Esband, Fi-Tech and Arkote Join Protabaco on Dominican Factory Tour

DOMINICAN REPUBLIC — March 1–6, 2026

For one week in March, Dominican tobacco manufacturers received something the local market has not seen before: technical representatives of two of the industry’s principal component manufacturers, on their plant floors, at the same time.

Tim Williams, Business Development Manager – Sales Tobacco at Max Schlatterer GmbH & Co. KG (Esband), and Jeffrey G. Bassett, Managing Director of Fi-Tech, Inc., representing both Fi-Tech and Arkote Ltd., traveled the country alongside Reto Walter Iten of RIM (Reto Iten Metals AG) and Ramon Emilio Peralta of Protabaco, visiting close to ten manufacturers — from hand-rolled and machine-made cigar operations to cigarillo and cigarette lines.

Days began early and each visit ran about two hours: a plant walk, then a working session.

“Production is a challenge anywhere in the world,” Peralta said. “Now put it in the context of producing on an island, where everything arrives by air or by water. Having two major brands you use every day walking through your plant in person, helping you identify opportunities — that is not a small thing.”

What the visits produced

The pattern held at nearly every stop. A part failing. A supply issue. A machine down. Several were resolved during the visit itself.

The tour opened doors that a sales call does not. The group was taken into stock rooms and live production areas. In some plants, manufacturers showed them competitor products and locally fabricated substitutes bought during emergencies — the parts made in a local shop when a line is down and nothing is on the island.

Peralta’s objective was narrower than selling. “I wanted them to understand that Arkote and Esband have a lot to offer that they don’t know about,” he said — extensive technical service, and a considerable body of information published freely by both manufacturers.

Each participant covered his own ground: Bassett on knives and grinding discs, Williams on belts, Iten on technical support. Peralta handled language and the translation between technical and commercial, while letting each manufacturer speak for himself.

Why it mattered

Esband and Fi-Tech/Arkote had made joint customer visits before, in the Dominican Republic and elsewhere. What was new was doing it with local stock already on the ground behind them — a manufacturer’s technical team and the parts they were discussing available in the same country at the same time.

For the manufacturers, the week provided something their offices in Virginia, Germany and Switzerland cannot: production in progress, and the operating reality of an island supply chain.

For Protabaco, it demonstrated reach — and how close the company sits to the procurement and engineering teams that run these plants.

The commercial result has been visible since. Inquiries raised during the week have converted into orders, order volumes have increased, and manufacturers who had never bought from Protabaco have begun to.