Worldwide: Brazil

With over 150 employees in ten locations, the HANSA‑FLEX country organisation in Brazil covers a remarkable range of industries: petrochemical, oil and gas as well as customers from sectors such as mining, cellulose production and timber processing. To these can be added mechanical engineering and the manufacture of agricultural machinery.

Some success stories begin with a chance meeting. A case in point was the founding of the HANSA‑FLEX Brazilian country operation. Klaus Behr, Business Development Manager at HANSA‑FLEX, was drafting a letter to an industrial hydraulics engineer in São Paulo who was interested in collaborating with us in Brazil. Behr was still working on his letter when he received a visit from Theo Kleba, a former HANSA‑FLEX employee. Kleba had worked for years in the central warehouse but had needed to return to his Brazilian homeland for personal reasons. Behr asked Kleba for help in translating his letter into Portuguese. Before the letter was finished, Kleba offered to establish the foreign subsidiary in Brazil for HANSA‑FLEX. After some initial preparations, HANSA‑FLEX do Brasil was founded at the end of 1999. As with every new foreign subsidiary, CEO Thomas Armerding and Klaus Behr assessed the situation on the ground for themselves before giving the go-ahead for the first country organisation in South America. In 2001, just two years later, the establishment of the first branch was the signal for further growth in Brazil, and more locations in the largest country in South America followed. The mobile Rapid Hydraulic Service started with its first vehicle in 2017, ensuring an even quicker response for our customers. Today, the fleet has six service vehicles. Another milestone was passed in 2021 with the start of the Industrial Service at the Rio de Janeiro branch.

Every day, HANSA‑FLEX overcomes countless challenges in Brazil. On the one hand, customers come from an extremely varied range of industries, from mining and petrochemicals right up to agriculture. On the other hand, the economic environment is very dynamic and price-sensitive. “The Brazilian market is huge and offers genuine opportunities for growth. To make use of this potential, we must not only be familiar with the market’s specific peculiarities; we must also react swiftly when conditions change. In this respect, our team do a superb job every day. Not only in the branches but also on site with the customers,” explains Luis Miguel Torres Silva, Managing Director HANSA‑FLEX Brazil. The Brazilian country operation excels with industry-orientated advice, quick service and products that combine high quality with innovation. The goal is always to respond quickly and offer the customer the best possible solution, because customer loyalty cannot be taken for granted in a booming market like Brazil. “Companies must make decisions quickly from a short-term perspective as there is seldom any long-term planning certainty,” comments Torres Silva. In addition, other hydraulic providers flood the market with solutions that are aggressively priced, almost always to the detriment of quality and performance. As a consequence, the country organisation invests specifically in the technical training of its employees, expands sales and strengthens its ability to deliver through following an optimised, internationally based material procurement strategy. “We see ourselves not only as a supplier but also and primarily as a system partner and problem solver across the whole field of hydraulics. By adopting this market position, we seek to increase our growth.”

The Brazilian economy recovered quickly from the COVID pandemic and shows extremely positive developments, primarily in the shape of booming foreign trade and robust domestic consumption. HANSA‑FLEX has set a course for growth and wants to substantially increase the rate of sales in Brazil yet again. “We have established ourselves in Brazil as a leading hydraulics partner and would like to greatly extend our market position and branch network,” says Managing Director Torres Silva, who is striving to increase business volume by 60% in the next 5 years. While the ten HANSA‑FLEX branches currently concentrate for the most part on the metropolitan regions along the Atlantic coast, such as Blumenau, São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, the team around Luis Miguel Torres plans to expand the country organisation’s presence with new locations in other parts of the country. Branches or partnerships are planned in the federal states of Minas Gerais (capital: Belo Horizonte) and Espírito Santo (Vitória) in the south-east, in Bahia (Salvador), Ceará (Fortaleza) and Pernambuco (Recife) in the north-east as well as in Pará (Belém) and Amazonas (Manaus) in northern Brazil, among other places. Typically for Brazil, these new HF locations will not only vary greatly in geography, culture and climate but will also have their own widely differing economic and business focus. The range of industries extends from mining (iron ore, gold, natural stone, bauxite) to rubber and timber harvesting, from mineral oil production to the cultivation of coffee, sugar cane, cocoa and nuts as well as fishing and aquaculture. To all this can be added tourism and the further processing of raw materials for export. “Our success is based on a real team performance in combination with innovative products and first-class service. I am proud of what we have accomplished together in Brazil and confident that we will achieve our goals with our high-quality products and services,” adds Torres Silva.