It is not unusual to define the Brazilian automotive industry as a “clay-footed giant”. It’s explainable: although dominated by multinational groups, the sector depends on dozens of medium and hundreds of small companies that usually suffer from a lack of financial strength to – even in good times – provide quality products and services. And in times of crisis, even to survive.
This situation has gained especially worrisome contours with the national vehicle production concentrated on increasingly sophisticated and expensive products to compensate for the market reduction that, two decades ago, was estimated at least twice larger but now points to marginal short-term growth.
For small and medium companies, the challenge tends to be much higher from now on, exactly when the nationalization movement gains strength as an alternative to business with a very unfavorable exchange rate and in front of the logistic uncertainties noticed over the last three years.
Delivering new quality products at the right time will demand a development capacity and financial and technical resources that many, or most of them, do not have. They will need engineering, with updated professionals and equipment.
And it costs a lot. A solution is to have these resources only when needed and in the right measure. This perception motivated Multittech, an engineering company located in Holambra, SP, to create a subscription platform for engineering services.
“We created a formula to make these services more accessible. Especially for small companies, keeping updated softwares means high costs, like a permanently trained staff. With the subscription, the companies do not need to allocate resources for these areas and can direct them to other needs”, says Marcelo Gomes, Multitech’s commercial director.
The platform subscription works as any other similar program. Depending on the customer’s need and financial availability, there are various plans, for specific projects or periods, which can also vary depending on the number of projects or even the solution identified for casual problems.
If necessary, a team of Multittech’s consultants can elaborate a diagnosis to suggest pre-defined packages or even create a customized one. It is paid monthly, like any vehicle or internet subscription program.
The company has at least 50 engineers and technicians, a team that can work developing a project, complement the customer’s engineering team or even works by itself, freeing the customer from keeping his own area with fixed costs.
Launched this year, the service is already presenting practical results.
About 40% of the company’s activities are dedicated to projects of nationalization of components. Ricardo Nogueira, Multittech’s CEO, believes this percentage reflects the automotive chain’s moment well. In his opinion, after addressing many developments in other markets, especially over the last decade, the companies now need to find solutions and suppliers physically closer.
“The automotive industry was the greatest buyer of this kind of service but went through changes and took most developments out of the country. It began to change”, ponders Ricardo Nogueira.
Multitech itself was born to meet old industry’s demands in 1997 and expanded its activity range since then as an answer to others emerged in the following years. From a supplier of segment-oriented softwares, it began to act as a development and test center.
The physical structure created in Hortolândia after 2019 has, among other resources, simulation equipment; test, vehicle safety, noise emissions and electronics laboratories; and even tracks for automobiles and agriculture machines.
In a recent job for a customer, Mutlittech validated the door gaskets of the last Honda vehicles launched. The company also has worked a lot testing seats and safety belts.
Therefore, the universe of potential subscription service customers is very ample. According to Gomes, Multittech develops services for an average of 120 automotive sector companies annually – a considerable part of its customers, including airspace and capital goods industries.
“But there are at least twice the number of tier 2 or 3 suppliers that could use this tool and face cash difficulties or have outdated engineering departments”.
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