Vassallo Industries

Industrias Vassallo

Type	Private
Industry	polyvinyl chloride polyethylene polypropylene
Founded	1962
Founder	Salvador Vassallo
Headquarters	Ponce, Puerto Rico
Area served	Puerto Rico, Caribbean, United States, Mexico, South America
Key people	Salvador Vassallo, Chairman & CEO; Rafael V. Vassallo Collazo, President
Products	plastic pipes sanitary household
Number of employees	300 (2008)
Website	http://vassalloindustries.com

Industrias Vassallo, Inc. is a big producer of PVC injection moulded and extruded goods, and manufacturer and distributor of PVC pipes and accessories, related plastics products, and resin furniture. The company is located in Barrio Coto Laurel in Ponce, Puerto Rico. In 2004, the company had a workforce of 300 employees and revenues of $51M USD. Its president is Rafael Vassallo.Salvador Vassallo was the company's CEO and president until his death in 2007.

In 1962, the four grandsons of Vicente Vassallo Fiorimonte, an Italian immigrant who established a metal shop in Ponce, Puerto Rico, in 1898, began experimenting with making construction products from a promising new substance, polyvinyl chloride, or PVC. With and initial investment of $3,000, their decision to start manufacturing products with polyvinyl chloride (PVC) lead to the creation of a purely Puerto Rican company that has subsequently was quite successful in the plastics industry.

In the last 50 years, Industrias Vassallo, Inc. was a pioneer in the production and distribution of PVC pipes and accessories for water and sanitary use. The company grew, distributing its products to countries in Central and South America, the Caribbean Basin, the United States, and Canada. Following their success of PVC pipe in the construction industry, the company established operations in the United States during the 1970s. At the same time, the company began export to Central and South America, Canada, Mexico and the Caribbean Islands.

In 1989, Industrias Vassallo, Inc. consolidated its operations into a new 250,000-square-foot (23,000 m²) industrial complex facility located in Barrio Coto Laurel, on the outskirts of Ponce, Puerto Rico. In 1997, Industrias Vassallo, Inc., engaged in the modernization of their plants, inaugurating a new rotomolding plant. The new unit made it possible to process up to 100,000 lbs of polyethylene per week. Polyethylene is a high impact plastic used for diverse products, such as water tanks, security barriers, kayaks and flowerpots.