MWM bets on new technologies
Valor Econômico
Development of new technologies and portfolio diversity are the main weapons of MWM International Motors, Brazilian subsidiary of the giant Navistar, to keep the leadership in the segment of diesel engines in the Mercosur and benefit from the growth potential of the market of trucks, agricultural machinery and commercial vehicles in the coming years. In 2009, despite the structural shock suffered by the car industry, the company assured net earnings of US$ 850 million, above the expected but below the earnings of US$ 1.1 billion of a year earlier, based precisely on such strategy. This way, by 2014, MWM International will aim much of the US$ 345 million it plans to invest in the country to the development of new products, such as the biodiesel and ethanol engines that should start being supplied in 2012.
The offer of alternative fuels, according to the Sales and Marketing Officer of the company, Michael Ketterer, is the starting point of the research and development agenda. Besides the engine that combines biodiesel and ethanol, a propeller that runs on B20 Biodiesel - a blend of 20% biodiesel and 80% oil diesel fuel - and another flex engine that runs on diesel and gas are on the focus of the testing and research. MWM International makes engines for pickups, trucks and agricultural machinery and also for energy generation and other special applications, from 3 liters to 9.3 liters of capacity.
At the same time it makes investments on research, which are justified by the interest shown by makers and the company headquarters, Navistar, world leader in the manufacture of commercial trucks, and due to legal requirements related to the emission of pollutant gases, MWM International is getting ready to resume the levels of production of two years ago, the best result since the purchase of MWM by the American conglomerate. Driven by the recovery of the sales in the country and the resumption of the exports, the Brazilian subsidiary may return to the nearly 140 thousand engines produced a year in 2011.
Last year, when the national production of trucks fell 26% to 123.6 thousand units, and that of bus chassis fell 22%, to 34.5 thousand units, according to data of the National Association of Motor Vehicle Manufacturers (Anfavea), MWM produced 112 thousand engines, 20.6% less than the 141 thousand units produced in 2008. The pace, however, was above the originally projected and, at the end of the year, the company ended up hiring another 200 employees at the plants of São Paulo (SP) and Canoas (RS) - at the worst moment of crisis, MWM did not lay off its employees, but it reduced the working hours in the plants for three months.
In 2010, MWM plans to produce 130 thousand engines, with the maintenance of the exports at nearly 20% of the businesses. Such slice should increase to 30% as of the end of 2011, when it will start supplying 25 thousand engines a year for two new models of Daewoo Bus, which will be sold in South Korea. Regardless of the optimistic expectation, the Executive avoids making estimates for the financial results. In 2006, MWM had announced the goal of reaching net earnings of US$ 1 billion in 2010, which ended up taking place two years before, in 2008. That was the best year in the history of the company in terms of national production of trucks and bus chassis.