Interview with Paulo Sérgio de Oliveira Dias, Director-Partner at Metal Ar

What is your evaluation of the mining sector in Brazil?

Brazil is a country of mining and agriculture due to its dimensions, and there is still a lot to be done. The growth possibilities are huge and mining is very important if we consider the fact that it represents only between 2% and 3% of Brazilian exports. Only 40% of the mining possibilities are being explored, so there is 60% yet to be explored. Although it was discovered 500 years ago, the Portuguese authorization for industry was only made 200 years ago, so Brazil is relatively a new country.

Could you present your company, Metal Ar?

Metal Ar was founded in 1967 and from 1985 on it has been managed by Celso Eduardo Mazzetti and myself. At the beginning, the company rented air compressors and pneumatic equipment. Since 1988, we have been providing services to the companies. Before we only rented equipment but that was very impersonal, because not all of our clients had the proper training to operate the machines. We thought that providing the service would be a great way to ensure customers’ loyalty. Nowadays we provide our services to Vale (fertilizers), Inter Cement (the former Camargo Correia Cimentos), Anglo America, Votorantim, Cif, etc.

What is Metal Ar's philosophy?

Metal Ar has 3 main pillars: technology (we always invested a lot in technology), training of our human resources and meritocracy.

How does Metal Ar differ from other companies in the same sector?

What makes us different and makes us better is the fact that we focus on those 3 pillars: technology (investment), training of our human resources and meritocracy.

The client has to understand that all those factors are important. Outsourcing is not only cost reduction, it´s a package that makes us part of our client´s work.

Is Metal Ar interested in investments or partnerships?

Of course it is. Metal Ar has high potential to grow.

We have solid partnerships with our suppliers, our clients and our employees. We maintain a solid cooperation with our suppliers because they are the manufacturers and have the state-of-the-art technology. Our suppliers (Atlas Copco, Caterpillar and Scania) believe that we are going to do everything in our power to maintain our partnership.

We have been able to help with the training of our human resources. The training is made through our suppliers, so that we become more and more productive.

In the technology area, we have Devex as a partner. We have a software called SmartMine that was developed specifically for the company Vale and through an agreement, Devex was able to market the product. This is a fleet optimization software with 2 major aspects: fleet optimization and quality (you can work on the quality of the ore you are working on). We were the first service provider company to use that technology that is fundamental and takes into consideration the final product of the client (cost-benefit).

All that allows us to grow without losing our identity.

How do you see the sector develop in the next 3 to 4 years?

Our planet is a community and obviously we depend on what happens to our partners.

In my opinion, the future of the sector is promising. The USA and Europe are showing they are coming out of the economic crisis. Due to that fact, the tendency of the international market will be to buy more.

Internally we have some events like, for example, the World Cup and we might have failed on the timing of the infrastructures construction, but we hope we will be able to profit from this experience in the future.

In 5 years’ time, where would you like Metal Ar to be?

I would like to grow, as long as we can conquer our goals. One of these goals is a project called “Associação Metal Ar para a Formação de Novos Talentos” (Metal Ar Association for the Training of New Talents) that will help in the educational and intellectual training of the sons and daughters of our employees.

In my opinion, a perfect world would be a world where our community (company) would benefit from good education. All children should have an access to good education and that is not just learning how to read and write. In such a perfect world, there would be no lack of qualified labor.

What would be your message to foreign investors? Why should they invest in your company and not in another one?

If an investor comes to Brazil, he has huge opportunities. Metal Ar specifically is an ideal company. All our goals were achieved and my company is the right company. If someone wants to invest in Metal Ar, he/she will have to share our vision and our philosophy. If someone wants to do more, it has to be better and not worse compared to what we have achieved over the years. Continue reading...

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