What it takes to move a wood-products programme from an Asian supplier to a plant in Argentina: what moves well, what changes in the paperwork, and what we build with you rather than promise in advance.
Before anything else
A plant in Argentina is not a cheaper copy of a plant in Asia, and a buyer who treats it as one ends up disappointed. For pure commodity volume at the lowest unit price, a large-scale Asian plant will usually win. Saying so first saves both sides a quote that was never going to close.
Argentina fits when the programme needs something else: product that has to be developed rather than copied, a finish that holds from batch to batch, several materials in one piece, medium runs, and a supplier that answers inside the buyer's working day. Those are the programmes that move well.
The paperwork
Moving a programme changes the documents that travel with the product more than it changes the product. These are the three that matter for wood products entering the United States, and where we stand on each.
The finished product carries an Argentine certificate of origin.
Panel and inputs may come from elsewhere. What counts is substantial transformation at the plant, and we keep that documentation on hand for your customs broker.
Composite panel products fall under TSCA Title VI.
We produce as a fabricator, with panels certified by a recognised third party. The certificate belongs to the panel and its producer, not to us, and that distinction is worth checking with any supplier.
The Lacey Act asks what the wood is and where it was harvested.
Species, volume and country of harvest are declared per shipment. The country of harvest may differ from the country of manufacture; that is normal, and it is documented.
Tariffs
Argentina falls in the lower band of the current U.S. measure, below China, Brazil, Chile and Vietnam. That is a real advantage, and a narrow one: the tariff heading a product enters under can move the rate more than the country of origin does.
The same shelf can enter under two headings and pay two different rates. We settle the classification with your customs broker as part of the quote and, where the design allows, we build to the heading that works in your favour. Rates move, so we give you the one in force in writing and with its source, rather than a number on a web page.
The first programme
The first programme takes longer than the ones after it, and the time does not go into producing. It goes into developing and approving the first unit. After that, every run is checked against the approved reference.
Drawings, a sample, or the product you buy today.
If you are moving from an existing supplier, the current product is the fastest brief: we work back from it.
We work out how it is made here.
Profile, joints, hardware and finish. If something cannot be made in series at your target cost, we say so before quoting.
Nothing goes into series without an approved unit.
The approved unit becomes the reference each batch is compared against, rather than the batch before it.
Produced in batches, with control between them.
Colour and finish are checked against the reference, so a programme does not drift over the years.
Buying locally
The part of a relocation that worries a buyer most is rarely the product. It is who answers when something goes wrong, and who carries the import. We have our own presence in the United States, so where it suits you the purchase can be made locally, in dollars, from a U.S. company.
Manufacturing stays at the Buenos Aires plant and we handle the logistics through to destination. If you prefer to buy FOB and run your own import, that works too. The choice is yours, programme by programme.
What we build with you
Two things we plan with the first programme rather than promise in advance: the conformity label applied at the point of manufacture, and the electronic documentation cycle a large distribution centre expects. Both are projects in their own right.
We would rather put them in the schedule from the first day than improvise them on the first shipment. A supplier that says everything is ready tends to find out otherwise at the dock.
To start
A quote on a relocated programme is only as good as the brief behind it. With these three, the number you get back can be set against what the programme costs you landed today.
Drawings, a physical sample, or photos and dimensions of what you buy today.
Include the finish and any standard your own customer holds you to.
Annual quantity, and how it breaks into orders.
There is no fixed minimum; the product sets the run. What matters is the shape of the programme over a year.
Where it lands, and whether you buy FOB or locally in the U.S.
Tell us the heading you import under today, if you know it. It is where the tariff check starts.
Questions
The first programme takes longer than the rest, and the time goes into developing and approving the first unit rather than into production. How long depends on how much has to be developed: a product with complete drawings moves faster than one that exists only as a sample. The paperwork for entry into the United States is planned in parallel, and it is usually the critical path.
In most cases, and the current product is the best brief. We work back from it to a production breakdown with the tolerances we will hold. Where a detail is better resolved another way at our plant, such as a joint, a profile or a finish, we propose it before quoting, and the approved first unit settles it.
There is no fixed number. The product sets the run: a programme is worth moving when it justifies setting up the process, and from there larger volumes bring the unit cost down.
Either. Where it suits you, the purchase can be made locally from our U.S. company, in dollars, and we handle the logistics to destination. If you prefer to buy FOB and manage the import yourself, that works too.
The certificate of Argentine origin, the substantial-transformation documentation, and the species, volume and country-of-harvest data your broker needs for the Lacey Act declaration.
It depends on the product. Mexico has distance on its side and Brazil has scale for commodity volume, and both are serious options. Argentina makes sense when the product needs development, mixes materials and needs a finish that holds batch after batch, and in categories such as mouldings and millwork, where the price floor is not set by China.
The design stays yours; what we bring is how it gets made. Tooling developed for your product stays assigned to it, and that is agreed in writing before starting, together with what happens if the programme stops. We work under a confidentiality agreement when asked.
Next step
Send us the drawing, the section or a photo of the reference and we will tell you how it is produced: which profile, which joint and in what time frame. No commitment.
Send a detailTell us what you need, with drawings or with an idea of the scale. We reply with a proposal and a delivery date committed against your opening.
Request a proposal