MIAMI, April 1 (UPI) -- Remedios Diaz-Oliver's story is not an unusual one for south Florida. But it is one of the most successful.
She and her family came to this country from Cuba in 1961 -- "on Pan American Airways. There was a Pan Am then."
She was 19 years old, and started selling bottles for Magic City bottling company. When it was sold in 1976, she started her own company in a trailer that served as an office.
She built the operation into All American Containers Inc. -- a privately held global corporation with annual sales of about $100 million.
It is a truly international company shipping bottles, buckets and other containers of glass, plastic and metal to 5,000 customers in 52 countries, said Diaz, president and chief executive officer of the company.
In short, Diaz is living happily ever after with her husband, daughter and son most of whom spend long hours at the family business, and with four grandchildren.
"When I first came over, I thought we'd spend 30 days in Miami. Now I've lived twice as long in this country as in Cuba," said Diaz, who attended the University of Havana and Havana Business University before coming to the United States.
Diaz is a fan of the global economy and what it can do for Florida. She helps the state promote it and has accompanied Gov. Jeb Bush on trade missions to such places as Spain, Argentina, Chile and Costa Rica.
Florida is the nation's eighth largest producer of exported goods, and the sixth largest recipient of foreign direct investment.
Florida's total combined international merchandise trade grew by 4.3 percent in 2003 over 2002, with exports remaining nearly flat with a 0.5 percent increase, but imports gaining 7.5 percent over 2002.
Florida is host to 2,000 companies from other countries, including 4,300 regional corporate headquarters of multinational firms.
Given its hemispheric location -- situated between north and south -- the state has long held a commanding share of U.S. trade with Latin American and Caribbean nations.
Florida's sales pitch stresses an extensive infrastructure supporting international commerce.
That includes the ready availability of trade financing, international legal and insurance servicing, forwarding and logistics, distribution and warehousing as well as manufacturing for re-export inside the state's free trade zones.
When Diaz first came to the United States, there was nothing like today's global economy. But the lack of one signaled an opportunity for her in the overseas market.
Florida "didn't have an export business in those years," she said.
She said most of the international trade in Florida and Latin America was conducted by France, Italy and Belgium.
"We started by selling a few bottles. Our customers demanded we supply more. We searched for them and found manufacturers," she said.
"It didn't happen because we planned to. People wanted it, and we were able to develop it," Diaz said.
"We contact manufacturers in the United States and give them contracts," she said. "We create the bottle, create the mold and give it to factories to make for us.
"We make bottles for food, pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, beverages, liquors, chemicals -- anything that goes in a bottle," she said.
American Container has 200,000-square-foot warehouses in Miami, San Juan, Puerto Rico and Mexico City with 136 employees in Miami alone.
"We ship from those warehouses and others are serviced by direct shipments by manufacturers," she said.
The firm has its own fleet of trucks and tractor-trailer rigs for deliveries.
In addition to Latin America, American Container ships to Spain, Portugal, Australia, Hong Kong and others.
They do most of their sales in person, which sends them on the road a lot.
"We visit a lot of companies. We have a staff of international sales people," she said. "We try to supply our customers with containers that fulfill their needs. We even follow U.S. Food and Drug Administration regulations, which is not required in Latin America."
Diaz said the firm tries to be creative in the design of its bottles.
The company promises quality, effectiveness, innovation and unsurpassed service.
"Once you see the innovations that All American Containers Inc. can do with packaging, you'll want to put us to work for you," the sales pitch boasts.
"We not only sell packaging, we will overcome any and all logistical challenges to deliver it to you," it says.
Business is the focal point for Diaz, but she's not stingy when it comes to helping Florida drive to improve its global position. Those trips she makes frequently don't pay for themselves but she doesn't mind.
"Many times we don't sell enough bottles to pay for it, but we do it to promote business."
One of the goals of the trade missions is to secure the secretariat of the Free Trade Area of the Americas, aimed at uniting the economies of the Western Hemisphere.
The secretariat is one of the goals for establishing the FTAA, but the other one is more general.
The liberalization of cross-border trade in goods and services is seen by Bush as providing a boost for the state economy.
As North American markets become more closely integrated with those in other parts of the hemisphere, Florida's role as trade and investment intermediary, a role it already fills, will increase.
And Diaz said she wants to do all she can to make that happen.
"We try to support Florida in everything they do," she said.
Faces of Globalization -- The above piece by UPI Miami correspondent Les Kjos is part IV of a half-year series by United Press International which focuses each week on the human face of globalization in locales ranging from India to the heartland of the United States. The series looks at the complex array of social and economic issues facing workers, managers, students and others, who have been affected by the growing worldwide investment, trade and technological interconnections that have come to be known as globalization.
Series edited by T.K.Maloy, UPI Deputy Business Editor. ([email protected])
