Welcome!
On this website, you will be able to find information about the Prosperando study tour and its organizing committee.Day 25:Different Similarities
This week there was a strike at the USP, the University of Sao Paulo. We worried that we were not to visit it, but in a very chaotic country the strikes are somehow very well organized. Luckily for us, the strike did not last during our visit to the USP, or at least not at the part that we visited. We have seen a lot during our visit at the university. But let's start at the consulate, where the day began.The visit started with a small discussion about what a consulate does. We guessed a lot correctly. On the organizational side, you can get a new passport and visa over there. On the economic side, they try to improve trade relationships with Dutch companies. They also represent the Netherlands in Brazil.
When it was clear what work the consulate does, the diplomat asked the question of when the first Dutch people came into Brazil. We guessed after one of the two world wars, but we were wrong by a few centuries. The first Dutch people came to Brazil as early as the 1630s!
After this history lesson we talked about the economy, especially about our own experiences and about the curiosities of the economy here. We already knew from our visit at TE that there is an economic crisis in Brazil. This country suffers from a huge inflation and a low economic growth. Also typical; it is very difficult for companies from abroad to do business with Brazilian companies. The reasons for that are that there is a lot of bureaucracy, inefficiency and that the people want to do everything by themselves. The last one has historical reasons.
Another fun fact is that 10 to 20 percent of all people work in the automotive industry, which is very high compared to other countries. However, Brazil is generally pictured as a promise because of its potential. The presenter pictured it like "the land of the future, but it will remain that way for the following years."
When we talked about our own trip, the companies and universities we visited, we learned something about the engineers here. They are typically good in process technology, but not in innovation which is the typical strong point from engineers from the Netherlands. This is not surprising, since the Brazilian market does not ask for innovative engineers. It is more a short time market, which also has its historical reasons.
We ended the meeting with the diplomat telling about his own experiences here in Brazil and what he found the most remarkable about the country. He perfectly summarized: "Everything that can go wrong, goes wrong at going wrong."
After the visit at the consulate we went to the university. First we went on a tour through the building of the politech part, which is the part of the university with all the engineering courses. Then we went to some places that one could compare with our own student offices 'vloer 2' and our student pub 'the Walhalla'. It was a nice way to get in touch with the students over there. At the end we could tell that there are not many differences between the Brazilian Electrical Engineers-to-be and the Dutch ones.
Then we went for lunch and had a lecture from a professor from the department of electrical engineering about the student programs over there. It looks a lot like the structure UNICAMP when you look at the time schedule. The bachelor or under graduate program consist of 5 years. There are some similarities with our bachelor college. Their program consist of 2 year in which you get basic courses that every engineer should have, such as calculus and physics. In the third year you have mostly courses of your own 'major' , engineering courses and in the last 2 years the focus is more on professional courses. It is also funny to see that the courses that they provide are clusters in 4 themes: civil engineering, electrical engineering, mechanical engineering and chemical engineering, of which the last 3 are the oldest three programs in Eindhoven.
After this presentation, we went on a tour through the electrical engineering building. We have seen college rooms, laboratories and went to some research groups, such as automation which had a project in autonomous vehicles. It was interesting and we certainly had a good impression about the study atmosphere at USP.
We ended the day at the 'chill room' of the students, where we had a barbecue, some drinks and played games. After this, some of us went on with partying, because on Friday some associations, in our case the associations of architecture and the association of psychology, organize parties at the campus. Such a party is like a small festival. It all happens outside with nice music, a lot like a party at the market hall in the Metaforum.
It was a very nice day and night and we hope that we will meet again with the people of CEE :).
Written by Marcella Gunther & Mannes Dreef
written on: 12-08-2014
Day 24:The Last Suitable Day
The trip is almost coming to an end. Today was the last day that everyone had to suit up. We went on the last company visits, namely TE Connectivity and Continental. Both companies were of special interest for the automotive students. Because São Paulo has one of the worst traffic jams in the world, the group woke up at 6 am to avoid getting stuck. Watching traffic television in the hostel, it became clear that there was already 190km of traffic jam in and around São Paulo before leaving that early! But the trip to TE went smoothly and most of the students took a quick nap in this early hour.At TE we were welcomed by the South-American company president accompanied by two Dutch speaking representatives. They told us about the enormous range of products (more than 150.000 active products sold in the market nowadays) and the many application fields like healthcare, telecom and automotive. TE does not simply provide a product range to choose from, but they provide specific solutions according to customer demands. That's why almost 25% of the sales is reinvested in innovation of new products (almost double than average compared to their competitors). Only in this way TE can stay market leader in connection solutions.
We visited the plant Bragança Paulista, which produces parts for the automotive industry. Since this region is located far from other TE plants, the campus also includes product and tooling development in order to maximize the efficiency of the complete development process.
After these interesting presentations, which mainly focused on the automotive innovations and market perspective, we went on a tour throughout the plant. The complete process was elaborated: from sales to development to production. Even the workshops for maintenance of the injection molds were shown, which was quite impressive. The 5s way of working was the standard for the complete facility; all production processes were done in a very structured and efficient way. It was nice to see the high speed production of metal contacts. These presses continuously spit out contacts at an impressive rate of 1200 pieces per minute, which made an awful lot of noise, so we all had to wear ear protection. After the tour we got a delicious lunch and had some time to wrap up before leaving to Continental.
If you ask someone about Continental they will probably know them from the tires they produce. Nowadays, Continental is much more than that. In the '90s they bought several companies that produce electronics for the automotive industry in order to compete with for instance Bosch. Continental develops almost all electronic components that you can find in a car; from power train to body control devices and even security systems. Looking into new possibilities the group was very interested in head up displays. A device that projects driver information on the screen. This option is very costly at the moment but will become available on cheaper cars very soon.
After the presentation a plant tour was organized. We saw how various dashboard accessories were assembled and painted, like cockpit and HVAC modules. The electronics are produced in the 'heart' of the factory which contains 11 SMD lines to produce and test the complete PCB boards. Like the TE tour, the Continental tour was very interesting and gave a good insight in the technical developments and production capabilities around São Paulo.
The day ended at the biggest shopping mall of Sao Paulo. Most of the fellowship took their last chance to buy some nice souvenirs while others relaxed with some drinks and food.
Written by Tom Bruls & Stan Hurkmans
written on: 08-08-2014
Day23:Buildings, buildings...
Today there were no excursions planned, so we had an optional cultural program through São Paulo to which almost everyone attended. Our first stop was at Parque do Ibirapuera, comparable with the Central Park in New York. In the park we visited the Museu Afro Brasil; a museum about the history of slavery in Brasil, but there was also a temporary exposition about the world championship. Cultural beings that we were, we soon left the museum to enjoy the rest of the park and the beautiful weather. Sportive beings that we were, we went to fitness in one of the many special fitness playgrounds in Brazil. Needless to say, we weren't there for a very long time, because we got tired. Then we strolled around some more, be it in a slower pace.
After this we decided it was time to go back to the hostel and get some lunch at one of the local snackbars which are even more common in Brazil than in the Netherlands. Then began the big journey to the Italian building, one of the tallest buildings in São Paulo. The metro we took was pretty quiet. Little did we know of the changes at rush hour! But first the Italian building. We took the elevator up to the 42nd floor were we had a nice view of São Paulo. The best description we can give of this city is like someone took a valley, filled it up with concrete and carved out some streets. Needless to say, there were buildings as far as the eye could see.
Some of us went to have a fancy drink there, while the rest returned after taking a lot of photos and selfies. There was even a small group that didn't have enough exercise and tried to take the stairs down, however 6 floors away from the end they were stopped and still had to take the elevator.
After the visit to the tower, there was time to visit the city center. A refreshing 'suco' (juice) later, we went shopping but soon we realized one member of our group was missing. But after an half an hour search we gave up and went to the hostel where we found him.
However, this was not the biggest adventure of the day; that was the metro ride home. Around 6 o' clock everybody who works in Sao Paulo goes home and we decided to take the metro right at that time. It was very crowded and it looked like a clown car where almost an endless flow of people left the vehicle. Fortunately we all arrived safe at our destination.
When we were back at our hostel, we went looking for a Lebanese restaurant that was recommended to us. We dined at a large round table that had a large rotating platter in the middle. We ordered a few meals that were served on the platter, so that everyone could taste every dish. We didn't stay late, because we had to get up very early the next day to visit TE connectivity and Continental.
Written by Duco van den Akker & Steven Beumer
written on: 08-08-2014
Day 22: Not visiting ABN
Some confusion seemed to have existed about an excursion to ABN, but today everything became clear; we did not go there. To IBM however, we did go. International Business Machines, or IBM, is a very large American corporation which has been present in Brazil since 1917.After a short walk from the hostel, we arrived at their very impressive building, which looked like it could have been the headquarters for some evil scientists. It was when we entered the building that we realized, a little bit disappointed, that the employees were just friendly people. And after all participants were inside, they showed us to their presentation room.
During the presentation, they explained that IBM has been focused on producing hardware for a long time, but the focus has shifted to software and services. To illustrate this: only 14 % of their annual income came from hardware sales last year. Furthermore, they showed us their leading position on patents. IBM has more than four times as many patents as Hewlett-Packard and more than six times as many as Apple. This way they can defend themselves in all the patent wars between technology corporations. We also discovered Emmy awards have a technology category, in which they received an award for making a tape drive accessible like a normal drive.
After the presentations followed the coffee break, which, for a pleasant change, had a nice and strong coffee. After that, they showed us a demonstration room for a large Brazilian bank and a small datacenter. The product for the bank was a large security system able to monitor an entire city. Unfortunately, they could not demonstrate much to us due to the sensitive security concerns.
After that, we concluded the visit with a gift for the representatives and we all went our own ways for the rest of the day was marked as free time.
Written by Marco van Zijl
written on: 07-08-2014
Day 21: E(A)TON at OMNOM
Everyone was 'fresh and fruity' this morning and people looked forward to OMRON and EATON. Literally everyone had breakfast and packed his stuff before the bus arrived. This happens rarely. Though it helps if the bus is half an hour late.The bus finally left Barão Geraldo, the neighborhood where we stayed, at around 9.20. It was mostly quiet in the bus, some people slept, some people listened to music and some people took the time to enjoy the beautiful sight of the majestic hills around the highway with their typical short mowed grass. Looking at them for the last time with the bright Brazilian sun in combination with the tinted windows gave an idyllic effect.
Everyone looked back on a great week in Campinas while leaving the city. Good thing we have the photos, the report and the souvenirs as a memory of this unique place. It was a week of waking up late and early, of state of the art technologies, of making your own caipirinhas and every day the same good breakfast. In the land of red sand and giant ants, where it is always summer by Dutch standards.
At 10 o'clock we arrived at OMRON. We started with a small presentation and headed quickly to the assembly line for a tour around the plant, because the employees would have a break at eleven o'clock. We started the tour at the SMD, also known as surface mounted device, but before that we had to put on a special coat, hair nets and shoe nets. In the cleanroom the products are assembled by hand by pretty much only female employees. For a single product up to 7 employees can work at the production line to improve the quantity per hour. Some HVAC, heat ventilation and air conditioning interfaces, can be produced up to 2000 a day. Smaller production lines with only 2 people working could produce around 300 units a day. A good real time analysis is used on every produced device to analyze any flaws. Failed units then get analyzed to improve the production line.
Next was the assembly line where electrical components were mounted on the PWS, for us better known as PCB. This is almost completely automated including a fail proof test. The PCBs itself were produced in China.
After that we went to the plastic injection area. There were 13 machines to produce plastic buttons. We could also see the roof of the cleanroom which was full of ventilation shafts. Then was the technical presentation. We started with a promotion video explaining the corporate motto of the company, "At work for a better life. A better world for all." The company was founded in 1958 in Japan and produced the first timed X-ray machine to protect the doctors. Later they produced an automatic check in for the subway. This facility was opened in 2013 and has 386 employees. It produces mostly HVACs and switches for electric windows for example. Their customers are GM, Ford, Chrysler, Honda, Toyota, BMW and Fiat.
After that we had lunch. There was salad, rice, bean sauce, soup and meat sauce. It was delicious. In the end Teun thanked everyone and we had free gadgets.
At 14.30 we arrived at EATON. It was very hot outside the bus but it was even hotter inside the bus. First we discussed the safety issues like no rings and watches and no talking about the world cup. The group was divided in 2 groups. The first group went on a tour while the second group listened to a presentation. When the group was split, there was time to play with some circuit breakers who lay there for display. For some energetic and enthusiastic people, this was the most fun part of the day.
The presentation started with an introducing promotion movie about in what sectors they work. EATON has 102.000 employees worldwide and was founded in 1911. Their headquarters are located in Dublin, Ireland. They focus on 2 sectors: electrical and industrial. Electrical consists of products, systems and services. Industrial consists of hydraulic, aerospace and vehicles. This facility mainly focuses on power distribution, safety and energy quality. Several examples were explained and another movie was shown. This one was more fun; in the end, the engineer who used smart wire, a product of EATON, gets the date with the girl.
Another fancy product is the electro center. It is a complete electrical supply system. The only thing the customer needs to do is to plug it in. The box works with medium voltage and low voltage, has a transformer, air conditioning, automatic fire extinguishers and is completely custom made. Some even have GPS. The main benefit is that it can be moved fairly easy.
The tour started with rubber safety shoes over our shoes and safety glasses. When everything was set we went to the first warehouse. There was low voltage equipment, up to 1kV, and medium voltage equipment. The engineers showed us how they can be opened for maintenance and gave an explanation of how they worked.
In the second warehouse we saw a big storage and a big empty space. This was because they were moving. In time, all low voltage switching panels will be produced here.
The last warehouse was not empty. The circuit breakers were made here. A demonstration was given of how it works. After that we went back to say goodbye to EATON.
At 17.30 h, we left EATON and started heading to São Paulo. There were some minor traffic jams but nothing serious. We checked in at the hotel and went to have dinner. You could tell instantly that this city with 25 million citizens is definitely different than any other city we have visited in Brazil. Well, we will find out.
Written by Yuk Hang Yuen