CEO Interview by Benedict Jan Baloncio

A.M.C Distribution, Inc. (AMCDI) was established and registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on February 12, 1999, primarily to engage in trading of general merchandise at wholesale and retail basis.   AMCDI has evolved from the retailing business of the 1st generation Carpio’s in the early 70s to become one of the top 1,000 companies of the SEC’s top 5,000 corporations of the Philippines in 2008 under the management of the 2nd generation Carpio’s, headed by Allan Michael. (No. 941 based on Philippine Business & Government: The Philippine Yearbook Reference Edition 2010)

AMCDI currently trades the following: Plywood, Cement, Yellow Corn, Crude Coconut / Palm Oil, Copra Extraction By-products like: Copra Meal, Copra Solvent and Palm Kernel Meal. AMCDI’s related business and companies under the leadership of Allan Michael Carpio are: Evergreen Realty (Real Estate), 5M Consolidated Hatchery Inc. – (Toll Hatchery services), M7 Trucking Services and Circle Logistics Services (Logistics and Trucking Services), Mariano Milling Corporation (Feed Mill Plant), and recently Pinas Global Coconut Oil Mill Corporation (Oil Mill Plant).

Allan Michael Carpio (AMC) is a Filipino of Chinese descent, 46 years old and born on September 9, 1967 is married to Marlene Gaspar - Carpio. Doc Michael as he is fondly called, finished Medicine at the University of the East Ramon Magsaysay Memorial Medical Center in 1995. He is currently the CEO / President of AMC Distribution Inc., a position he has held since the inception of the company.  He is also the president of Mariano Milling Corp and 5M Consolidated Hatchery.  Wife Marlene finished her degree in Accountancy in 1998 at St. Paul’s College. She is currently the assistant finance officer of AMCDI, and actively participates in the operation of M7 Trucking Services. Prior to joining AMC, she was an Account Manager of Sherwood Corporation, a Manila based company.    Other siblings actively in running the family businesses are: Marlon Carpio, Marilou Carpio – Ibarra with husband Eriberto Ibarra and Rebecca Carpio. The latter, the mother of Allan Michael, Marlon, Marilou and Mariano Jr. used to have a retail store selling rice and other consumer products in her younger years. According to her children, their business acumen is a result of the best business traits of their mother, Rebecca and father Mariano Sr.



OPERATIONS

AMCDI presently supplies about 5,000 MTs/month (from an average of 500MTs/month in 2007) of CNO to some of the biggest feed mills and integrators in the country. AMCDI trades CNO and copra cake (a by-product of CNO), crude palm oil (CPO) and palm kernel cake (a by-product of CPO), yellow corn, cement and plywood. It buys copra from various farmers and copra traders in the CARAGA region for the processing of CNO and copra cake with Iligan Bay Trading & Milling Corp. on tolling basis. It also buys and trades CNO from Wilmar Edible Oils and Cargill Phils., Inc. on 15 to 30 days term, and CPO from Agumil Phils., Inc. on COD basis.

Bulk of their sales are coming from CNO, CPO and by-products are sold to feed mill plants and integrators.  At present, AMCDI already caters to top 10 biggest feed mills and integrators in the country, including San Miguel Corp., Bounty Fresh, Pilmico Foods, Gama Foods, Cargill Feeds, Unahco Feeds (subsidiary of Unilab), Shamus, General Milling Corporation, Pacific Oil Farmers Inc. and Breeders, among others. Terms of sales range from 7 to 30 days.

Plywood and cement are sold to various hardware and construction supply stores in Visayas Mindanao area.  The company is the exclusive distributor of Mindanao Portland Cement Asia Pacific plywood for Northern Mindanao.

Solely on its trading business, AMCDI employs a manpower size of 20 regular employees and approximately 20 skilled workers on per contract basis. Fortunately, there are no records of Union / Labor problems in spite of the absence of a human resources department.  

BEST PRACTICES in MANAGING CHANGE

MARKET SHARE

Reputation and Credibility. Being in the trading business of various commodities for more than 10 years, they already adapted to the market behavior and have aligned its risk appetite in this industry. The Carpio family has been trading copra/coconut oil since 2007, corn since 2003 and plywood since the mid 90s.  They already have built a network of suppliers and buyers to sustain business volume on these commodities. Further, AMCDI has established itself as reliable suppliers to big customers including SMFI, Cargill, Pilmico and GAMA Foods. Hence as the key man, Doc Michael puts its, it is then very important to establish a healthy relationship between suppliers, customers, financial partners and other stakeholders to create a competitive advantage.

BUSINESS MODEL

Competence of managers and succession issue. The Carpio siblings (Allan Michael, Marlon and Marilou) have been exposed in family business since their high school days and have successfully established and managed their own businesses now. They were able to grow a small trading concern, founded by their parents, into a large distribution company that is now one of the top 1,000 corporations in the Philippines in terms of sales.

Prime movers Doc Michael, Marilou and Marlon are still in their 40’s and actively running the operations of the businesses backed-up with commendable skills, quantifiable experiences and prudence.

FAMILY-RUN

Corporate Set-up. AMCDI is engaged in various business lines. The Carpio’s years of experience can be traced from their parents and their long-term relationship with their trade partners are definitely to their advantage. Further, intimacy and show of compassion to employees are exhibited. Having loyal and honest employees working with them can manifest this.

On the other hand, a number of changes are yet to be adopted in the operations, especially in setting up a human resources department, documentation of policies and procedures and what not.

CONCLUSION

Prime movers’ humility and compassion to their businesses made them successful as entrepreneurs. As an ending note, Doc Michael shared their management secrets in spite of many challenges (least to mention that they are in commodity trading business) and changes through time.  He summarized them in three points: Establish sustainable relationship with stakeholders, Act professionally with business partners and Maintain an open communication with internal and external team players.