Engineering:
The Principle of Development DANTE VENTURINI has been the Engineering RAE at Odebrecht Infrastructure - Brazil since 2009. With a degree in Civil Engineering with an emphasis in Construction from the State University of Rio de Janeiro (UERJ), he joined the Organization in 1985 and participated in the construction work for the Rosana Hydroelectric Power Plant, located at the border between Sรฃo Paulo and Paranรก. Always working in the area of Engineering, although with experience in the Commercial and Production areas, he also participated in sanitation projects in Goiรกs. In 1992, he traveled to Mexico to work on the construction of the Huites Dam, a development with multiple purposes: flood control, irrigation and the production of electricity. Upon returning to Brazil in 1995, he worked with studies and proposals of international hydroelectric power plant projects and on developments in the areas of rapid transit, low-cost housing and hydroelectric power plants in Brazil
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ngineering can be considered the start of development for regions by turning infrastructure projects like highways, hydroelectric power plants, port terminals or schools into a reality. This activity also dates back to Odebrecht’s very foundation. It is the pillar that allowed for its creation back in 1944, as well as its survival and its growth. With the diversification of Odebrecht’s operations in 1979, engineering has supported the Organization’s perpetuity as well, also by ensuring synergy between its 14 Businesses. “The majority of the companies are created through the engineering developments, and can leverage their growth with the support of Odebrecht Infrastructure,” explained Dante Venturini, responsible for the Engineering Entrepreneurship Support area (RAE) at Odebrecht Infrastructure - Brazil. Throughout its history, Odebrecht has also been involved with the development of the regions in which it operates. “Often times, we arrived to inhospitable places, and with good planning, we set up not only a development, but also a community surrounding it,” said Venturini. “By offering job opportunities, we train people and encourage growth and trade in the municipality, always focusing on the principles of sustainability: economic, social and environmental. By delivering it, we are helping to attract new investors and promote the increased development of that region.” 67
PIONEERING APPROACH Since its very origin, Odebrecht has cultivated among its Members the constant quest to overcome challenges, always through innovation. In the 1940s, it built the Belo Horizonte Building in Salvador in just nine months to meet its clients’ need – the period for construction for a building of this type was three years. This was possible by innovating the construction method used at the time: when the first slab was ready, the walls of that floor were then erected. “Innovation has been an Odebrecht characteristic over all these years,” said Venturini. “It is a way of completing complex developments that are increasingly more sustainable and functional. This principles remained and resulted, for example, in the slabs used for the Federal District Administrative Center made from plastic spheres (bubbledeck); or the European methods that streamlined the construction of the schools at Inova BH in Minas Gerais, and which currently facilitate the administration and maintenance of results by Odebrecht Properties, allowing the principals and teachers to focus on teaching as opposed to administrative issues. “I had already worked in the Coordination area of another Children’s Municipal Education Unit (UMEI) and in terms of our role
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here, we do not have this concern,” said Janaina Pedrosa Dias, Vice Principle at the Belmonte UMEI. “At the other schools, we purchased material, and we administered the cleaning and maintenance of the building,” she said. With the freedom to attempt new things, encouraged by the Odebrecht Entrepreneurial Technology (TEO), the Members can develop their curiosity and creativity to help promote this innovation. It is what ensures the Organization’s pioneering approach to the market with respect both to the engineering practices as well as the training of people. “We innovate by creating methods that optimize the period required and cost of a development and also by implementing programs such as Believe, focused on training people for civil construction work,” said Venturini. He reinforced that the practice of training professionals is something intrinsic to the Organization’s history. “This is an Odebrecht brand,” he said. Since the very start, the Organization’s projects have offered at least literacy courses. As time went by, the idea developed and now the Organization has programs that offer everything from the training of labor for the construction work to that designed for entrepreneurs in the communities. This is the case of Include – a program focused on women
who live near the Ethylene XXI project in Mexico, for the generation of work and income with handicrafts, for example, as well as the promotion and prevention of health and literacy classes. VISION OF THE FUTURE “We always seek out innovative methods, products and professionals at our developments,” said Venturini. The Members especially are offered the tools necessary to increase their knowledge, primarily through Education For and Through Work, and become “Knowledgeable People who are capable of satisfying their Clients’ needs through innovative solutions that contribute toward a better world,” as oriented by the Organization’s 2020 Vision. Among the different tools available to Members are the initiatives of the Knowledge Network (Communities of Knowledge and Training Programs) and the Odebrecht Technological Innovation Program (POIT) – created in 2008 and classified under Law 11.196/2005 of the
“We are recognized as leaders, for being an Organization that seeks to always stay one step ahead in order to serve our clients” Dante Venturini Brazilian Ministry of Science and Technology, known as the “Good Law,” POIT selects innovative projects with procedures and processes implemented at the construction sites. “Since its very start, TEO has encouraged Members to overcome their own challenges, seeking to always produce more and better,” said Venturini. He believes that technological innovation in particular is a trend for the Organization to maintain its perpetuity. It will offersupport in the form of establishing increasingly challenging, sustainable and functional contracts aimed at promoting the growth of the 23 countries where it operates. “The pioneering approach was maintained over these 70 years and will continue producing results over the years to come.”
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EXEMPLOS DA INOVAÇÃO NOS MÉTODOS CONSTRUTIVOS DA ODEBRECHT
mpany Correa Ribeiro co te ta es al re e th r fo ntract ing was built The Belo Horizonte build innovative potential. There was a clause in the co cht’s and consolidated Odebre delivered in nine months be ing ild bu e th at th establishing
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The Cruz Building, constructed in 1945. For eman AnĂsio proved, through the incessant search for knowledge, that the development could be completed by Ode brecht with a more effective technique and at a lower cost compared to the competition. This was the first Ode brecht head office
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The Los Huites Dam was Odebre 1992. While it was un derway, the m³ of concrete laid pe r month
the symbols of of e on as w 1, 7 19 ed in e 1970s, the ad office, complet The Petrobras he Brazil’s Central-South region. In th y of Rio de l to versit Odebrecht’s arriva the installations for the State Uni (Galeão) built rnational Airport te In Organization also ro ei an J e d d the Rio Janeiro (UERJ) an
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echt’s first project in Mexico. The contract was signed in e project recorded a world record in paving, with 250,000
the 1980s in t il u b , ola lant, in Ang P ic r t c le e o ydr Capanda H
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The auditorium of the Odebrecht head office in Salvador is recognized by LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) for its sustainable features. The project also used the slab construction system with bubbledeck
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ndscape due la y it c e h t e in n ell-known sit This type of irrigatio w a e m o c e b alls. has ulo Building distributed along four w ter consumption levels a P o ã S t h c The Odebre all” extending 1,600m² ip method, rationing wa w dr to its “green anevaflor, uses a microdC system, calle
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upp h plastic s it w e d a m e is r structur e t n e C n io t Administra t ic r t is D l era f the Fed o s b la s e h rt ck used fo e d le b b u B The Braskem
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The constr uct galvanized ion of the Inova BH ste unit levels of th el as the main struct s is based on the Lig ura er ht facilitates mo-acoustic performa l element. This accele Steel Frame metho the installa r tion and m nce, lightweightness, d ates the construction dology, which uses aintenance of the elec urability and longevity process, improves the trical and hydraulic n of the structure and etworks
plied by
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t e complex. With a se us ti ul m a is t, en velopm e Climate Positive açþes Imobiliårias de th liz in ea jo R to ht d ec te br vi de in O s Parque da Cidade, an nsidered unprecedented worldwide, it wa influence positive change in the lives of ons co with the capacity to ts of sustainable soluti ec oj pr 18 s er th m, which ga Development progra on a global level en ev d an ty ci y, it un members of a comm
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Inaugurate d hotels, univ in 2007, Belas Shop er pin country’s d sities and commercia g is the first shopp ing lb ev 3,000 ind elopment. Currently uildings sprang up, a center in Angola. A t irect job o r pportunitie in its construction p testing to the regio ound it, a group of h n’s co s ase, the sh opping cent growth and reflect ndominiums, er generat in ed 1,500 g the direct and
In 2014, the Organization completes 70 years, and in order to celebrate the date during the year, Odebrecht News will feature a series of special stories. Read the story from the previous edition about Sustainability. 79