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World Reports

Massive Factory Opens in Brazil;JTI Finds Geneva To Be Good Match; plus four more stories.

CNH Global, a division of the Fiat Group, says its new factory in Soracaba, Brazil, is the largest single machine industry investment in that country’s history. The Case New Holland Industrial Complex opened in March in Sorocaba, Brazil. CNH says the US$568-million investment will generate up to 3,000 direct jobs and 6,000 indirect jobs in two years when the factory reaches production capacity. The project, located in the State of Sao Paulo, is part of the Fiat Group’s investment plan for the years 2007-2011 announced in November 2006.

CNH says its objective is to increase agricultural and construction machine production (currently done at the company’s Curitiba, Piracicaba and Contagem facilities) and to manufacture components for machines produced at other company locations in Brazil. The Sorocaba factory will produce equipment to supply the Brazilian market, as well as export to other Latin American countries and more than 50 countries around the world.

“Sorocaba is going to produce agricultural and construction machines that are part of the world platform of the two brands. It will allow us to increase our production to better serve the agricultural and construction markets,” said Valentino Rizzioli, president of Case New Holland for Latin America and executive vice-president of the Fiat Group.

The industrial complex has a total area of 160,000 sq. m. (1,723,200 sq. ft.), including 104,000 sq. m. (1,112,080 sq. ft.) for the factory and 56,000 sq. m. (603,120 sq. ft.) for the distribution center. By early March, more than 800 employees were working in the industrial complex, which took 18 months to construct.