Salmones Austral: "wherEX has brought positive economic impacts in bidding processes".

Thanks to the digitalisation of its tendering processes, the company Salmones Austral carried out the construction of a recirculation fish farm. It is located in Los Arrayanes. The project started at the beginning of this year through the subsidiary Trusal. It aims to improve freshwater production and concentrate its operation. It also seeks to implement more sustainable technology, both for the environment and for the communities surrounding the project.

The Los Arrayanes project, located in the commune of Cochamó, Llanquihue province, uses state-of-the-art technology (recirculation). In this way it manages to reuse water and minimise environmental impacts. It also generates high biosecurity barriers, helping to ensure strict sanitary management.

It should be noted that this fish farm, whose investment at this stage is US$28MM, has been built largely through bidding processes carried out on wherEX, a digital industrial marketing platform.

The general manager of Salmones Austral, Gastón Cortez, commented that "we are very happy with the results obtained through the tenders we have carried out using wherEX. The most important thing is the positive economic impact it has had on our investments. Also, there are time savings in the processes. It is also appreciated that there is a greater number of suppliers and that they can participate in the requirements on equal terms.

Support for SMEs and local businesses

Salmones Austral's Finance Manager, Claudio Melgarejo, added "the platform has allowed us to get closer to our suppliers by providing reliability and objectivity in the bidding process. It also opens opportunities to other suppliers that were previously a bit distant in the industry. For us it is important to generate long-term relationships that contribute positively in the locations where we have a presence".

To date, more than 40 suppliers have participated in tenders for both products and services. These correspond to the civil works, ponds, post services, electrical project, maritime works, generator equipment, hydraulic project, among others.

Of these, 60% are SMEs and 52% are local suppliers. "Another point I would like to highlight about wherEX is the initiative they have with the Pymes and Local seals, which has allowed us to contribute to the growth of small and medium-sized enterprises, as well as companies in our region," Cortez said.

"I would like to highlight how wherEX has adapted to all the technical difficulties and complexities of each process. Incliso gives us the possibility to organise technical meetings on site and coordinate field visits. This is very valuable so that they can see for themselves the magnitude of this project," said Salmones Austral's procurement assistant manager, Claudio Arredondo.

More efficient tendering processes

Salmones Austral is a company that has traded more than US$50MM in products and services through wherEX since March 2017, but this was the largest project they have undertaken together.

In this regard, wherEX's commercial manager, Juan Pablo Nieto, said "having tendered almost entirely this project on our platform demonstrates that this technology is fully prepared to address the most specific and complex categories of the various industrial sectors given the versatility to adapt to the definitions of negotiation strategy that the client wants to take. To date, there are companies that have tendered their vaccines, floating structures, packaging, and services as complex as insurance, diving, anchoring, and even shipping.

In addition, something very important to highlight is that the platform not only allows for more orderly processes and concrete information, but also to maintain the relationship between the customer and the supplier," he concluded.