Founded in 1978 by industry professionals, Astrein has followed a unique path: from training maintenance technicians to developing software that has become a national leader, with 40% of the market and over 300 clients throughout Brazil.

A problem that nobody wanted to solve.

In the late 1970s, large Brazilian industries operated with a silent paradox: they invested heavily in machinery and equipment, but almost nothing in maintaining them. Preventive maintenance was a new, almost unknown concept. The prevailing model was simple and costly: the machine broke down, the technician was called, it was repaired. And the cycle repeated.

Those who lived within that environment knew how much it cost. Production stoppages, incorrect parts in the warehouse, equipment deteriorating prematurely. The problem was evident. But there was no one to teach them how to do things differently.

It was precisely to solve this problem that a group of professionals from the industry itself founded Astrein: Industrial Consulting and Training in 1978.

Teach before automating.

Astrein wasn't born as a technology company. It was born as a school.

Its founders had experience working on the factory floor and knew that the biggest obstacle to preventive maintenance in Brazil wasn't technological. It was human. There was a lack of trained technicians, electricians, and mechanics who understood the new methods that were beginning to take hold in the petrochemical, steel, and large industrial sectors of the country.

The answer was straightforward: technical courses with predominantly practical content, aimed at training professionals specialized in maintenance. Over time, these courses evolved to cover the complete organization of maintenance departments, including planning, control, preventive maintenance, TPM, and MBC.

Astrein trained people. And by training people, it came to understand, like no one else, the problems they faced in the day-to-day operations of the factories.

The leap: when training became software.

In 1984, Astrein made a decision that would change its history forever.

By maintaining constant contact with maintenance professionals at national and international congresses and seminars, the company saw a growing demand that accompanied the computerization of industries: factories wanted to stop managing their maintenance plans with filing cabinets and folders. They wanted to use computers.

Astrein built SIM, the Computerized Maintenance System, the first national software developed for microcomputers aimed at the complete management of a modern maintenance department. Machine registration, preventive maintenance plans, spare parts lists, intervention history, all in a single system.

Villares Industries, from Araraquara, in the interior of São Paulo, was the first company in Brazil to use SIM. The first version was installed in ten companies. The market was eager for this solution.

Marcelo enters the scene.

When Marcelo Ávila Fernandes was still studying mechanical production engineering at USP in São Carlos, he did an internship in São Paulo that brought him into contact with Astrein for the first time. The industrial maintenance environment, the technical challenges, the idea of structuring something that didn't yet exist in an organized way in Brazil—all of that stayed with him.

Years later, while working in software development at a microcomputer factory, Marcelo was contacted by one of Astrein's partners, who remembered him from his internship. The company needed someone to open a software development area. Industries were demanding more. SIM needed to grow.

In 1988, Marcelo joined Astrein. And in that same year, Astrein Informática was born, a spin-off created specifically to handle the development and marketing of the company's software products.

The division of labor was clear: Astrein Treinamentos handled the courses and consulting. Astrein Informática handled the technology.

Growing along with the market

SIM never stopped evolving. With each version, new features responded to the real demands of those who used the system in the day-to-day operations of factories.

In 1989, SIM 3.0 in Clipper Summer made the system faster and easier to operate. In 1991, SIM 4.0 began running on microcomputer networks, opening the door to deployments in larger companies with multiple simultaneous users. In 1997, SIM 5.0 arrived on Windows, accompanying the technological shift that transformed how companies worked with computers throughout Brazil.

During this same period, Astrein expanded its operations internationally. In 1988, a service unit was established in Portugal, and one of the partners moved to Europe to exclusively manage sales there. The European experience was absorbed and brought back references that fueled the development of products in Brazil.

In Brazil, the client portfolio grew consistently: Refinações de Milho Brasil, which later became Corn Products and is now Ingredion, Chiclete Adams, and Syngenta were among the first to adopt Astrein's products. Groups such as Votorantim and Itaú, in their cement factories, as well as Philips Walita and Vilares, were also part of the portfolio. Each implementation taught something new. Each client demanded more.

Astrein participated in all the major events in the field: the Brazilian Maintenance Congress, the Minas Gerais Maintenance Seminar, and regional meetings in São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Minas Gerais, Bahia, and Espírito Santo. It was present wherever Brazilian industrial maintenance was being built.

A new problem arises in the storeroom.

As SIM matured and Astrein delved deeper into the realities of the factories, an uncomfortable truth became increasingly evident.

The biggest problem with maintenance wasn't technical. It wasn't the professionals' knowledge. It wasn't a lack of planning. It was the wrong part at the wrong time.

Warehouses overflowing with poorly described, duplicated, and unstandardized items. A screw with ten different names. A valve that no one knew for sure what equipment it was for. Incorrect purchases leading to bloated inventories and production stoppages that could have been avoided.

Astrein began incorporating functionalities related to the maintenance supply process into SIM. Later, it developed a specific module for machine failure analysis, which connected the failure study to the type of part needed and the maintenance plan that required updating.

And from this work came a realization that opened up a completely new business opportunity: the problem wasn't just managing maintenance. It was managing the data on the materials used in the equipment. It was ensuring that each part had a unique, complete, and standardized description that any buyer could understand without any room for error.

Engmat and Materials Engineering

In 2005, at the Brazilian Maintenance Congress, Astrein launched Engmat, software developed specifically for the registration and standardization of industrial parts.

The logic behind the product was simple and powerful. Every time the Astrein team organized a warehouse, they needed to study each type of part: what was the minimum information needed to describe it unambiguously? What attributes were indispensable for a light bulb? For a bearing? For a valve?

This knowledge was accumulated and formalized through descriptive standards. Engmat was the repository of all this learning: a library of standards built over years of fieldwork, which allowed any warehouse to be organized with much greater speed and precision.

With Engmat, Astrein began operating on two complementary fronts: maintenance management, with SIM, and materials engineering, with Engmat. A company that had started by teaching people how to care for machines was now also teaching companies how to care for the data on those machines.

The decade of accelerated growth

In the early 2000s, Astrein obtained financing from BNDES through the ProSoft line, a program aimed at strengthening national technology companies. This investment boosted product development, enabled the internationalization of systems with support for multiple languages, and provided a more robust structure for marketing and sales areas. It was in this context of expansion, in 2005, that the company invited Alexandre Siqueira to join the company's ownership structure, with the mission of accelerating commercial growth and consolidating the market strategy that was beginning to gain scale.

The result was impressive: between 2002 and 2008, Astrein grew tenfold in size, consolidating a consistent expansion trajectory. During this period, Marcelo made the definitive transition from developer and technical analyst to entrepreneur, mastering topics such as financial management, leadership of multiple teams, the relationship between investment and return, and, above all, the vision of Astrein not only as a product, but as a business. As a consequence of this evolution, the company surpassed the mark of 300 active clients and conquered about 40% of the national market for maintenance software, a position built over two decades, client by client, factory by factory.

What made Astrein last?

Throughout its history, Astrein has weathered — and overcome — virtually every period of instability in the Brazilian economy: from the Cruzado Plan in 1986 to the Collor confiscation in 1990, passing through decades marked by volatility and uncertainty.

The company's resilience was no accident. It was based on a solid model of sectoral diversification. By operating simultaneously in segments such as cement, food, energy, petrochemicals, and white goods, Astrein reduced its exposure to specific risks. When one sector slowed down, another kept demand active—and, regardless of the scenario, the need to keep industrial operations running never ceased to exist.

But Astrein's longevity goes beyond diversification. There's a fundamental principle that has guided its evolution: the ability to continually reinvent itself. Never clinging to the past. Not maintaining solutions just because they work, if the market already demands the next level. Having the courage to rebuild—even when everything seems to be going right. Because, in the technology sector, stopping evolving is the first step towards becoming irrelevant.

This mindset kept Astrein in the lead even with increased competition. The first competitors emerged in 1987. By 1998, more than 30 companies were vying for the same market. Even so, Astrein remained the benchmark.

A story built with consistency.

Astrein's trajectory is marked by continuous evolution: from a training company to a developer of maintenance software; from maintenance software to materials engineering; and, subsequently, to one of the leading national references in industrial data management.

Few companies manage to grow in this way without losing their essence. Astrein has achieved this because it has always maintained a clear principle: solving real problems in a simple, objective, and sustainable way. Creating solutions that save time, increase efficiency, and remain relevant over the years.

This consistency is reflected in their customer base. Many of their earliest clients remain with them to this day—some for over 25 years. Not for lack of alternatives, but because the value delivered has always been clear, concrete, and lasting.

More than technology, Astrein built trust — and trust, when well built, lasts for decades.