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Family business from Los Ángeles that knew how to reinvent itself by betting on innovation and new business areas

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VicsaIndustrial bets on wood reuse and the development of technologies for the timber industry.

A company's growth is not only reflected in numbers but also in its ability to reinvent itself or bet on new ventures.
There are many examples of family-owned SMEs that dare to do things differently to capture new markets or clients. Such is the case of VicsaIndustrial, a venture from Los Ángeles in the Biobío Region, which has been in the timber industry for 25 years, focusing on drying and remanufacturing.

Today, the goal is to add value to their products based on consumer demands.
Víctor Sandoval, a structural civil engineer and Operations Manager of the Los Ángeles-based firm, explained that their main business is wood drying as a service, along with planing, molding, and cutting, among other services.

"The company was founded by my father, and initially, it provided services to one of the country's major companies, such as cutting, sharing, and sizing green wood. But changes in market conditions forced us to evaluate new directions. My father transformed everything into a sawmill, where he carried out the standard process of sourcing logs and producing lumber," he recalled.

He acknowledged that, in essence, the change was a step backward to develop products within the industry. That's how they began, alongside his brother Juan Pablo, with drying in 2017 to add value to sawn products, and in 2022, they decided to leave this model behind.

This led them to develop new products, such as structural wood, based on the requirements of mass timber construction. "We are focused on developing higher-quality, value-added products—structural wood is one example. Our idea was to transfer knowledge to the company thanks to our university education to improve technical capacity and advance as a family business."

Circular economy along the way
From there, they also launched a circular economy project involving wood recovery for furniture manufacturing, an idea born during the pandemic. The initiative is called "OnebyFour," referring to the product's dimensions.

"This started because one day, my father and I walked through the warehouses and realized they were full of 1x4 wood, but initially, we didn’t know what to do with it. We noticed it wasn’t the quality our clients demanded. But there was a large volume, and we saw an opportunity to revalue it, extending its lifespan. Additionally, that year, the Regional Government awarded us a scholarship for a diploma in circular economy, where we understood the concept in technical terms and its application to an industry with enormous potential," Sandoval explained.
In his view, these are products that can last a long time thanks to recycling, design, and transforming them into high-value items, along with VicsaIndustrial's unique touch.

They spent over two years working on furniture production with a very artisanal, almost rudimentary setup. But in 2021, they secured a Corfo project that allowed them to acquire specialized machinery for this initiative. Now, a second phase is underway toward semi-industrialized furniture production, with more equipment to support the entire process. This, combined with staff training and market knowledge, gave them deep insight into the field.

"This doesn’t happen overnight. Making furniture is an art tied to design and finishes. Plus, the pandemic gave us room to work differently. For example, the designer was from Linares and came every 15 days to assess progress on-site. All this helped us internalize new work methodologies," he said.

New management model
But that’s not all. In the context of innovation, they implemented a company management model based on software linked to inventory control, artificial intelligence, and tailored to the timber industry, where adapting off-the-shelf programs—commonly used by businesses—is challenging. "Our industry uses uncommon measurement units, and we started there. Then we applied technologies like tablets, computers, mobile phones, and cloud storage to processes, with the idea that other SMEs in the industry could adopt them to improve their procedures," he projected.

Ultimately, what this company—now employing 25 people—has done is reinvent itself by applying innovation and adding value to the chain. According to Víctor Sandoval, the bet has paid off since they started these initiatives. "We’ve established ourselves as a family industry and gained recognition. In 2021, Corma even awarded us as the most innovative company in the forestry sector—a major milestone, as we were just starting in this field," he emphasized.