Inform bets on Latin America’s construction and automotive industries

Software company Inform is looking to grow in Latin America by leveraging the construction industry, automobile manufacturing in Mexico, and the growth of instant payments in Colombia and Peru.

“I believe that Latin America has laid a solid foundation on which we can grow, and where we’re betting heavily is the automotive industry in Mexico, the financial industry and construction materials,” Federico Dos Reis, CEO of Inform for Latin America, told BNamericas.

Founded in Germany in 1969, Inform uses mathematics, algorithms, machine learning and artificial intelligence to make business operations more efficient.

Currently, Latin America represents less than 5% of global business but the hope is to expand that to 15-20% in the next five years.

With offices in Santiago and São Paulo, Inform employs 30 people in Latin America.

Automotive

Although Donald Trump’s return to the White House could mean a pause in nearshoring investments in Mexico, Dos Reis is confident about the growth opportunities in the country’s automotive industry. “Today, 10mn cars are produced in the United States [each year], and 50% of the parts come from Mexico,” he said.

Inform is working with Volkswagen to optimize its logistics processes and recently launched a project with BMW Mexico to synchronize internal logistics and avoid interruptions in production lines.

“The system automatically prioritizes the entry of trucks according to stock needs,” Dos Reis said.

Construction materials

Another area of growth for the company in the region is construction materials.

The company’s main clients in Latin America in the area are cement producers Polpaico and Holcim.

Cement companies use Inform software to optimize truck routes to be able to maintain the smallest fleet possible.

Dos Reis said logistics optimization is not only a matter of operational efficiency but also an ecological one, since between 8% and 10% of emissions come from cement production.

He said a minimum improvement of 10% in efficiency is achieved by using these types of solutions. “There are clients who have achieved up to 35%,” he added.

According to Dos Reis, the company will seek to continue growing in this segment, especially in Peru, Mexico and Colombia.

Staff shift management 

Inform is also near to closing a “very large” project in Latin America for its staff shift management solution, although Dos Reis preferred not to give details about the contract or the client.

Changes in the regulation of working hours in Chile, Colombia and Mexico are pushing the use of technologies to better manage shifts and achieve reduced hours while minimizing loss of productivity.

According to Dos Reis, implementing shift solutions can achieve an increase of 3% to 10% in efficiency.

Globally, Inform’s clients include British Airways, Daimler and Mercedes Benz. In the Latin American airline industry, it works with Latam, Gol and Azul, among others.