ABOUT TMSA

Heinz Friedrich Elter was born on 11/6/1927 in the state of Silesia, Germany, territory that after the war was annexed to Poland. He began his professional life at age 14, was trained at age 16 in carpentry. His father owned a carpentry and was expelled from their land by the Polish militia after the war. Still aged 16, he was in pre-military training in the former Czechoslovakia.

In the same year that he turned 17 years old, the World War II was coming to an end. Germany needing to rebuild its military forces, its summoned youth and adolescents to the front. In order to avoid the summons by the army, which fought on the Russian front, the young Elter has chosen to present himself as a volunteer in the Navy (in Hamburg), even against the will of his father. It was this or the risk of going to Russia and not coming back. In the navy he remained in instruction in Denmark.

With the advance of the allies, the young and inexperienced sailors were ordered to try to stop them. However, in April 1944, Elter was taken as a prisoner, and taken to France. With the end of the conflict he was brought back to Germany by the Americans, which they made an agreement with the Russians in exchange of prisoners. Afraid to be deported to labor camps in Siberia, Heinz along with a colleague escaped from the train carrying them. But without documents to allow him to move about a country divided into zones, it was impossible to reach Ruhr, where his family lived, then he stayed in the American zone, during which he worked cutting wood.

In 1946, after getting his documents, Heinz Elter was working on the reconstruction of a wheat mill destroyed during the war. It was where he had contact with the mill construction segment, which ultimately changed his life.
The new equipment used in this reconstruction was provided by the factory Friedrich Liebeck & Co., for which he ended up being hired after 21 years as Head of Assembly. He remained mounting mills from 1948 to 1951.

In 1951, Heinz Elter receives the offer of a two-year contract to work in Brazil, at Porto Alegre, in the company E. Melchers, Liebeck representative in the country. On 9/9/1951 he arrives in Rio de Janeiro, heading to Mafra - SC, where he built its 1st mill in Brazil. After he went to Porto Alegre, it was the company's headquarters in the country. After just a year he received a proposal for a partnership in the newly founded Melchers Prestefelippe & Cia. Ltda., where he remained as a partner until 1957.

Following the sale of its interest in Melchers Prestefelippe & Co. and having founded with partners Tecnosul and later the Condor Machines, Heinz Elter founded with Karl Peuker in 1966 Tecno Moageira, a company for which he started to be devoted exclusively.

Since 1970, the explosion of the soybean crop in Brazil and the consequent demand for larger equipment (200-300 tons), together with the strategic management of the founders, technical knowledge and competence in manufacturing equipment for transporting and handling of bulk solids, allowed the consolidation of Tecno Moageira, as one of the leading exponents of the industrial sector and ports in southern Brazil.

During the 1980s, the company expanded operations to the sectors of pulp, public construction projects, fertilizers, and cement. In addition, the construction project for the mining segment in open pit and underground mines and large port projects also were highlights of this decade. At the same time, the company transferred its manufacturing facilities to a new plant built at Porto Alegre - RS, allowing great expansion in production.

The company goes through the 1990s in the midst of transformation. The stock control now belongs 100% to the family Elter and, from 1995, the overall direction is now exercised by Mathias Elter, son of the founder. In this period, the company also now operates in the environmental control segment and form important partnerships like the one held with the American Hansen Manufacturing to produce enclosed belt conveyors. Moreover, it continues to invest in innovation and development, which ensures the receipt of the first major awards such as the "Gerdau Best of the Land" and "Industry Distinction of FIERGS/CIERGS."

In 2003, the company reaches the US market by designing and installing a ship loader and mobile belt conveyors in the port of Aberdeen in Washington State. In 2004 Tecno Moageira becomes a corporation. In 2007 it incorporates the Argentine Bulktech and in 2008 assumed the current name: TMSA - Tecnologia em Movimentação During the remainder of the decade, TMSA makes large investments for modernization and expansion of production plant and process improvement by incorporating to its production process various advanced equipment.

2010 starts with a branch opening in Belo Horizonte - MG and the contract of one of the many great things that TMSA would develop over the decade: Carajás Mining. Another prominent construction project, wood pellets plant of Tanac, as well as deployment of the São Paulo branch succeed in 2013. In 2015, a new international-sized construction project is building a terminal for large volumes in Uruguay. 2016 arrives with the construction contract of a suspension bridge for ore transport which is the second largest in Brazil, with a span of 300 meters. The 2010s also saw the market recognition for the achievements of TMSA, through many awards the company received.

Em 27 de outubro de 2020, 10 dias antes de completar 93 anos de idade, falece Heinz Friedrich Elter. Fundador da “Tecno Moageira”, que esteve à frente das operações até 1994. Nos 25 anos seguintes apoiou a área comercial da empresa, tendo atuado como como Presidente Consultivo até seus últimos momentos de vida. Seu otimismo e empreendedorismo, bem como seu orgulho das realizações da TMSA, eram contagiantes e deixam muita saudade! Seus valores continuarão a nortear nossos colaboradores por muito tempo!

TMSA continues to innovate and is launching its digital services and solutions platform: TMSA 4.0 Digital Revolution. The program integrates remote training, technical assistance and support services into an intelligent platform of digital solutions. Our customers will be able to have access to the Digital Twin (digital twin) of their equipment and, therefore, considerably optimize the maintenance process, repair time and operation. Through sensors that collect information, host it in the cloud and provide graphical dashboards, IoT Solutions (internet of things) will allow real-time monitoring of numerous equipment features for decision-making with a technical basis, ensuring greater efficiency in the operation.