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38 May 2018 | AutoData SPECIAL AWARDS » CAOA F or the second time in its history, Caoa Assembler appreciates its best sup- pliers - and it was probably the last time that Chery, in a recently signed agreement, was out of the awards. The focus of Caoa’s purchasing de- partment today is to put the new society running very well on profitability. And in these first partnership moves, in practice, and basically, making and remaking cal- culations to understand whether it’s best to import parts or locate your production, according to its director Ivan Witt. By Bruno de Oliveira Dilemma: Brazilian auto parts or Chinese and Korean Caoa Assembler awards its suppliers keeping an eye on growth of its nationalization index from the new operation with Chery in Anápolis, GO, and Jacareí, SP “The best equation will always be to buy material in the same place where the vehicle is produced, but we need to understand the conditions to know what we do here and what we bring from Asia. The exchange rate is a critical issue. The Chinese currency is appreciating and we may have to do more things here”. A key part of this account is Rota 2030, so the companywill wait the next steps of the federal government to make its final decisions: “It is fundamental to know the rules of the game”. Nowadays, 68% of direct purchases of Caoa, related to the production of Hyundai models in Anápolis, GO, involve imports. The remaining 32% are items produced here, which in any case represents a re- presentative jumpwhen the index is com- pared to 2014: a mere 6%. Despite the uncertainty about the new federal automotive policy, there is a natu- ral inclination from Caoa to further grow that share of domestic products,Witt says: “Seats and other large parts are harder to bring from Asia to Brazil, so that it beco-