NEW CORPORATE HEADQUARTERS AND PRODUCTION PLANT

AFP COURTS
18 September, 2023
Blog , Uncategorized

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NEW CORPORATE HEADQUARTERS AND PRODUCTION PLANT

AFP COURTS, adidas licensee, reaches the last 2023 quarter with the opening and full operation of its new corporate headquarters and production plant located in Les Franqueses del Vallès, Barcelona.

With more than 20 years of experience in the sports industry and as a pioneer in the creation, development and production of adidas and redsport padel courts, AFP COURTS reinforces its position in the industry and strengthens its production capacity by relocating and expanding its facilities from 5,000 sq. m to 10,500 sq. m.

The first and main location of the company is now the brand new, modernized and 7,000 sq. m size headquarter located in Les Franqueses del Vallès (Barcelona). It has been equipped with cutting edge technology, such as: an automated electrostatic painting plant by coating, a double-track robotised welding cell with 4 servo-controlled tables, 2 monorail overhead cranes, a CANTILEVER FIFO stocking system and 4 simultaneous loading docks.

The remaining 3,500 sq. m located in Lliçà de Vall (just 15 km away from the new headquarter) have been fully upgraded and equipped for the manufacturing of the metal structures, specifically to its mechanical design, manual and robotic welding and assembly. AFP COURTS consolidates and ensures the sustainable growth of the company thanks to the investment made over the last two years, which has mainly focused on the centralisation and optimisation of its resources as well as on the acquisition of last generation equipment, thus covering 3 objectives:

–To dimension the company towards the growing demand for padel courts, which is foreseen for the coming years worldwide.

–To guarantee self-sufficiency and traceability along the courts’ entire manufacturing process, from welding, assembling and painting process, to the customisation for each client, packaging, stocking, loading and transportation.

–To supply the entire AFP COURTS worldwide distribution network, in the shortest possible deadline and providing the best logistics management, covering almost 50 countries in which AFP is currently present.

Getting back to the pandemic time, the padel industry experienced a boom in Europe due to being a sport that respected safety measures and allowed social gatherings. After that period of boom and exponential growth during 2021, by the end of 2022, a general uncertainty was installed into the investment markets. Today, being the industry stabilized, the trend is shifting upwards, which leads to a more sustainable growth in the sector.

In response to that high global courts demand during 2020, AFP COURTS undertook a first phase of expansion by temporarily adding production centres to its facilities. Subsequently, once a global market balance was reached and with a far-sighted approach, the second phase of expansion and stabilisation was executed. It was possible by the concentration of the existing infrastructure and by investing on the modernisation and automation of processes, as well as the upgrade of manufacturing and logistics equipment.

In financial terms and by the end of 2023, AFP COURTS sets two main objectives: to achieve 15 % revenues higher than in 2022, when turnover amounted to 17.7 million euros, and to consolidate its position as a pioneering company in its industry in strategic markets such as the UK, Germany, France, South Africa, Mexico and the US.

With both objectives in mind, 7,000 sq. m of the global 10,500 sq. m have been dedicated to different operational areas: corporate offices, technical and R&D department, logistics office and a large packaging and logistics area close to the modern and innovative painting line, two new showrooms for indoor & outdoor courts, the latter located on the roof of the building and which will turn into the new AFP Club. Other spaces have been carefully considered for the well-being of all workers (currently 35 people) and different training areas have been set up for education and to conduct training for the staff, distributors and collaborators.

Proof of these investments are:

– Automated electrostatic painting plant by coating, composed by a 181.5 metres long aerial transponder, chemical pre-treatment cabin, 2 cutting edge paint application booths and two polymerisation ovens, which will provide a better anticorrosive protection to all metal elements of the court and therefore, higher quality and durability to all delivered metal structures.
– Double-track robotised welding cell with four servo-controlled tables and a production capacity of
1,200 courts/year per work shift. An amount of 870 padel courts was delivered in 2022.
– 2 independent monorail overhead cranes of 6.3TN each.
– CANTILEVER FIFO racking system for the storage of long loads and for managing stock according to first in, first out.
– 4 interior, independent and simultaneous loading docks provided with guiding system, protection buffers and mobile access ramps for each of them.

Quoting José Delgado and Jorge Caña, AFP COURTS’ co-CEOs: “The most important fact is that, with this investment, we now have 100 per cent control over the full production process, from design to shipping, with absolute supervision over R&D, product quality and traceability”.

Overall, the total investment in infrastructure and industrial equipment has been € 3,000 K (2022-2023).

In terms of logistics and export and thanks to the deployment of the carried-out investment, AFP COURTS becomes the only courts manufacturer with the capacity to supply any standardised court model in less than 24 hours, such as: redsport New Pro, adidas FX 3.0, AFP Panoramic and adidas Aluminum RF 3.0. The new location remains strategic, as the plant in Les Franqueses del Vallès is 40 minutes away from the port of Barcelona, 45 minutes from the airports of Barcelona El Prat and Girona and at less than 2 hours road distance from the French border.

AFP COURTS location together with its production capacity become decisive forces to achieve the increase and modernisation of the company’s production system, as well as to reduce delivery times to any corner in the world.

The global expansion of the sport of padel continues unstoppable worldwide and AFP COURTS, being present in almost 50 countries, is prepared to make a qualitative and quantitative leap, that will reinforce its leadership in the padel courts industry globally.

New corporate headquarters:

AFP COURTS S.L.