Enjoy, the constant in your work

By: Vanesa Restrepo

After being retired and working as a business consultant, chance allowed Osmar Gomes da Silva to have two new opportunities: to work again in another company and to enter the CVAC/R industry in Brazil.

20 years ago the technical-scientific association Smacna came to Brazil in order to organize and contribute to the training and professionalization of the industry. After opening an office in the city of São Paulo, its managers took on the task of looking for a person with sufficient leadership and proactive capacity to position them as an agency that promotes professional training and regulation of all companies and people linked to the sector.

Silva was not familiar with the industry and much less with the corporation, but this was not inconvenient for an entrepreneur to dare to postulate him as the ideal person to be within the management group.

"In a consultancy to a contractor's company, he told me that they had created Smacna Brasil and told me that I had the face of being from that institution. I, jokingly, told him 'then I'm going to have to have plastic surgery, because it shouldn't be pretty', Osmar recalls while explaining that it was Eduardo Del'antonia, then director of Thermotec, who recommended it.

Subsequently, Osmar was interviewed by the managers: "they considered that I had the profile to occupy the position of Executive Vice President. This is a statutory position and I'm here because I think my work has pleased."

Hands on

Contrary to what could be thought, for Osmar Silva it was not difficult to adapt to the work: "it was no problem not to have knowledge of the industry, because in reality, when this organization emerged I knew what exactly the purpose was: to create the best conditions to conquer the market and these were through the technical route".

With this knowledge, added to his administrative experience in other industries and his love for reading, Silva began to propose ideas and develop the actions that today are the face of Smacna Brasil before the world. "To do all that we used a lot of the experience and training of Smacna, Inc., in the United States through literature and technical visits."

The first activity implemented was the Smacna Continuing Education Program, a vocational training system that has so far hosted more than 600 engineers, training them in different topics around heating, cooling, air conditioning and ventilation.

This program is developed through a cooperation alliance established with the Brazilian Association of Refrigeration, Air Conditioning, Ventilation and Heating (ABRAVA), and the Union of the Refrigeration, Heating and Air Treatment Industry of the state of São Paulo (Sindratar).

In 1993 the 'Destaques do ano' (Outstanding of the Year) award was created, an award given to the best projects in the industry, distinguishing the best end user (customer), the best thermal engineering firm (installer), the main manufacturer and the responsible market agents.

Observe, the secret

The success of Osmar in an industry different from those he knew throughout his professional career, and the recognition that Smacna has obtained from his hand, are the result of a process of observation and identification of the characteristics and requirements of the industry.

"Creating these instruments that gave a variety and professional training to engineers and technicians is important because there was absolutely nothing here, the organization was newly created. Then, for example, I was able to contribute in an efficient way so that it subsists as an important and useful entity for those who are working in the sector."

For our Professional of the Month none of these things are difficult to do, "just be an observer and know what the needs of the sector are in Brasi". In this way, he explains, it has been possible to make the sector more efficient and competent, from the technical point of view.

Success factors

In accordance with his experience and the authority given to him by his nearly two decades of experience in the industry, Osmar Gomes da Silva spoke of the essential elements to have a successful company in the CVAC/R industry in Brazil.

"First you must have a perfect technical knowledge and what can be offered to the market, with an advanced spirit of good administrative, economic and financial management, be attentive to all the versions that the market offers."

He emphasizes the importance of knowing the organization in which you work and being immersed with it, knowing what can be contributed and what benefits will be obtained by making use of the tools that organizations like Smacna offer you.

"I do what I like"

Although he devotes much of his time to work at Smacna, Osmar Gomes da Silva does not have a specific schedule. His time is divided between visiting some projects and participating in committees that are responsible for defining matters of vital importance such as the topics to be worked on in the training programs and the regulations to be taken into account to ensure compliance with technical standards in the sector.

In his spare time, he enjoys reading and visiting his three daughters, four grandchildren and a great-grandson, in the company of his wife. He also likes to walk, although he is aware that São Paulo does not always offer the ideal conditions for this activity.

To argue why travel and social life are two of his favorite activities, Osmar says that "people who are veterans like me, make social life their best activity. It seems that it has a better recreational effect to see loved ones, in addition to relatives." Regarding travel, he assures that they are one of his passions and that he tries to do them every time he has time and money.

"I do not have any excessive material ambition, I only do what I always wanted to do in my professional life: be useful to others, giving my best so that the task is well accomplished," he says proudly.

During his time in different chemical, gas and mining companies around the world, our Professional of the Month was able to travel throughout Latin America. "I have a very great energy, I do many things at the same time, and I try to do everything that the head supports and the body resists. Honestly, I do what I do best."

Regarding his family and personal life, he is reserved. He says that he graduated as an Industrial Chemist and was born in São Paulo, but he does not comment on what year. "Looking at my history, it can be said that I am more or less a contemporary of Methuselah."