"Mauricio, we need you to go to Argentina."
Thus, Mauricio Canineo found out 5 years ago that his new destiny was to lead the local subsidiary of the tire manufacturer Pirelli.
The Italian multinational is one of the leading brands globally and in the country, together with Fate (owned by businessman Javier Madanes Quintanilla) and the Japanese Bridgestone,
they account for 80% of the market.
Canineo was born 64 years ago in São Paulo, Brazil.
He has a degree in Mechanical Engineering, he has been at Pirelli for 30 years, where he held different positions and the highest positions in Mexico, Venezuela and Colombia.
He has been CEO in Argentina since January 2018, a few months before the first major devaluation of the government of Mauricio Macri.
Internally,
he is recognized as an expert in extremely complex markets.
Are you used to working in complicated environments?
-I always look for a way to adapt to the situation of each country.
I was in Venezuela, where we also manufacture.
Laws and governments are constantly changing.
Pirelli has been in Argentina for 112 years. How many crises have happened since then?
I lived through hyperinflation in Brazil at the end of the 90s, with 80% per month.
I was in Venezuela, which is not easy.
I'm not here because this is easy.
Does an economy so stressed by the lack of dollars and high inflation complicate Pirelli's development plans?
-Yes and no.
I am not here because this is a beautiful, wonderful country and everything works well.
I am here because of my previous experiences and because I have to carry out the operation.
Likewise, the planning is done outside the country and then we see how to produce, because we are an important link in the automotive industry.
I'm not saying that it's not complex, nor that I have advantages, but you have to adapt so that things go ahead.
If we fail, that impacts the automotive industry.
-Did they give you the option to choose Argentina?
-They told me that they needed me, because they know me.
-In 2022 there was a great lack of tires due to a union conflict that lasted 5 months. Bearing in mind that parities are in July, can the same thing happen this year?
-Last year there was not a single conflict, but several, but now it will be different.
Honestly, I understand that it shouldn't be the same, although to be certain you have to be in the head of (the head of SUTNA, Alejandro) Crespo.
I'm not in his head.
With everything, whatever happens we have to overcome it.
Pirelli is part of
the exclusive club of hundred-year-old companies
in Argentina.
The multinational, an Italian global icon, opened its first branch in 1910 and in 1951 opened a plant in the town of Merlo, where today 1,600 employees work.
In the last two years, the company added 400 workers.
In the industry they estimate that in 2022 some 12 million covers were dispatched (23% for 0 kilometer units and the remaining 77%, for replacement).
Of that total, 8 million were manufactured in the country.
-How many employees do you plan to incorporate in 2023?
-For now none.
-At some point, Toyota warned that it had enormous difficulties to obtain personnel with a complete secondary education. Do you have that same problem?
-We are in an area where there are many job offers.
We have a community of people ready to join Pirelli, available in case of an emergency.
We could have had some difficulties, but we never stopped producing because we lacked people.
-Last August, Madanes Quintanilla said that the price of a tire in Argentina was an absolute scam and attributed it to the obstacles to import and union conflicts. Is it so?
-The price of a cover is neither high nor low.
It's rational.
There is a market protection law and I cannot intervene.
I can't argue with that.
That is very relative.
I have my costs, I work with international standards and I have to be competitive.
So if one takes the account, I earn super well but at the official dollar.
It depends on how you get the account.
That is very relative and does not have a precise answer.
-For automakers, Argentina and Brazil are complementary markets. Is it the same for Pirelli?
-The entire productive matrix in the region is complementary.
The specialization of Argentina is the pick ups.
They are robust, spartan and that is a requirement that we have to follow from the technological evolution.
The one who buys an Amarok, a Hilux or a Ranger is not to go to the field.
For this reason, the Argentine market is much stronger than that of Brazil.
-In what sense?
-In volume.
For example, all the mining companies that are reactivating the sector.
Or the oil industry.
It is a niche market that is produced and supplied in Argentina and a part is exported to Brazil.
Not only covers for new units: also for replacement.
-When you talk about facing difficulties and planning for the medium and long term, what projections do you have for 2024 after the elections?
-The industry is going to consolidate, as it should be.
When planning, you have to keep in mind that you cannot have everything under control.
It's agriculture, the weather is out of control.
With all the forecasts there were, not even a magician could foresee the heat wave.
The drought impacted not only in Argentina: in the south of Brazil it suffers the same.
So in 2024, whoever comes, we have to adapt.
Employment is not going away.
Toyota announced that it will produce 180,000 vehicles, and they are going to deliver.
Nissan also began production.
Now, we depend a lot on how the economy is doing in Brazil.
The Brazilian market, consumption in that country, has to provide the answer.
Expert in complex markets
Canineo joined Pirelli more than 30 years ago and arrived in the country in 2018.
The Italian multinational Pirelli landed in Argentina in 1910. In 1951, it inaugurated a plant in Merlo to manufacture tires, where today 1,600 employees work.
For his part, Mauricio Canineo joined the company more than 30 years ago. He held different positions and was CEO in Mexico, Venezuela and Colombia. He arrived in Argentina in 2018, months before the first devaluation of the Mauricio Macri government. an expert in highly competitive and highly complex markets, such as Argentina. "I'm not here because this is easy," he told
Clarín.
look too
After the agreement, the government expects the supply of tires to normalize on Monday
look too
Tires are missing and tire theft grew 50%