Day 5 - HTA and avionics manufacturing

Today we went to a smaller city just outside of Sao Paulo to visit High Technology Aeronautics, a trading company founded in 2002 and growing rapidly. Last year there were only seven companies in the consortium, today there are twenty. This company was founded by employees who are no longer working for Embraer, an airplane manufacturer.

They, like everyone else in Brazil are very concerned with recycling and even have bins for organic waste like apple cores and banana peels!

We started out with an open air presentation in a covered enclosure on site with no walls by HTA and Mirage.

The purpose of HTA is to assist those in the association in the creation of business relationships and partnerships with organizations from other countries. Currently there are exports to Canada, USA, Gaza, Dubhai, and Geneva.

The benefits of HTA are the promotion and recognition of companies on a global scale. Those currently in the association have the advantage of the partnerships and communication strategies globally. Each company is responsible for obtaining and maintaining their business connections

however obtaining new networks occurs through the association travelling to Canada, USA, and other countries to explain the benefits these companies can provide to current businesses around the world

.

There are currently 2500 workers employed within the companies associated with HTA. When asked about recruitment challenges they advised that in the early 90’s Embraer downsized and had to lay off 4000 employees. It is from these lay offs that some of the companies in the association originated and the current employee pool is drawn.

When asked about the current economic challenges, they advised that there were problems with suppliers and some agreements must be frozen because the companies could not take the 20 year debt required, however they are stable. In fact, Embraer has now opened a factory in the United States to try to keep up with the Executive market in the U.S.

How stable is the current association? It has grown from seven companies to t

wenty companies within the last year and within another couple of months has the opportunity to merge with a few more companies. The expectation is that there will be fifty companies within the next year.

Mirage

This company was founded in 1976 and is the oldest supplier for Embraer.

90% of the company’s production is for aeronautics parts and the other 10% is for commodity parts. In addition, Mirage also produces prototypes for companies to assist with research and development. Included in these products is fake landing gear, sold for training purposes.

The current crisis in Brazil has not diminished the production capacity of the company. While the volume of product required has remained the same, the price requested by the clients has diminished. There has been a significant price decrease within the last year.

Currently Mirage exports to Brad-Whitney and BRT in Canada. B

rad Whitney requires product from Mirage, whereas BRT only requires a service, their research and development expertise.

Mirage currently has three existing companies in different cities within Brazil. The first two companies employ 150 employees with salaries ranging from $800/ month (Real) for cleaning staff to $10,000/month (Real) for top executives.

We were treated with a tour of the facility and what parts they provide to the airplanes, we needed safety goggles and ear plugs inside the machine shop. This picture was to prove to

my wife that I went on the trip as I am always behind the camera!

The Brazilian BBQ

It is a wonderful experience! The salad, cheese table and small dishes are buffet style and then the waiters bring a variety of meats from salmon to lamb, beef to chicken to the table on swords and offer as much as you want. They continue to bring different types of meat until you say stop or die, whichever comes first. These lunches can easily last 2 hours in Brazil as lunch is the largest meal of the day.

Everyone had a great time and had way too much to eat. I apparently left too early to walk off some meat before the bus arrived as others told me of the delicious dessert cart that followed!

Astra

We were met to a high level of security as this plant was in the city's poorer neighborhood. In other areas of the neighborhood, the nails on the top of the fence were replaced with broken glass and metal shards. The fence is even topped with electrical fence wiring!

The heat was intense in the afternoon after arriving at Astra, it was over 30C and most of the group was wearing suit jackets that slowly came off, until the heat won out and Kelly actually took off his sweater vest and suit jacket! We didn't think that was ever possible!

This was also a manufacturing company that manufactures the smaller parts for the major airline companies such as Embraer and Bombardier. The President of the HTA is the current owner of Astra. This company began 25 years ago machining parts for guns and has progressed throughout the years to a successful aeronautics engineering company.

The economic situation has affected them more significantly in the last year. They have since expanded into other areas to cover their losses in the aeronautics industry. This includes the auto industry, as well as other miscellaneous industries requiring the smaller machined parts.

Astra has reduced production from 100,000 pieces to 40, 000 pieces since the economic crisis began. They are however currently attempting to obtain contracts in France, Germany, Sp

ain, and America.

They are a small company; however they have the entrepreneurial spirit that will guide them through the current crisis.

After a long, hot day of touring and learning, a two hour bus ride back to Sao Paulo was a great chance to catch a few zzzz'z! (Shhh)