Different companies, originally in the industry field, are investing to stop being only manufacturers and to become providers of solutions. By offering services, the major industries are able to retain customers and sign medium and long term agreements. Recently, companies as GE, WEG and GM took these movements types in Brazil.
“It is a natural value chain expansion. The product created by the industry generates a need for maintenance, for example, an opportunity for business in the field of services,” declares Denis Balaguer, director of EY (Ernst & Young) innovation center and coordinator of the services innovation committee of the National Association for Research and Development of Innovative Companies (Anpei).
The GE Transportation, locomotives manufacturer, just opened a monitoring and remote diagnosis of fleet failures center in Contagem (MG), the second one of the group in the world and the first one outside the USA. This new technology enables GE to identify, for example, if the temperature of a part is high and send an alert to the driver, avoiding a system crash and the cost of a damaged part. According to GE Transportation’s president for Latin America, Rogério Mendonça, the investment aims at expanding GE’s operations as supplier of a complete technology service in railway transportation. In five years, sales in the maintenance industry jumped from 15% to 40% of company revenues.
“The trend is to offer full service agreements, in which we sell the locomotive, undertake the entire maintenance of the customer’s fleet and guarantee a minimum operational performance of the product,” explained Mendonça. The first one in Brazil was closed approximately one year ago, with ALL, providing for the management of 107 locomotives for 15 years. Before, ALL fleet was monitored by GE through the central in the United States.
GE is not alone in this movement. General Motors launched, in the end of 2015, the service OnStar, which connects brand vehicles drivers to a call center capable of alerting an ambulance or giving information about the nearest hotel. For now, the service is available for Cruze and Cobalt owners, who will have free access to the center for 12 months. Then, it will be sold by subscription. “More than a business opportunity, OnStar is a competitive safety and convenience differential focusing on customers’ retention to the bran,” declared GM’s director, Carlos Meinert.
The wish of offering services for customers already led major industries to acquire services companies. The French tires manufacturer Michelin, for example, paid BRL 1.6 million in 2014 to acquire the Brazilian cargo tracking company Sascar. By the end of last year, WEG engines manufacturer acquired the generators maintenance company Efacec Energy Service, from Pernambuco. According to the CEO of WEG Transmission and Distribution unit, Carlos Diether Prinz, the acquisition was made to help WEG gaining relevance in the “reform and re-powering” of hydroelectric plants older generators. Today, almost 90% of WEG’s revenues come from new engines manufacture and sale.
However, according to Prinz, there is an opportunity for growth in engines “retrofit”. WEG estimates that nearly half of Brazilian hydroelectric was built in the 60s and 70s and have transformers with useful life nearly ending. In these cases, it is often more advantageous for the customer to make a re-powering of the old generator than buying a new one, explains Prinz. “It is a complementary business. It does not compete with the sale of new engines,” emphasizes the executive. After maintenance, the engine is returned “redone” and receives WEG brand.
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