Automated factory makes 4,000 apartments per year – 04/12/2024 – Market

The first automated building factory in Brazil comes into operation in Cascavel, Paraná, for the construction of an integrated neighborhood with 36 buildings. With an industrial complex occupying an area of ​​180 thousand m², around 2,400 apartments can be produced every six months.

Production follows the same idea as the vehicle assembly line in the automotive industry. Precast concrete structures for walls, slabs and floors leave the factory ready, including the built-in hydraulic and electrical parts. At the construction site, the pieces are connected on the finished foundation.

“We have to industrialize civil construction. Doing it on a scale is the only way to lower costs”, says businessman Francisco Simeão, creator of the Ecoparque Bairros Integrados project.

According to him, building factories are a way for civil construction to be less polluting. “It is decarbonized, generating practically no losses or waste. And all the water used to wash the equipment is treated and reused for cleaning the patios and maintaining the gardens.”

Investment in the industrial complex was R$200 million. Another R$200 million paid for the purchase of land and the production of the first three buildings in the planned neighborhood.

In the first year of operation, the factory will operate at around 10% of its capacity, with a focus on employee training and unit adjustments. The forecast is to deliver, by December 2024, three buildings with 360 apartments in total. For comparison, using conventional construction, a tower with 120 apartments would be ready in 15 months to two years.

The Ecoparque group expects to operate the factory at 50% capacity in 2025, being able to deliver approximately 2,000 apartments in one year. The forecast is to reach 100% of production capacity from 2026, building around 4,000 units annually.

In addition to reducing construction time, automation reduces the waste rate to 3% (in conventional construction it is between 15% and 30%) and the number of employees. Initially, there will be three eight-hour shifts, with 30 employees each. The expectation is that, from the third year onwards, the factory will operate 24 hours a day, with four six-hour shifts.

According to Simeão, the Cascavel factory will function as a test for the group, which intends to build 20 similar factories by 2029. There are 12 states under study, including Minas Gerais, Rio de Janeiro, Goiânia and São Paulo, in the Ribeirão Preto region.

For production to be economically viable, the subdivision must contain at least a thousand apartments and be within a radius of up to 300 kilometers from the factory. “Distance is an important factor, because the pieces are transported the same way glass is transported: everything standing upright. And the truck leaves the factory, unloads and returns on the same day. If more days need to be used for transport, the logistics begin to tighten”, explains the businessman.

Another challenge for implementation is the lack of tax equality with conventional systems. When the property is built in the factory, the legislation understands that the materials are being sold. Therefore, in addition to the traditional taxes on masonry construction, off-site companies are charged the IPI (Tax on Industrialized Products) and the ICMS (Tax on the Circulation of Goods and Services).

Simeão wants states to apply ICMS deferral, which is the postponement of tax payment. “You don’t pay at the entrance, when you buy cement, iron and sand, but when you sell [o imóvel]pays for everything”, says Simeão.

Technology that rebuilt Germany

The equipment is from Germany’s Vollert, which also provided technicians for knowledge transfer. Since 2012 in Brazil, this is the first time that the company has worked with housing in the country.

According to director Hans Vollert, the technology is an evolution of that used in the reconstruction of Germany and other European countries after the Second World War. “For two years we have been teaching the Brazilian group at Ecoparque. What has been established here is impressive,” he said at the inauguration of the factory, on February 23 of this year.

Wesley Gomes, CEO of Vollert do Brasil, states that the Cascavel factory is the largest prefabricated plant in the Americas. “Vollert has already sold and installed factories like the one at Ecoparque in more than 80 countries. Most of them in Europe and Southeast Asia, including China, Singapore, Thailand and India”, he says.

“In the Americas, this movement is beginning and we already have factories installed in the United States, Chile, Ecuador and Peru. And now in Brazil”, he states.

Planned neighborhood

The production of the first Brazilian factory will be entirely destined for the Ecoparque Bairros Integrados project. There will be 80,000 sustainable apartments — with reuse of rainwater, treated sewage and solar energy — over the next ten years. Of the total, 80% of the units must fall into bands 1 and 2 of Minha Casa, Minha Vida.

The Ecoparque group’s real estate fund will be responsible for selling the apartments in partnership with Caixa Econômica Federal. The two-bedroom units will have dimensions of 57 m² and 98 m², with costs starting at R$245,000. The larger apartments, measuring 72 m² and 115 m², have an estimated price starting at R$350,000.

Those interested in three-bedroom apartments, priced from R$540,000, will also have the possibility of a rental contract with an option to purchase.

The fund will also finance residents’ equipped planned kitchen and built-in cupboards in the bedrooms to furnish the apartments.

The neighborhood’s buildings must occupy less than 5% of the total land area and will be located at a minimum distance of 50 meters from each other. Leisure, service and commercial areas, as well as community centers, a health unit and schools complete the site.

The reporter traveled at the invitation of Ecoparque Bairros Integrados