Hello again all together. Last wednesday evening I participated in our monthly conversation round, which CAMCHAL, the German-Chilean Chamber of Commerce and Industry ( https://chile.ahk.de/es/ ) has wonderfully set up as an online conference for all interested CEOs of associated German and Chilean companies. This was actually our second meeting and this time we were in total eight participants, including Johanna Sternberg, the Commercial Director of Camchal, who prepares and moderates these encounters perfectly for us. As Chile is a relatively small country in terms of the size and diversity of it`s industry and economy, most of the participants represent companies, which are mainly focussed on doing business with the chilean copper mining industry, which is the biggest copper supplier of the world. Chile alone accounts for 25% of the copper supply of the world, double as much as Peru, which is the second biggest copper supplier (12,5%), China (9%), the USA (6,5%) and the DR Congo (5,5%).
For us at Vulkan do Brasil (https://www.vulkan.com/en-us/holding/vulkan-companies/brazil) Chile is a very important country, to which we supply our complete portfolio of all types of couplings, brakes and backstops for all kinds of typical industrial mechanical power transmission applications successfully since more than twenty years. The products of our industrial division Vulkan Drive Tech are beeing distributed and serviced in Chile with full support of our development and engineering center and factory in Itatiba, Sao Paulo, by our highly experienced exclusive partner SCEM Ltda ( https://scem-chile.cl/) from out of it`s headquarters and technical sevice center in Maipú, Santiago and it`s regional service and distribution center in Antofagasta.
During our Camchal CEO conversation round, we discussed intensively the current challenges for all our companies and for the chilean industry, economy and society caused by the ongoing Covid-19 crisis and we exchanged information, how the different companies deal with this situation individually. Another subject of our discussions were the actual general economical and political situation in Chile and the expectations for their future development.
For me it is really impressive, how Covid-19 and it`s colateral economic effects have impacted almost in a similiar negative way all economies in Latin America and – with minor differences between some of them – practically also all other economies in all other regions around the globe. This explains, why we see ourselfes confronted with almost the same questions as all others in all countries and companies worldwide
We at our brazilian company have so far managed quite successfully all challenges and our business and all our administrative and productive processes continue unharmed and work perfectly. For sure our highest efforts – besides the protection of the health of our employees – is to guarantee the uninterrupted continuity of all our manufacturing and delivery processes and services for our customers.
With the given situation of the general high uncertainty due to Covid-19 and it`s completely unpredictable development and impacts for all of us, I personally have defined full concentration on the short term future as our main focus at Vulkan do Brasil since the outbrake of this terrible crisis meanwhile more than 3 months ago. For me this situation compares very much to driving a car in tight fog. I believe strongly, that it is in such situations the most important, to move carefully and watch only as far as one can see, because driving too fast and trying to look too far are not helpful anyhow and can even provoke dangerous situations. This does not mean at all, that we do not prepare ourselfes at our company in the best possible ways for the different future scenarios we can imagine. But the situation itself and the imaginable future scenarios are frequently changing and therefore I give the highest importance to avoiding any avoidable failures and the exclusion of all unnecessary additional risks.
For these reasons I am personally and in my function as President of our company not really concerned today with “the end of the world”, which so many scaremongers predict. Our main customers and our business are functionning – thank god – almost unharmed and this must be successively secured and continued. We at Vulkan do Brasil are adapting ourselfes within the natural given limitations to all new circumstances arising and I am sure, that we all will get through these difficult times and out again of the current deep global trouble sooner or later. Our main focus and objective is to achieve this in the best possible manner, during the shortest possible time and with the lowest possible losses.
The collage of the two beautiful pictures above shows our factory in Itatiba, Sao Paulo, and – from out of my office- a view on the surrounding landscape during sundown.
Thanks for paying me once more Your valuable and highly appreciated attention. Hope to see You back again here in my blog tomorrow.
