The management of a company’s finances is one of the most complex and important tasks of a company, as its sustainability depends on it. Pilar López, the financial director of Productos Colcar, is in charge of this task. Her constant and meticulous work translates into ensuring, in an efficient and timely manner, the finances of the Catalan company, leader in the manufacture of hot melt adhesives. Always with a smile on her face, Pilar works every day to provide the best financial and management information for decision-making, as well as to analyse and study the environment and its evolution in order to subsequently design the best strategies that allow the company to anticipate and benefit from any changes that may occur in the market.
What led you to become involved in the financial management of a company like Productos Colcar?
In 2017, I took up the position of Chief Financial Officer at Productos Colcar, after a career spanning 30 years in positions of responsibility in the economic and financial area of different companies and different sectors such as real estate, logistics, food product marketing…
Managed by a family group, Productos Colcar has more than 60 years of experience in the manufacturing of hot melt adhesives for industries with very different activities, such as bookbinding, wood, mattresses, food, labelling, etc., whose objective is based on ensuring that its products reach everywhere, maintaining quality and investing in research to obtain maximum efficiency in the production system.
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Productos Colcar has more than 60 years of experience in the manufacture of hot-melt adhesives.
What areas or functions do you currently manage and what demands and needs do you face on a daily basis in your job?
As Financial Director, I help the company to achieve its strategic objectives. To this end, I provide Productos Colcar with the best financial and management information for decision-making; at the same time, I analyse and study the environment and its evolution in order to subsequently design the best strategies that allow us to anticipate and benefit from any changes that may occur in the market.
Another of my tasks is to evaluate the development and improvement of real estate assets, which I complement with the maintenance of the financial solidity and flexibility necessary to develop our business activity.
The responsibility of a good finance manager is very great. In this respect, what are your objectives?
The current situation in which we find ourselves, characterised by very sharp swings in raw material prices and margin squeezes, leads us to constantly rethink many points of our strategic objectives.
In this sense, my current objective is to quickly provide management with the most accurate financial information possible for correct decision-making and, in this way, to achieve our objectives based on international expansion, customer loyalty and the maintenance of our financial strength and flexibility necessary to face any new scenario.
My current objective is to quickly provide management with financial information that is as accurate as possible for correct decision making.
What are the keys to the Productos Colcar management model?
There are several keys, but I could highlight three in particular:
- The sum of the recognition of our brand in the market for more than 60 years, with our solvency, with our constancy and our quality is what has led us to our customers being loyal to us. We care and attend to our customers because they are an important pillar in our family!
- Our human team (our greatest asset) is made up of a group of versatile, proactive and responsible people, used to working in a team and with a deep involvement in the daily work. We like to promote perfection in our work!
- Maximum prudence in decision making.
How do you manage to create a balance in the company’s financial situation?
Thanks to the efforts of the Productos Colcar team! We all have the same objective and each one of us contributes our small grain of sand: to buy (purchasing department) and sell (sales department) at market price, to take care of the manufacturing process (production department) and to minimise as much as possible the time between payment to the supplier and payment to the customer (administration department).
Productos Colcar achieves balance through team effort
The union of each and all efforts made allows Productos Colcar to have a great capacity to meet our payment obligations (financial equilibrium).
How would you describe the current state of finance at Productos Colcar?
Our situation is stable. The company has its own resources and positive working capital. This situation of stability and control of the financial statements is achieved thanks to the investment made in efficient computer support that facilitates cost control, quickly provides us with the profitability and profit margins of our sales, informs us of stock control…..
How do you make Productos Colcar one of the most solvent companies in the hot melt adhesive sector in our country?
Productos Colcar is one of the most solvent companies in the hotmelt adhesives sector thanks to the application of a prudent financial policy and risk management, as well as the collective work of its members.
The sum of our human potential means that, even in difficult economic times, we are able to achieve high marks from our suppliers, financial institutions, customers and shareholders. This also gives us great prestige in the market… our best sales argument!
What achievements would you like to see accomplished in the next 3 years?
To increase national and international turnover by continuing with the current guidelines for the opening of the foreign market, as well as boosting the national market.
We would also like to continue promoting and making our brand and services visible through social networks and increase our profitability, either by reducing costs or by manufacturing volume.
A goal we hope to reach!
