Industry
By the year of 1850, agricultural equipments started to be produced in Limeira and during the Paraguayan War instruments to the soldiers were also produced. Between the years of 1907 and 1922 important industries, such as 'Chapéus Prada' (1907), 'Café Kühl' (1920) and 'Indústria de Papel Santa Cruz' (1922) started their production in Limeira. However, it was after 1940s that Limeira became well known for its industry.
Between the 1940s and 1970s many citrus companies started producing orange and orange juice in Limeira to export to inside and outside of Brazil, including to USA and Europe, this commerce gave to the city the title of 'The City of Orange'. Citrobrasil (1940) and Citrosuco (1966) were the biggest companies in Limeira in orange production, however when the USA started its policy to protect and encourage the nacional industry of orange in California, the production of orange in Limeira collapsed. Also after the Second World War the automotive industries took place in the city with 'Freios Varga' (today TRW) in 1945 and 'Rodas Fumagalli' in 1946.
After the 1970s, the industrial section area started to grow faster and some multinational companies came to Limeira, such as: Ajinomoto; the American company Rockwell bought Fumagalli in 1974, and 'Freios Varga' joined the English Group Lucas in 2000. Recently, some Japanese and Korean automotive companies have settled in Limeira, for example: Yacchyio do Brasil, Stanley, Mando, DAS and Faurecia, which is a French company that has been building a new plant in the city. Recently, Samsung invested U$300 million in building an industry in Limeira.
Limeira is also known for its new plated jewelry and semi-jewelry industry which attract customers from all over the world, giving the city the title of "Brazil's plated jewelry capital." There are more than 450 companies that are responsible for half of Brazil's exportation in this sector.
The city has been trying to become more attractive to industries related to incentive programs. This policy tries to reduce the unemployment and the informal jobs, which has been growing together with its population. Part of the population works in cities nearby, including Piracicaba and Americana. According to IBGE (Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics), Limeira has a GDP of R$ 5.6 billion (2010), around U$3.6 billion. The industrial sector accounts for approximately 50% of registered jobs in the city. Thus, Limeira took its industrial vocation with its incentive program, which guided the development and implementation of its current industrial park.
The city has a number of favorable conditions for their development, such as the extension of Highway Bandeirantes (Rodovia dos Bandeirantes), the implementation of the Tietê-Paraná waterway, and the installation of the Brazil-Bolivia gas pipeline.
All these factors, combined with their potential and possibilities, specified multiple paths for the development of the industrial sector of the city:
- Limeira is inserted in the Campinas region, an area marked by a strong industrial concentration and has a GDP that is larger than many states in the country, such as Minas Gerais and Rio Grande do Sul, for example.
- In the formal economy has approximately 1,000 industries, employing more than 22,000 registered employees, with a significant share of skilled labor.
The size of the business is diversified, with a production quite varied, including brake systems, automotive wheels, exhausts, metal products, machinery for processing of agricultural products, paper and cardboard packaging, hats, and more. Limeira also has the largest concentration of production of machine tools in Latin America and the largest sugar refining industry in South America. However, the main segment that has been standing out in the city after the 1990s is to jewelry and lapidary stones, consisting mainly of micro and small businesses with family investment.
Currently, the largest industries in operation are:
- Ajinomoto Interamericana Ind. Com. Ltda. - Food
- Citrus Colloids - Chemical, food, Citrus
- TRW - Brakes
- Invicta - Machine tools for wood
- Mastra Indústria e Comércio - Automotive Exhaust System
- Metal Leve S.A. (Corporation) - Pistons for Engines
- Arvin Meritor, Divisão LVS (antiga Rockwell Fumagalli) - Wheels
- Newton Indústria e Comércio - Presses and Guillotines
- Papirus Indústria de Papel S.A. (Corporation) - Paper
- Ripasa S.A. Celulose Papel - Cellulose, Paper
- Samsung - Electronics
- Bebidas Poty - Beverages and Soft Drinks
The main industries in the business of jewelry in the city are:
- Galle Indústria e Comércio de bijuterias - semi jewelry
- Irmãos Gullo - jewelry and semi jewelry
- Jóias Degan - jewelry and semi jewelry
Read more about this topic: Limeira
Famous quotes containing the word industry:
“... we’re not out to benefit society, to remold existence, to make industry safe for anyone except ourselves, to give any small peoples except ourselves their rights. We’re not out for submerged tenths, we’re not going to suffer over how the other half lives. We’re out for Mary’s job and Luella’s art, and Barbara’s independence and the rest of our individual careers and desires.”
—Anne O’Hagan (1869–?)
“The Founding Fathers in their wisdom decided that children were an unnatural strain on parents. So they provided jails called schools, equipped with tortures called an education. School is where you go between when your parents can’t take you and industry can’t take you.”
—John Updike (b. 1932)
“The development of civilization and industry in general has always shown itself so active in the destruction of forests that everything that has been done for their conservation and production is completely insignificant in comparison.”
—Karl Marx (1818–1883)