1951
Founded on November 23, 1951, Eucatex was the first Brazilian company to consider environmental and acoustical comfort and to use eucalyptus as the raw material for making wood hardboard and panels. The company was created from Serraria Americana, which was founded in 1923 in the state of São Paulo.
1954
The first plant, which today is known as the Board Unit, was launched in 1954 in Salto, São Paulo, where Eucatex launched its production of acoustic ceiling panels and softboard, which was later complemented by the production of insulating and acoustic panels.
1956 - 1965
From 1956 to 1965, the company opened sales offices in various major cities throughout Brazil, as well as in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Also during this period, Eucatex expanded its production capacity to 100 tons/day and began exporting to Europe.
1970 - 1989
Through investments made in the late 1970s and over the course of the 1980s, Eucatex verticalized its production, staying focused on its core business, and strengthened its expansion plans by opening offices in the Netherlands, the United States and Mexico. At the time, the Company began manufacturing the following products, all of which are directly or indirectly related to the production of fiberboard (both hardboard and softboard): Paints for internal consumption for painting hardboard; Metal profiles for ceiling systems and wall partition panels; Minerals with thermal insulation properties to complement the existing line of insulating products; and Agricultural substrates used to grow seedlings to form owned forests, as well as other lower-value activities.
1993 - 1994
In 1993, Eucatex began to diversify its products and invested approximately R$300 million to carry out the following projects: construction of a Paint Plant in the municipality of Salto (SP), inaugurated in early 1995; construction of a MDP Plant in the municipality of Botucatu (SP), inaugurated in June 1996; implementation of a paper printing and impregnation line for finishing hardboard and MDP panels at the Plant located in Salto (SP); and maintenance of the industrial/forest park and the mineral and agricultural segments.
1995
Inauguration of the Paint Plant in the municipality of Salto (SP). The Company’s laboratories began to develop a full line of paints and varnish under the Tintas Eucatex brand.
1996
Inauguration of the MDP Plant in the municipality of Botucatu (SP), in June. Eucatex products received international recognition by FSC®, becoming the first Brazilian company in the industry to be ISO 9001 certified. In December, Paulo Maluf and Sylvia L. Maluf acquired Eucatex’s controlling interest through the transfer of RNTL Participações S/C Ltda shares. The new controlling shareholders appointed a new Management and Flávio Maluf was elected the Company’s CEO. He adopted a series of medium- and long-term measures focused on reducing costs, capitalizing the Company and redefining its operational and sales strategy. Eucatex underwent corporate and administrative restructuring through the merger with companies controlled by it, in order to reduce operating costs and streamline its management.
1998 - 1999
In 1998, Eucatex focused on becoming more competitive in the markets where it operates through the modernization of its production lines, in order to reduce industrial costs, and the launch of new high value-added products. In the same year, the Company invested approximately R$60 million in the following projects: modernization of the production lines of the hardboard plant in the municipality of Salto (SP); increased sheet painting capacity, significantly reducing costs; increased paper printing, impregnating and laminating capacity for finishing fiberboard and MDP panel ; increased the production of doors and partitions; renewed and structured the utility plant. In 1999, Eucatex opened a new laminated flooring plant in the municipality of Botucatu (SP).
2000
In 2000, the Company increased the MDF Plant production capacity, which was originally designed to produce 200,000 m3/year. As a result of these investments, Eucatex’s current production capacity is 430,000 m3/year. In five ears, Eucatex invested R$772 million in its fixed assets. In addition to building two state-of-the-art paint and MDP plants, the Company modernized its industrial park, increased its production capacity and invested in new complementary productions lines (paper painting, coating, printing and impregnating, and production of roof tiles), forest and maintenance of its industrial park.
2007
In 2007, Eucatex pioneered the implementation of a large-scale wood waste recycling line in South America. The state-of-the-art equipment allows the material collected in a range of approximately 120 km from the plant in Salto (SP) to be used both as raw material to produce sheets and as biomass to be burned in its boilers. The total processing capacity is 240,000 tons/year, equivalent to approximately 2 million trees, 470,000 m3 of standing timber or 1,500 hectares of planted forest. In order to maintain this amount of timber within a 7-year cycle, both in terms of land and for planting, the Company would need to invest approximately R$200 million. In addition to reducing costs, wood waste recycling prevents this material from being disposed of in city landfills.
2008 - 2010
As of 2008, the Company’s main investment was the new T-HDF/MDF Plant in the municipality of Salto (SP), with production capacity of 275,000 m3/year, which, in 2010, started producing cutting-edge mechanical resistant panels for the manufacturing of floors, doors and partition panels.
2012 - 2017
In 2012, the Company increased the laminated flooring production capacity in the municipality of Botucatu (SP). In this period, Eucatex built and inaugurated a Paint Plant in Cabo de Santo Agostinho, in the metropolitan region of Recife (PE), to supply the entire Northeast region of Brazil and the Roraima and Amazonas states, in the North region of the country.
2018 - Current
In 2018, Eucatex swapped a wood fiberboard plant, located in the municipality of Botucatu (SP), with Duratex. The Company is currently one of the largest Brazilian producers of floors, partition panels, doors, MDP, MDF and T-HDF panels, wood fiberboard, paints and vanishes. With over 2,000 employees, Eucatex exports to 40 countries and has six state-of-the-art plants in municipalities of Botucatu and Salto, in the São Paulo State’s inland region, and in Cabo de Santo Agostinho, in Pernambuco State. This shows the recognition for the Company’s traditional brand and its concern for technological development and product quality.