Publicado em 24 de junho de 2014

Congress occurs jointly with M&T Parts and Services, the only fair that is directed to the after-sale and equipment management segments, which will be open until Friday, in SP

The 2^nd National Congress to Evaluate the Rental Activity, held during the M&T Parts and Services Congress, was attended by businesspersons and professionals, representing 13 Brazilian states.  

Opening the congress, Afonso Mamede, president of Sobratema – Associação Brasileira de Tecnologia para Construção e Mineração, pointed out the importance of promoting the discussion during the event, the purpose of which is fundamentally the integration of the industry chain. “In order to obtain collective benefits, we need to think outside the box, favoring the complete industry chain and not only each and every isolated class”, he said.

The first speech was given by Mário Humberto Marques, director of Alusa Engenharia, who presented the equipment rental customer’s optics in the construction industry. By detailing the rental participation in the heavy construction industry, he pointed out that the demand has a trend to increase in fluctuation moments, with mobilization peaks that are determined by the chronogram of the equipment permanence in the jobsite. “In heavy construction and infrastructure, the rental meets 30% of the fleet need”, he stressed. “But in projects with longer duration, the acquisition of the asset is justified, as an important part of the profit comes from the use of the company’s own equipment.”

As far as trends are concerned, Marques declared that until 2015 there will be a reorganization of the industry, with a sharp effort in the liabilities reduction. From 2016 on, an accelerated disappearance of opportunists should occur, generating a more competitive market. “This is an opportunities niche in which it will be necessary to make disinvestments outside the core business, to offer more competitive prices as compared to the owned equipment cost and to demonstrate competitive differentials, by proving to the customer that it is better to rent, even with a higher unit cost.”

Next, Paulo Esteves, director of Solaris Brasil, a rental company, drew a comparative panel of Brazilian market with the European and North-American similar markets. By pointing out the associative vision, the executive described the differential that the extreme professionalization of association of the industry represents for the rental companies in developed countries. “In Europe and in USA, there is a very big emphasis on the analytical rigor, in order to create tangible foundations to guide the company”, he said. “And, in a difficult and competitive market such as the rental business, to properly understand and interpret the figures really make a great difference.”

In Brazil, this does not occur as yet. According to Esteves, the industry works with 350 indicators, but you hardly know which one should be used in each and every situation. Furthermore, there is market dispersion among the companies, lack of parameters in terms of governance as well as performance factors that are not properly taken into account.

The third speech was given by Fernando Augusto L. de Moraes, president of ALEC (Associação Brasileira de Locadores de Equipamentos), who stressed that the rental industry needs to increase the professionalization and take into account those variables that directly impact the activity. “This is the case of the transportation when renting small size pieces of equipment”, he said.

The executive pointed out the urban deficiencies in Brazil, which have a 12% impact on GNP, whereas in developed countries that rate is 8%. “Due to infrastructure problems, the freight has a high cost in Brazil”, he said. “Five years ago, you could make two or three trips, but now the driver can only return by the end of a workday”, he adds. Such a situation, according to him, has forced the companies to duplicate the fleets, and they had to stimulate movements that are also of high cost, such as the operations regionalization.

The lack of payment is the main problem for the rental industry

On the second part of the 2^nd Congresso Nacional da Valorização do Rental, in the M&T Parts and Services Congress, three experts discussed about important themes referring to the daily activities of rental companies. In this perspective, Petrônio Lopes Lobo, director of Abelme – Associação Baiana das Empresas Locadoras de Máquinas e Equipamentos, evaluated the problems that are faced by the industry and ranked the lack of payment as the main one, “It represents  great problems, as it causes a serious imbalance of the company’s cash flow”, he said.

Marco Aurélio de Cerqueira, president of Sindileq-MG – Presidente del Sindicato das Empresas Locadoras de Equipamentos, Maquinas Ferramentas e Serviços Afins do Estado de Minas Gerais, mentioned the great importance of the rental business. “Rental is an evolution of the commercialization, and is also considered as an advantage by the customers”, he said.

Furthermore, the panel had the participation of Luiz Fernando Macedo, lawyer of Associação Paulista dos Empreiteiros e Locadores de Máquinas de Terraplenagem e Ar Comprimido (Apelmat). According to Macedo, it is important that the rental company is aware of all possible information before closing the deal. “The rental company should make a thorough analysis of everything. This pre-contractual phase is of utmost importance”, he said.

 Finally, Eurimilson Daniel, vice-president of Sobratema and mediator of the 2^nd Congresso Nacional da Valorização do Rental, evaluates that the event could approximate even more the industry entities. “The subject of valorization of our segment is now an actual need, therefore the alignment among all the representatives is of extreme importance,” he pointed out. “The Congress also brought relevant information that will certainly contribute to the market development and for the increase of the rental companies’ competitiveness.