SKF strengthens operations in services
Gazeta Mercantil 05/06/2009
The Brazilian branch of Swedish group SKF is strengthening the industrial division, which operates in areas like bearings, seals, lubrication systems, mechatronics and industrial maintenance. In order to do so, the company established a new business unit, Ixion Solution Factory, whose purpose is to offer customized industrial solutions, according to the needs of each client, centralized in one single project, using products and services of the several areas of operation of the company in the sector.
The Brazilian unit, the fourth operation of the group to create this business unit, has already invested R$ 3 million (US$ 1.36 million) in the implementation of such project and another R$ 2 million (US$ 909.1 thousand) should be invested until 2010. The resources are being disbursed in infrastructure, equipment and staff training. The company forecasts that the new business unit will be responsible for 15% of the earnings of the service division still this year. For 2011, it is expected to reach 50%. The company does not disclose the earnings of the division, it only informs the area registered an average increase of 20% in the last five years. SKF do Brasil, which also operates in the automotive segment, sold R$ 600 million (US$ 327.9 million) in 2008, an increase of 8% compared to the previous year. According to the director of the industrial services division of SKF do Brasil, Carlos Alberto Fernandes, such a change provides more agility to the productive processes. The officer emphasized the company started taking part in a global platform that provides technical and operational information developed by the companies of the group all over the world. "That will make it easier for us to get the information as well as provide more agility in the development of specific solutions for each client, of several kinds of industry and speeds up the process", he said, emphasizing that besides the centralized service, the clients also have the chance of getting a product or a solution that did not exist in the market so far. Fernandes also emphasized that the participation in the global platform will allow the Brazilian branch to solve any difficulties arising in the evolution of the projects and correct complex problems in the machinery more quickly, since the group specialists located anywhere in the world can also be consulted.