Where does the big KLM bird fly us this time???

Direction Sao Paolo Brazil, for another factory tour of suppliers, part of our purchase manager overseas (Jerry) training program….

Impressive skyline for sure…:)

oh, Jerry found already what’s important…:)

me too… Brazil is a country for meat lovers, let’s start at lunch…:)

First supplier lunch, hospitality here is second to none!!

and yes… they do have APE here too…:)

Fusca’s everywhere… Fusca is the local Brazilian “nickname” for the beetle… and yes, there’s still plenty on the road here!

ok, let’s get to work here… first factory was a steering box and all steering box components manufacturer… Now TRW is bought by ZF we face difficulties in supply, to have an alternative right in your back pocket is not an extra ordinary luxury thing in this situation…

We start at the casting and raw material warehouse…

To continu in the production… we’re very satisfied what we see! the factory came a LOOOOOONG way since our last visit here in 2009!

Lots of CNC machines to choose from…:)

Motivated people, even here in the packing division!

Lots of special machines… Gonzo, this one You have to know!

And finally the assembly…. a lot of skilled craftsmen that really know what they do… high quality for sure!

Oh and they make steering boxes for the old Brazilian kombi, as far as we know every Kombi imported from Brazil in Europe for sure need one of those!!

And finally these lovely girls will make sure all our paperwork will be going smooth!

Second we visit a factory that make small locks, handles, catches,  receivers etc… small parts and a lot like key barrels etc mainly in zinc alloy… impressive machinery!

and a LOT of tooling!

This is how Zinc Alloy comes out of the form after being injected and cooled down!…

Cleaning of the moulds for the next process!

Very impressive machinery…

Do you recognise this part???

He Mauci, where you think you’re going????

Thanks for bringing us here buddy!

The most enthusiast sales team of them all??

Jerry checking on samples…

Ok day one is over, tomorrow we see more… now first we have to find a hotel! Seems we don’t have a reservation yet!

Today BBT will have no product update because of various reasons…

But….The imens growing quantities of sheetmetal we receive now with our growing sheetmetal line forced us for extra shelves… Danny and Tim from good in dept worked hi and low this week to get a new shelf ready for future deliveries!

We wanted to share some pictures…

Long time friend of Da Houze, customer for always, and owner of several ex BBT cars Robert Mommen left us last Sunday.

His totally unfair battle against his cancer was one he couldn’t win…

We will remember Robert always and forever as always laughing’ and very young at mind, as long as he could be between the youngsters he was happy, very happy!

His beloved split window beetle was an extreme nice one and won several awards at several big shows he took it too!

We like to offer Roberts wife Jose, his son Geert and all other family members our deepest condolences.

You can sleep now Robert, up there in VW heaven, i’m sure there is sweet dreams of your beloved split window beetle over there and You driving it around the small white sweet clouds in heaven. It goes You well my friend, thank You so much for all I could learn from You!