In the second half of 2014, BMA Brazil started to manufacture centrifugals. Today, the company is well on its way to establishing the BMA Group permanently on the Brazilian market. Taking into account local requirements has been a major factor in this development.
The best choice for the largest market
Brazil is the world's largest sugar producer and exporter. Even before BMA centrifugals were introduced, the decision had therefore been made to position BMA on this market with state-of-the-art centrifugal technology. BMA's batch centrifugals of the E series (E1810) and continuous centrifugals of the K series (K3300) were chosen for this task. One reason was that both models meet the requirements of the latest international safety standards for machinery. A key factor was their compliance with the safety and ergonomics provisions of the Brazilian regulatory standards*, issued by the Brazilian Ministry of Labour and Employment.
BMA Brazil had completed major groundwork before production could start. The centrifugals made in Brazil have a domestically manufactured share of more than 60 % and are therefore eligible for state funding for buyers. In addition to the centrifugals themselves, the BMA Brazil factory at Indaiatuba, roughly 80 km from São Paulo, also manufactures operator panels and machine controls. As production is starting, two BMA centrifugals have demonstrated in operation that the market launch benefits everybody. An E1810 type centrifugal has been running at the Santa Cruz factory since May 2014, and a K3300 type machine at the Zilor sugar factory. Both have been operating without any interruptions for almost two campaigns.
The initial manufacturing and acceptance tests were attended by BMA staff from Germany, while Brazilian engineers took over assembly. This was an opportunity to train the Brazilian team in the maintenance and repair of mechanical centrifugal parts and the electrical system, so they would be able to offer local customers an even better after-sales service. To complete the training, the service technicians were enabled to service the automation and process technology systems.
*NR 12 Segurança no Trabalho em Máquinas e Equipamentos (Safety at work for machinery and plants) and NR 17 Ergonomia (Ergonomics)
Henrique Degen
BMA Brazil
hdegen@bma-br.com
Reinaldo Scherner
BMA Brazil
info@bma-br.com