AD_MAGAZINE_343

36 April 2018 | AutoData EVENT » AUTODATA SEMINAR theweakest links in the chain, Tier 3 down, have invested in recent years to serve pro- duction well over three million vehicles. “What can happen is that Tier 3 vendors may take longer to meet the automakers’ schedules if orders increase. They have a longer response time. But I do not see it as a bottleneck. This deterioration of which some speak does not seem evident to us. In the year 2017, for example, we saw more companies coming to Sindipeças than leaving. We grew 4% in the number of associates.” The president of Sindipeças also stres- sed that the proof that the segment is pre- pared to meet a probable increase in the production of vehicles is the use of instal- led capacity, which nowstands at 70%. “We are on the same level as in 2015, not a high number. Auto parts, aswell as automakers, have also prepared for a production of five million to six million vehicles five years ago. Thiswas the scenario foreseen at that time. So for a production of three million units, we are qualified.” REVIEW UP Sindipeças estimates an 11% growth in the volume of vehicles manufactured this year in Brazil - this index, however, should be revised up soon. According to Ioschpe the orders of the automakers were higher than estimated in the first months of this year. “The 11% growth forecast was a sce- nario last year. This number should surely reach the 20% mark. And we will be ready to meet that demand.” Ioschpe also said that the Rota 2030 program, which was originally schedu- led for the end of last year, could have some points already edited this year to give more predictability to the automotive sector. “Points that are already set could be published earlier, such as energy efficiency and safety. This is because the market can be invaded by a range of products with technology level lower than that deter- mined by Inovar-Auto. But government is a complex entity.” A theme also intensely debated during the seminar promoted by AutoData Pu- blishing was the competitiveness in the sector. For Fernando Magri, director of Thompson Reuters, how to be competitive in the future is an issue that all companies involved in the automotive sector must be faced and discussed. He stressed that companies will need to adapt to the chan- ges that will come in the coming years: “The automotive industry is one of the few in which the industry is global. A car receives components that are made in many countries of theworld, andwith that, optimizing the logistics is a question that will make a difference in the future. But it is necessary to understand how this can be done.” According to the speaker in Brazil the- re are fourteen special customs regimes that are little explored by companies and that could improve the competitiveness of local products abroad. This is the case of Recof, which allows the importation of inputs without tax cost. “There are alrea- dy mechanisms in Brazil to increase the competitiveness of companies, but many do not explore special regimes.” A SHOT IN THE FOOT Regarding trade barriers Magri unders- tands that they have come to stay andwill be more and more present, such as the surcharge for importing steel in the United States. For the speaker, however, this can be “a shot in the foot”, because instead of leveraging the US steel industry can make the importation of a ready vehicle is cheaper than local production. Britain’s exit from the EU bloc should also become a trade barrier in the future, he added. “I believe that in the future the compa- According to Dan Ioschpe, president of Sindipeças, orders from automakers were higher than estimated in the first months of this year