Greenfield project – Establishment of a production and sales location in Brazil

Goal: Establishment and management of a manufacturing company for hydraulic hoses with sales in Brazil for the South American market

Project

Duration: 9 months

Role in the project: Project Manager / Managing Director

Operational area, geographical:

  • Brazil
  • South America
  • Germany

Company

Type: Mechanical engineering
Turnover: 40 Mio. EUR
Number of employees: 160

Description

The company is a German manufacturer of high-pressure hoses. In order to be close to the global customers also in South America, a plant was built in Brazil.

Due to the existing rough plan I was entrusted as “man of the first hour” with the implementation of the Greenfield project.

Measures

  • Milestone planning of the overall project
  • Definition of subprojects
  • Preparation/revision of the budget
  • Determination of location according to previously defined criteria
  • Business registration / obtaining permits on site
  • Coordination with authorities and committees
  • Selection / negotiation with suppliers on site
  • Coordination / supervision of the installation of the infrastructure
  • Personnel search / recruitment / training
  • Import of the machines
  • Customer talks / acquisition / relationship management
  • Budget controlling
  • Coordination of dates with all parties involved in Germany and Brazil
  • Opening of the plant and go-live

Team

  • Operations Manager, Development Manager and Sales Manager (Germany)
  • Controller and IT specialist (Germany)
  • Law firm (Brazil)
  • Tax office (Brazil)
  • Logistics companies (Brazil)
  • Production Manager (Brazil)
  • Assistant (Brazil)
  • Various third party companies in Brazil (installation, personnel agency, etc.)

Reporting

  • Regular coordination with third party companies in Brazil
  • Weekly coordination with colleagues in Germany
  • Bi-weekly progress report to management in Germany

Interfaces

  • Management in Germany
  • Operations Management, Development, Sales, Finance & Controlling, IT and Logistics in Germany
  • Authorities (city administration, trade unions, tax office, etc.) in Brazil
  • Law firm, tax office, logistics provider in Brazil
  • All construction and installation trades in Brazil
  • Local employees in Brazil

Success

Within a very short time (9 months), the plant was opened and began manufacturing and supplying customers on site. The plant was built “lean”, so that after the start-up phase there was only little need for optimization.

Within one year we were able to win two large key accounts (exclusively) for us.

Share

Scroll to Top