Business View Caribbean | April/May 2022

31 BUSINESS VIEW CARIBBEAN VOLUME 9, ISSUE 4 number of areas, and purification is one of them,” Conde says. “What we do is known in the industry as a specialty house. On the other side, you might find what the industry calls a pipe, valve, and fitting house. That is an outfit that carries a large inventory of off-the-shelf products. That’s not our business. Our business is mostly the type of thing that you have to order and it could take four days or four months to get here. In that sense, we are a specialty house. Almost everything that we do is related to stainless steel or to another exotic metal or certain plastics because they are ‘clean’ materials.” Despite the challenges throughout the industry, PSI has been doing extremely well in the pandemic. Conde reports, “We close business on Sept. 30, and last year ending Sept 30, 2021 was our best year ever. And the first three months of our new year has been our best trimester since we’ve been in business. Some things have limited us, in the sense that travel has been curtailed a lot – not only our trips throughout the Caribbean region, but the trips for our representatives coming from the U.S. and Canada into Puerto Rico. Also, prices are going up dramatically and delivery times have been extended in most of the lines that we handle. So there has been an impact but happily it does not translate into less business for us.” At the beginning of the pandemic, companies started limiting access to their physical plant facilities and so the PSI team had to adapt to communication through digital platforms. More recently, entrance to those plants has been relaxed. According to Conde, “We’re still not back to normal but we will be soon. That’s important to us. We don’t do installation work but we do supervise installations – we explain to our customers not only how to do the correct installation but also how to use the units (particularly ultraviolet (UV) equipment, sanitary pumps). That’s why knowledge is key to our business – you have to really know what you’re talking about. I’ve always told my people, if somebody asks you a question and you don’t know the answer, tell them you don’t know but you’re going to find out the correct answer and then get back to them with it. Then they will trust you.” There are a lot of changes happening in the industry right now, particularly in the realm of pharmaceutical companies, biotech companies, and medical device companies. Conde states, “They establish in a country because they receive tax incentives. Now there is a lot of discussion going on with the IRS in the U.S. regarding taxation of these companies that might move the market up, or maybe move it down, in Puerto Rico. We have to watch the developments and then make plans accordingly. One thing we were looking at before the pandemic is establishing an office in the Caribbean market – probably in the Dominican Republic – and we hope to continue with those expansion plans going forward. The future is full of possibilities!” Multiple application, easy-to-clean bag filters. Applications include dairy, beverage, vegetable oils, foods, and pharmaceuticals. They also make excellent pre-filters upstream of ultra-fine cartridge and membrane filters. Call or write us today today. RosedaleProducts.com ©2022 Rosedale Products Inc. PHARMACEUT I CAL SERV I CES &AMP ; INSTALLAT IONS , LLC