On February 28th, 2020, São Salvador Alimentos (SSA) inaugurated one of the most modern animal protein factories in the country. The factory was built in less than two years on a total area of 830 thousand square meters in the municipality of Nova Veneza (GO), about 40 kilometers from Goiânia and 70 kilometers from Itaberaí (GO), the headquarters of the Goiás-based company. In addition to contributing to the generation of thousands of jobs and income and to the economic development of Goiás, the new industrial plant will significantly strengthen SSA’s presence in national and global markets.
The total investment will be R$ 455 million, divided into two stages: R$ 255 million was invested in the first stage. Production will begin on March 2nd, and 1,100 direct and 10,300 indirect jobs will be generated in the long chain formed by integrated, outsourced, and supplier companies. The capacity of the Nova Veneza factory in its first stage is 160 thousand birds per day, a number that should be gradually achieved with the construction of 200 new aviaries (each with a capacity of 30,000 birds) by 2022. This will already represent a 50% increase in SSA’s production capacity.
An additional R$ 200 million will be invested in the second phase, in which all the basic infrastructure was delivered now. With this, the capacity of the Nova Veneza industrial plant will be expanded to 320 thousand birds per day, which will practically double the company’s current production volume. Investments in this stage will be mainly in new birdhouses, a new feed factory, expansion of grain warehouses, expansion of the hatchery, and fertile egg-producing matrices.
The entire factory was built to the legal and sanitary standards required for export to highly rigorous markets such as Europe and Asia. Currently, more than 30% of the company’s production is destined for more than 65 countries. The investments made will allow SSA to achieve a high level of operational efficiency, with a significant increase in its productivity and industrialization, and expand its product mix with higher added value of the SuperFrango and Boua brands to national and foreign markets.
“The inauguration and start of operations of the Nova Veneza industrial plant mark a new phase for São Salvador Alimentos, which began production in March 1991 with an average slaughter of 2,500 chickens per month. In these 29 years, we have never stopped growing, each year surpassing the previous one. Our policy has always been to invest in production and sales growth. In 2019, we grew 35% compared to the previous year. With new investments, we will jump to a capacity of over 500,000 birds per day in the next three years. Only this year, we believe that SSA will have growth of more than 10%,” says the company’s CEO, José Garrote.
In early 2018, SSA acquired the area in Nova Veneza (GO), where there was a medium-sized poultry slaughterhouse. But practically nothing of the existing structure was used, and the decision was to start construction of the new factory from scratch, which was completed in record time: just 22 months, from the date of land acquisition. For this, 100 companies from various services (earthmoving, civil construction, asphalt paving, metal and precast structures, equipment, industrial assembly and automation, etc.) were hired to carry out the work, which employed an average of 650 direct workers, but had up to 1,100 employees in peak construction periods.
“As an entrepreneur, I always believe in the potential of our business and our country. That’s why we decided to invest R$ 255 million in building a new industrial plant in Goiás, a challenge that was achieved in less than two years. We are anticipating a greater growth in the market and consumption in Brazil and abroad. We always invest in times of crisis to reap the benefits in growth cycles. Of course, with a lot of planning, technical studies, and economic viability analysis,” says José Garrote. “SSA invests not only to expand its production but also to deliver better quality products under the SuperFrango and Boua brands. We invest heavily in training and capacity building of our more than 7,000 employees and in new production technologies and industrial processes,” emphasizes the CEO of SSA.
