Aurelio Flores founded CementPro in February 1976. Two months later, a fire erupted that caused CementPro to shut down all production and operations. It was nearly two months after the fire before CementPro could resume operations. Unfortunately, shortly after CementPro resumed operations, US inflation started to climb. Inflation continued to increase until 1980, when it finally began to come back down after nearly tripling since the founding of CementPro. Due to inflation, resources became scarce and the company’s debt grew.
As a new company, the struggles continued for Aurelio. The entire CementPro team was comprised of only Aurelio and one other person who oversaw production, while Aurelio acted as the secretary, transporter, and accounts receivable representative. To add to the struggles, the production facility produced just twenty-eight bags of product per cycle.
Little by little, things started to look up for Aurelio as he began to see CementPro grow. Along with hard work came sacrifice and an unwavering vision that helped Aurelio rise above the challenges he faced. When it came time to grow the CementPro team, Aurelio looked for individuals who shared his vision and values. He knew he could not do everything by himself and that he didn’t know everything, so he looked to hire individuals whose strengths complemented his weaknesses. Aurelio attributed a large percentage of his success to the people he surrounded himself with. He knew that if he was to be successful, then he needed the right team.
In 2003, CementPro built the first production plant of its kind in Mexico. Given the magnitude of the plant, competitors eventually followed suit and did the same. CementPro has since opened up a warehouse in Ontario, CA, and currently produces more than 200 products and distributes them to four countries and 60 cities worldwide.
