Currently, Brazil is going through the biggest economic and political crisis in its history. The consequences affected all business segments in the country without exception, including industrial engineering, which is considered a fundamental support vector for the growth of Brazilian infrastructure and which is strongly linked to the promotion of technology and innovation.
Much is said about the training of Brazilian engineering to face the present challenges and those to come. Thus, it is important to highlight the Brazilian expertise that can be compared to its international counterparts in the elaboration of engineering projects in all industrial sectors such as mining and steel, pulp and paper, chemical and petrochemical, oil and gas, software engineering, among others. .
We can say that engineering qualification reaches international levels, remembering, however, that there are segments of very low demand, in which few specialists are available worldwide.
With the crisis in Brazil, associated with international instability in the oil and gas market, one of the most important in the services area, construction companies and operators need to reduce the cost of projects. Solutions are needed, as previously economically viable projects become unattractive at the oil price levels expected in the coming years. The “fit for purpose” projects, until recently very widespread, justify many of the reasons for higher investments. Engineering, construction and operator companies revisited this concept by increasing flexibility as well as criteria in the selection of equipment that led to unnecessary overcapacity. Another factor is the requirement and use of codes and standards effectively necessary for specific applications. This concept is absorbed and engineering companies can now present internationally competitive projects while maintaining quality and safety requirements.
However, many of these actions are not enough to leverage Brazilian competitiveness in global terms.
It is necessary to carry out a work that must be led by the representative class associations of the sector, where Abemi is inserted to implement necessary reforms to unlock the sector, such as reviewing the high tax burden and labor legislation that requires a broad review, in addition to the preparation and qualification of execution professionals through actions applied since training in technical schools, so that it is possible to prepare qualified professionals capable of meeting the expected demand, whether in the technical area or in management and leadership.
Abemi is perhaps the only national association that brings together the entire engineering supply chain: design and management, civil construction, electromechanical assembly, maintenance and manufacturing.
This characteristic allows Abemi to represent all interested sectors in unison, taking institutional actions in the interests of its associates.
In the current political-economic moment, we work strongly in joining efforts to obtain solutions that satisfy the expectations and needs of companies in the sector.
For this, in addition to actions taken with authorities and relevant companies in the sector seeking to unlock the economy, we also work with other class entities such as associations and State Federations advocating the reduction of interest, expansion of credit, acceleration of concessions of infrastructure works, stimulus to exports and changes in the legislation that governs the exploration of the Pre-Salt.
Nelson Romano is a chemical industrial engineer from FEI, where he was also a professor. He worked in the oil, petrochemical and gas-chemical areas and worked for companies such as Petrobras, FGV, Petroquímica União, Copene and ABB Lummus Global in Brazil. He is currently director of Doris Engenharia and president of Abemi.