When Euclides Facchini began manufacturing small wooden bodies for the regional market in the 1950s, his timing was good.
The price of wood was low, and he was in a region – the interior state of São Paulo, Brazil – that was agricultural and needed road transportation for both live and bulk cargo. In the following years, the company began processing its main raw material (wood) in its factory, collecting it from the Brazilian state of Maranhão. It would then be sent to its factory in the city of Votuporanga.
With time Facchini expanded the production and marketing of new products in the road freight transportation segment and opened a manufacturing unit in São José do Rio Preto, the largest and most prominent city in the state, 450 kilometres from the state capital, São Paulo. Euclides’ son, Rubens Facchini, who is now the company president, explains that in the 1980s and 1990s, the company further expanded its operations in Brazil and Latin America, starting to manufacture trailers and semi-trailers.
By the early 1990s Facchini opened a manufacturing facility in Roseira, in the interior of the state of São Paulo, which manufactures its own components and parts, becoming a largely vertically integrated company.
Rubens Facchini, who began working with his father in the business as a young boy has seen plenty of changes within the business, the market and the industry.
“I have always had an affinity with road transportation, especially with the bodies we manufactured when the company first started,” he said. “Over time, I specialised and got to know the industry as a whole, understanding the demands of the sector and its challenges.”
In the 21st century, Facchini was able to establish itself as one of the largest manufacturers of road transport equipment in Brazil, standing out first in the light series, manufacturing the general cargo van as its flagship.
Today, Facchini’s main products include dump road trains for grain transportation, tarpaulin van semi-trailers, general cargo van semi-trailers, bulk carrier semi-trailers and container carrier semi-trailers.
Its main market is the industrial and retail sector, serving the main consumer goods industries in Latin America but, as Facchini explains, custom designs have opened new doors. “We are increasingly standing out in agribusiness, with products designed specifically for this purpose.”
Overall, Facchini currently manufactures, on average, 3,000 products per month and holds more than 20 per cent of the market share.
The challenges
Business ownership is never without its challenges and for Facchini one of those is found within the South American industry itself. There is, he explained, a high tax burden that Brazil imposes on entrepreneurs, which can slow down investment and the creation of jobs. He also points out the fact that there can be excessive bureaucracy which reduces entrepreneurs’ ability to invest in growth.
According to Facchini, the market has fluctuated significantly over the last decade, especially between 2015 and 20217 due to macroeconomic problems in Brazil, such as the impeachment of a president, financial and political crises, which directly impacted registrations.
The company did have a production record in 2014, with more than 160,000 units produced in Brazil, but in the following years it experienced a drop of more than 50 per cent. The company was able to recover and rally. From 2018 onwards there was significant growth, mainly due to Brazilian agribusiness, and it reached a new record in 2021, with more than 165,000 units produced.
For the future, Facchini is expecting a relatively stable market with little growth, mainly due to external factors such as oil prices, global political strife and fluctuations in global agribusiness. The Brazilian market is expected to end with a growth of 5 per cent in relation to 2024, he said. “The last few years have been challenging, but very positive, with a significant increase in sales of products in new markets, reaching a market share of over 20 per cent.”
Company growth
One of the biggest changes within the company, according to Facchini, was the recent expansion of its manufacturing park. Today, it has more than five million square metres of area, considerably increasing the company’s production capacity. Other important changes have been the implementation and consolidation of product engineering, manufacturing of parts and components and investments in technology and robotics.
Facchini has also been making, in recent years, considerable efforts within the area sustainability through its Environmental, Social and Governance program. It also focuses on professional development and training through an Internal Corporate University.
Facchini is today headquartered in São José do Rio Preto and has more than 6,500 employees. The company has 10 factories, and more than 35 units spread throughout Brazil as well as seven exclusive distributors in Latin America.
For Facchini, what sets the company apart from the competition is understanding its customers and their requirements.
“I think Facchini stands out from the competition through its total focus on the customer and meeting their needs,” he said. “We are also able to manufacture a wide range of road transportation products in an integrated and verticalised manner, with an exclusive production capacity in the country.”
His hope he says is to remain a market leader in South America delivering quality products and a strong, successful company for its many employees. “I am proud of the company we created with great effort and dedication.”