To circumvent the crisis, industrial engineering focuses on competitiveness and integrity

The difficulty that currently permeates the Brazilian market causes us great concern. We are past the middle of the year and, after seven months of the current government, the forecast of economic growth in 2019 has been gradually reduced by financial market analysts, leaving the 2.6% reached in mid-January, and reaching 0.82% this month July, according to a Focus report released by the Central Bank (BC).

Investments are also in a similar situation. Of the fifteen industry sectors evaluated by FGV in April, the only ones that used their production capacity in the first quarter of the year, without idleness, were: the pharmaceutical industry, cellulose & paper, and clothing.

Our hope is that the areas of investment in oil and agribusiness are still considered promising. But, for now, many companies in our sector, with great potential for generating employment, continue with a low business portfolio.

The moment calls for competitiveness, technological leaps, advances in the digital revolution, an industry 4.0, allied immediately to political and efficient action by the Government in the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate, to obtain the votes necessary for the approval of the indispensable social security reform, which may adjust the fiscal debt and invest in infrastructure and, consequently, minimize this shameful unemployment rate, avoiding an unsustainable situation for the country in the coming years.

Instead of worrying about ideologies and customs, the government's focus must be on macroeconomics, controlling inflation, reducing interest rates, reducing bureaucracy, approving pension reform and industrial policy. These are essential conditions for a healthy economy, for long-term growth and for a secure expansion of business and employment.

Despite such an unfavorable economic climate, I am very excited to continue the work of strengthening the ABEMI for the next three years, and I will spare no efforts to achieve the objectives outlined in our strategic planning.

Our priorities are already defined and we have robust action plans in place, as we cannot afford to waste time. We will work towards competitiveness and with a focus on integrity. We are articulating, for example, a partnership with Senai to improve the training of manpower and worker qualification and we have work groups focused on innovation, technology, productivity and processes.

The issue of integrity is a priority, and we want our Associates to make an important leap in the area of “compliance” and reinforce their commitment to ethics and transparency. We will be improving the integrity program, with the implementation of a whistleblowing channel and an agreement with Trace, a North American company that certifies compliance, among other initiatives.

We also seek to continue the sustainability and strengthening actions of the Association by approaching other Associations, government agencies and chambers of commerce. Other topics that are on our radar are the defense of the legal certainty of contracts and the maintenance of balance between the parties, with neutral cash flow, as well as the availability of competitive working capital lines X contracts as a guarantee, the reassessment of opportunities of exemptions and reductions in the tax burden of companies and the improvement of the labor reform.

We are already doing our part with a lot of work and dedication, together with the Board of Directors and the ABEMI.

Gabriel Aidar Abouchar is a mechanical industrial engineer, post-graduated in Business Administration and in Advance Management Program by INSEAD, in France. He carried out his professional career at SETAL, where he started as an engineer and ended up as Partner and President. Today, he is the owner of several companies and CEO of ABEMI, where he has been active since 2000, being an active member committed to keeping alive Brazilian industrial engineering and this association that represents it.