COMAC: a SprutCAM X success story

This April Andrei Kharatsidi of SprutCAM Tech traveled to Brasil to attend 2 events dedicated to SprutCAM X. Open Days and SprutCAM Brasil Xperience 2024. Both events were orgainized by Comac, our Brazilian dealer. Here is a short interview with Andrei:

Hello Andrei! Would you please be able to tell us a few words about your trip to Brazil in April?

Well, this was a very interesting trip. Comac has a very structured marketing plan for every year and the event comprised 2 parts: Comac Open House, April 15-19 and a Conference on SprutCAM X called Brasil Xperience 2024, which was scheduled for April 19th.

What impresses you the most about Comac?

This is their business vision, which is largely personified by the company’s founder and CEO Andre Dagostin. He keeps a very clear vision for his business and has a development strategy that is very very clear. They have a sales team of about 19 people, part permanent staff and part independent sales representatives.

How did their business originate?

Originally they were supplying refurbished robots, they chose SprutCAM X Robot as their CAD/CAM system. By now COMAC is a big robotic integrator on the Brazilian market (it is important to note that they have a very established business flow, which keeps the company always busy). But they have also become a software supplier.

Why did they choose SprutCAM X to work with?

They were looking for a CAD/CAM solution and there is no other CAD/CAM system on the market that is strong both for robot and CNC, this is why SprutCAM X fitted well.

What makes the Brazilian market peculiar, what are the specifics?

Well, the specifics is that there is a lot of automotive businesses there. And we feel it from the clients perspective. From what I saw at the conference, the industrial businesses that were there were mostly mid size companies, not just privateers doing their CNC business with SprutCAM X.

By the way, one more thing that I appreciated about the trip, is the chance to have very detailed business meetings. The COMAC team is very open for any new suggestions and ideas, they listen to your market and technical hypotheses. But they don’t only listen, they share their valuable feedback and ideas. We didn’t really discuss technical issues, COMAC has an exemplary knowledge of technical aspects.

Andrei, can you please let us know about the conference? How did it go?

Well, it was a separate event, and it had an absolutely different crowd from the open house, which hosted about 80 people there. By the way, the Open House event was in Comac’s show room. There were several robots and SprutCAM X working there. There were potential customers coming from various parts of the country and from what I learnt, COMAC made about 6-8 deals right there. I find this to be rather a good sign.

How many people were there at the conference?

I think about 60 people, Andre Dagostin, would know the exact number. They were all from various parts of Brazil. Some people traveled to COMAC location for the open house days, some for the conference.

So the conference name was Brasil Comac Xperience. It started with Andre Dagostin’s presentation. He spoke about his company’s history, some interesting success stories, he showed a sneak peek version of SprutCAM X18. I had a great time interacting with SprutCAM X customers. The conference started in the morning and ended at 2-3 pm. It was cool that Andre and customers shouted out SprutCAM X and stomped when we were welcomed on stage. An interesting and unforgettable moment.

Andrei, what makes COMAC special, what gives ground to their success?

The key to Andre’s success is of course his very educated business approach. However, and I guess, I can share it, behind is a different secret. It is his HR team. What Andre did, he hired a dedicated and professional HR team. So if he needs someone skilled for a certain task, they find such a candidate extremely fast. This is really what makes Andre’s approach stand out. Besides that, there are other factors. For instance, Andre still works as a sales person out with customers, he keeps his hand on the pulse as they say. He told me he never really spends time in the office.

Was there anything else interesting during your trip?

After the conference, we visited 2 clients which make automotive components. One of these clients serves as a production facility for the first Brazilian EV too, by the way they are also SprutCAM X customers.