Embraer

Company Background
60 miles outside of Sao Paulo, the third largest city in world, resides the world headquarters of Empresa Brasileira de Aeronautica S.A. (Embraer). Concentrated on design, production, sales, and support of military, commercial, and corporate aircraft, Embraer is one of the leading exporters in aviation. Embraer was originally formed by the Brazilian Government in the early 1940's. In order to maintain top-tier engineers to design their world-leading jets, the Government officials created a high-level engineering school to ensure the production of qualified individuals. The Government maintained control of the company until 1994 when Embraer was privatized. Since being privatized the results have been extremely positive. According to the Embraer Annual Report 2003:

Since its privatization in late 1994, Embraer has exported US$ 14 billion in products and services and contributed US$ 5.3 billion to the country's trade balance. Embraer was Brazil's top exporter between 1999 and 2001 and today is one of the world's top commercial aircraft manufacturer with an impressive 40% of the global market share in the 30 to 120 seat category.

With such impressive results, Embraer's success has led them to become the fourth largest aircraft manufacturer in the world. Employing 13,000 employees, which includes 12,000 employees within Brazil and about 1,000 throughout various parts of the world including Australia, China, Singapore, France, and the United States, Embraer focuses on a quality aircraft made with the hand-crafted precision. In addition, Embraer has planes throughout 58 countries on five continents. Some of their well-established family of jets consist of the 30-seat EMB 120 Brasilia turboprop, 37-seat ERJ 135, the 44-seat ERJ 140, the 50-seat ERJ 145, the ERJ-170 and the ERJ-200.

Visit Summary
Our visit to Embraer began early on a Tuesday morning with a 45 minute bus drive to Sao Jose dos Campos. Upon arrival we were led to a multimedia room where we watched a short informative video about the various aircraft produced by Embraer. After the completion of the video we viewed a brief presentation providing the history of the company. Interestingly, we learned that Embraer utilizes a virtual reality center in which the aviation engineers and the company's clients are able to simulate the building process. Escorted throughout the various production buildings, we were able to experience the assembly of an aircraft from inception to completion. Created with meticulous precision and design, Embraer's aircrafts are made with an impressive amount technological achievement.