A New Continent: WINTERSTEIGER Launches in South America
The establishment of a subsidiary in South America was another piece of the puzzle in WINTERSTEIGER’s successful export strategy: This allowed the company to broaden its reach even further and achieve greater independence from individual regions and markets.
In December 2007, the Supervisory Board decided to establish a subsidiary for South America. Curitiba, Brazil, was chosen as the site: Alongside São Paulo, this city was the economic hub of southern Brazil, and many companies had established their South American subsidiaries there. The WINTERSTEIGER subsidiary in Brazil was established to handle intensive machine sales and service for products in the seed breeding and thin-cutting divisions: From Curitiba, the company serves seed breeding customers in Brazil and thin-cutting customers throughout South America.
Start-up Phase During the Economic Crisis
The start in Brazil drifted somewhat: the many boom years in the hardwood flooring industry were followed by the 2008–09 economic crisis, and the branch’s launch coincided with a total collapse of the market. The parquet sector had also reached a point of saturation. Erwin Sturmair and his team managed to get off to a very good start, at least in the seed breeding sector. The potential was enormous: Brazil is the second-largest soybean exporter after the U.S., with vast areas dedicated to corn and grain cultivation.
In addition to economic turmoil, the initial challenge was obtaining all the necessary permits for regular business operations, a process that took longer than expected. Bureaucracy in Brazil is generally very extensive and even more so for foreign companies: All shipments to and from Brazil must be recorded in a special database. In addition to registration in the commercial registry and obtaining a tax ID number, another specific hurdle arose: the ability to participate digitally in tenders—something that had already become essential in the seed breeding sector as early as 2008.
Initial Team Complete
By the end of the first fiscal year, the team for the initial phase was complete. In addition to Branch Manager Erwin Sturmair and Assistant Daniele de Souza, Carlos Riberi joined Seedmech in December as a sales and service representative. Carlos had previously worked for several years as an independent contractor for Geosolutions on behalf of WINTERSTEIGER, where he was a successful technician and sales representative.
The office relocated to Palhoca in 2015, and an additional service branch was established in Uberlândia in 2018.