In the early 1970s, a devastating fire completely destroyed the first Scheffer family factory in Ponta Grossa (PR). What could have been the end of a dream turned into a new beginning. “When the Bosch engineer my father had hired arrived there, there were still flames in the shed. The entire factory had been consumed by fire the night before,” recalls Rogério Scheffer, current president of the Eagle Group.
The episode deeply marked the family’s trajectory, which decided to rebuild the industry from scratch. Today, decades later, the Eagle Group is a holding company with operations in the logistics, agroforestry and construction sectors, and billionaire revenues – R $ 1.2 billion in 2023, with projection of R $ 1.5 billion for this year. Scheffer participated in the program From zero to toppresented by Mariana Amaro, to tell behind the scenes of this journey of resilience and reinvention.
Business origin
The business origin of the family dates back to the sale of workshop equipment, including a cash register model considered precursor of current ATMs and checkout systems. “My father and uncles sold this equipment very well. One day, the factory owners offered the company to them, which, in enthusiasm, ended up buying,” he says.
The factory initially operated in Lapa, west of São Paulo, and was then transferred to the interior of Paraná. The change coincided with the development of an electronic version of the equipment. However, shortly after the transfer, the tragedy happened. “The shed was old, made of wood and impregnated with used oil on the machines. The fire destroyed everything in minutes,” recalls Scheffer.
To resume the operation, the family sold a rural property and bet on the reconstruction of the industry – even with the equipment already being obsolete. The solution was to invest in another product: duplicators, also known as mimeographers. “It was an old technology, but it still had a market. My father went to Rio de Janeiro to present the equipment and, luckily, sold all the production of the year in a single meeting.”
Unexpected proposal
On the way back to the airport, he received an unexpected proposal from a well -known gaucho industrialist who was diversifying his business with the support of Banrisul. The proposal was clear: buying the entire factory. “My father had a value in mind. His partner suggested $ 100 million. The buyer said he would pay $ 300 million. And they closed the deal right there in the taxi.”
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With the funds of the sale, the family repurchased the rural property and founded the metallurgical eagle, focused on manufacturing cabinets, shelves, tables and metal coffers. The sales channel was traditional, with representatives. Even without initial enthusiasm, the business prospered, especially when Mercedes-Benz began to appoint dealers throughout Brazil.
Each new dealership had a large area intended for parts and needed specific custom -made storage solutions. “This forced us to create an engineering and project department. We had to adapt the layouts from Germany to the Brazilian reality,” explains Scheffer.
Business evolution
What started with shelves and cabinets for workshop was evolving. The group has diversified and today has robust operations on three fronts: Eagle Sistemas, which specializes in logistics solutions and responsible for about 50% of revenue; The Forest Eagle, acting on sustainable management; and the Eagle Construtora, focused on medium and large enterprises.
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Despite the successful business trajectory, Rogério Scheffer points out that the most important value of the family is not revenues, but the ability to reinvent itself. “After all, the Eagle group could well be called Phoenix Group,” he says, referring to the Renaissance after the fire that almost erased the company’s future.
