Machine parts and components sector grows stronger in Brazil

With an eye on the evolution of the machinery fleet, companies supplying parts for construction and mining equipment are increasing their market share

In recent years, fleets have evolved in terms of variety and specificity for the most diverse applications in the construction and mining sectors. If in mid-2009 there wasn’t such a wide variety of makes and models of a given type of equipment in Brazil, and the options that existed at the time often worked in operations for which they were not well dimensioned, today the reality has changed. The Brazilian market is more mature, with a good portfolio of options that, although less than in the United States and Europe, has met the demands of modern engineering.

This evolution has been positive for the parts and services market, which has developed to meet the needs of companies. The more diverse the country becomes in terms of quantities and options, the greater the demand for different types of spare parts, a reality that could be seen among the parts companies exhibiting at M&T Expo 2022.

Thiago Giglio, director of Tem Tratorpeças, for example, mentioned that sales have grown by 30% a year since the beginning of the pandemic. “We invested heavily at the beginning of 2020, sensing the hardship ahead, and the strategy was assertive,” he said. According to him, the focus of participating in the M&T Expo is to expand the customer portfolio and present new parts, as well as welcoming new and veteran friends.

“With online sales, we made contact with many people we hadn’t met in person. At the stand, we were able to meet up and have a good, well-deserved get-together,” says Giglio. Tem Tratorpeças specializes in selling parts for Komatsu machines, supplying everything from electrical items to filters, seals, undercarriages and engines. The company has more than 50,000 spare parts from brands such as Freudenberg-NOK, Sakura Fillter, Miba, World Gasket and USCO-ITR.

Japanese manufacturer Kubota also took part in M&T Expo 2022 to get to know its customers better and increase the brand’s presence at the sector’s main trade fair, since, according to Craig Dow, the company’s sales manager for Latin America, its presence had previously been timid.

“We had visitors from countries like Paraguay and Uruguay, and many people were interested in spare parts for the brand’s engines. It was even possible to detect that we don’t have a distribution network wide enough to meet all the market demand,” says Dow.

The fair was very positive for consolidating the brand and better understanding customer needs, says the manager, who says he did good business during the event. However, the company has identified the need to increase its stock of spare parts in Brazil, since consumption tends to be much higher than the quantity on offer.

“Kubota has been growing by 20% a year in the country, so it will be necessary to increase production. And this high trend is likely to increase, so we’ll need to be better structured,” says Dow, who has already confirmed his presence at the next edition of the event.

For Paulo Rosas, Hydraforce’s sales and marketing manager, taking part as an exhibitor at a fair like M&T Expo is very important. “We have a significant presence in the agricultural market, but we want to increase our participation in the construction sector, strengthening the brand institutionally and raising new opportunities,” he explains.

According to him, the construction equipment segment is booming and investment in infrastructure works is essential for the country to sustain itself. “Hydraforce is a global reference in the segment of cartridge valves mounted on manifold blocks for equipment in the construction, agricultural and industrial sectors. Since 2016, the company has been growing by more than 20% a year and has invested constantly as a result.

Tecpolimer, another company exhibiting at M&T Expo 2022, presented products for filling tires, an old technology that emerged in the United States in the 1970s and has been produced by the company in Brazil since the 1990s. “The material is injected in its liquid state into the tire, filling it completely, and the air is drained out. The resin, in turn, continues to be injected to give the tire greater pressure,” describes Ciro Nogueira, the company’s technical director.

In this way, a 50 psi tire is inflated with the liquid at 50 psi. After 48 hours, the material reacts and forms a soft, pressurized rubber, enabling a tire with plies and a pressurized casing that supports the load. “The elastomer-filled tire ends up being much softer than a solid one, which is why this system is suitable for small tires as well as those for mining trucks,” says Nogueira, who is preparing the company’s participation for M&T Expo 2024.

By: Santelmo Camilo