 when a company called Textiles Pepalfa S.A. made contact with the Dutch firm Algemene Kunstzijde Unie AKU.
AKU heeded the call, sowed interest and sent technicians for preliminary studies. To start, it involved the set up of a plant to produce 700 tons per year of polyamide yarn for the textile industry.
The studies determined that this level of production was not feasible, but given the geographic position of the country and the economic situation at the time, it was convenient for Colombia and its textile industry to diversify with products such as polyester staple and textile yarn and polyamide industrial yarn for tire cord fabric.
The idea was embraced by several businessmen and it was arranged to project a manufacturing facility with the capacity to produce the following:
· Polyamide textile filament yarn.
· Polyester staple.
· Polyester textile filament yarn.
· Polyamide tire cord fabric.
AKU´s an Pepalfa´s initial proposal to found a factory was joined by other companies like Hilanderías Medellín, Fabricato, Pantex, Tejicóndor, Corporación Financiera Nacional and Confecciones Colombia.
On September 8, 1964 a company named Enka de Colombia S.A. was
legally constituted been their founding stockholders seven Colombian
companies and AKU. They were later joined by Corporación Financiera
de Caldas and the International Finance Corporation of Washington.
Beginnings
Once the company was legally constituted and its operation was authorized, in 1965 began the process of importing the necessary production equipment. In the meantime, and based on the study results about the plant site, in January 1965 construction started on a terrain placed 28 km north of Medellin. On October 1st of 1964 the Right of Land to purchase was signed, to acquire an area of 460.000 square meters, although the initial plan was to build only 20.000 square meters. In 1965 personnel hiring started.
The first production batch came out on September 23 1966; by then 402 people worked in the company. After overcoming the initial difficulties of a starting company, the textile and tire industries received the first production of Enka de Colombia S.A.
The production balance after the first year of operations was:
· September 1967, staple 1.700 t.
· October 1966, polyamide textile yarn 700 t.
· December 1966, polyester filament yarn 350 t.
· April 1967, polyamide industrial yarn 1.450 t.
At present, Enka de Colombia S.A. has become the biggest synthetic fibers producer in the Andean Region, offering a wide range of products to serve, besides the textile an tire industries, the needs of the plastics, packaging and chemicals sectors.
The quality of our products and services is guaranteed by the NTC-ISO 9001/2000 certification for the design, production, commercialize and service associated with resins, fibers, polyester and polyamide filament yarns and tire cord fabric.
In its 40 years of production, the company has had its up and downs, but in spite of the difficulties in the latter years, Enka de Colombia S.A. is still an important company that gives great benefits to the region and country and its permanence is due to the effort and commitment of the people who have worked in it. For all of them, a special thanks.
There should be also noted the job of the CEOS that have led the company during these 40 years. Thanks to their vision, their strength and managerial capacity, Enka de Colombia S.A. is still a thriving and dynamic company of good national and international standing. They are:
· Jacob Christian Scheer, from its foundation until 1969.
· Joseph R. Hutter, from 1969 till 1973.
· Rocus Van Wingerde, from 1973 to 1979.
· Henk B. Buiting, from 1979 to 1981.
· Alvaro Concha, from 1981 to 1998.
· Nelson Mejia, from 1998 to 2002.
· Francisco Romero, from 2002 to 2003.
· Alvaro Hincapie, from 2003 to present.
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