CCTV Imports opens new offices, plant Distributor heads west and to Far East
By L. Samuel Pfeifle
Updated Fri December 1, 2006
NEW ORLEANS--CCTV Imports, a distributor focusing on video surveillance, celebrated the grand opening of its first West Coast distribution center Nov. 14, with a 12,000-square-foot facility in City of Industry, Calif. Heidi Schmidt serves as general manager.
Much of the company's inventory comes from overseas, particularly Asia. Chief executive officer and president Kevin Lazaroe said the new center can receive sea shipments in "11 or 12 days," versus "six to eight weeks" here in Louisiana.
Currently, said Lazaroe, 75 percent of the company's business is in the Midwest and on the East Coast. "We saw a huge opportunity on the West Coast," he said.
Lazaroe also saw an opportunity in manufacturing his own cameras. Working with an employee doing sourcing in China, CCTV opened a facility there, starting with 12 employees and now employing 41. The company, selling under the brand Cinturon, now makes roughly 25,000 cameras a month, selling them largely in Europe.
Finally, the company's home office here will move to a new location with a grand opening in the first week of December. At 22,000 feet, the building is four times the size of the previous offices, with another three acres of land set aside should CCTV Imports need more space in the future.
Lazaroe said to look for new offices opening in Miami and the United Kingdom in 2007.
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