CNH makes Sorocaba the 1st global center for exportation
Valor Econômico - 06/20/2008
Case New Holland (CNH), which belongs to the Fiat Group, will make the city of Sorocaba (SP) an international base for the exportation of parts, agricultural machines and also machinery for civil construction. According to the company, this is the first unit of the group with this profile in the world. In order to achieve the new status, the unit of the group located in Sorocaba, deactivated since 2001, will resume its production next year. A distribution center with 60 thousand square meters will also be built in Sorocaba. The new office will replace the one currently located in Itu (SP). CNH presented the details of the reactivation project of the unit on Thursday. The reactivation will consume an investment of R$ 987 million (US$ 605.5 million), an amount that already includes a working capital of R$ 150 million (US$ 92 million). The civil works will receive investments of R$ 310 million (US$ 190.2 million). The reactivation of the unit was in the plan of investments of the Fiat Group for the 2007-to-2010 period. The unit will produce only Case line machines. The company did not disclose the type of machine they will produce in Sorocaba, but affirmed they will produce, in the city, the line of machines aimed at the sugar-cane crops, concentrated in the unit of Piracicaba (SP), and tractors. The unit that had 600 employees in 2001 and produced 500 machines a year will now have 1,200 employees. Its installed capacity will be increased to 8 thousand units a year. The installed capacity of the reborn unit of CNH will be of 8 thousand machines, but the forecast is that 4.5 thousand units will be produced in 2010. Two-thirds of this volume will be formed by agricultural machines, declared the officer of external relations of the company, Milton Rego. The other part will be civil construction machinery. With the resumption of the unit, the total capacity of the four units of CNH in Brazil, which is currently at 28 thousand machines, will grow nearly 30%. As it will also be a distribution center for parts for the other units, it is expected that the other units also increase their production, says Rizzioli. CNH also has units in Curitiba and Contagem (MG).