You are Valeria Quiroga, director of operations and supply chain at Nutrisur Envases Industriales, a flexible-packaging maker in Córdoba, Argentina. It is Monday 9 March 2026. Next Monday the operations committee expects your first answer: where to buy the aluminium barrier film, and how many days of safety stock the plant should hold.
The situation
Nutrisur employs 680 people and turns over about ARS 98,400 million a year, at an 8.4% EBITDA margin. It buys 72% of its materials in dollars and sells 85% of its output in pesos. In the 2023 devaluation the peso lost 54% and the margin fell to 2.1%; the price increases that rebuilt it came four to five months late. The board wants the dollar share of material cost down to 50% in 24 months, with ARS 2,800 million for the whole redesign.
Aluminium film is 11% of materials and today it comes from China: $4,200 a ton, $380 of freight and insurance, a 120-day lead time and 0.8% defects. A Brazilian supplier quotes $5,100, 21% more, with $140 of freight, a 25-day lead time, lower management cost and 1.4% defects. Both invoice in dollars. Purchasing expects to buy about 250 tons over the next twelve months.
The plant holds 38 days of safety stock today. The largest customer, a national food group worth 18% of sales, ran out of packaging in 2024 when Chinese film arrived late, and this month it asked for a resilience plan for next year. The finance director, who controls the budget, sees every day of stock as cash tied up.