The Portuguese cluster of Engineering & Tooling will attend Interplastica 2019, that will be held from 29th January to 1st February 2019, at Moscow, under the umbrella of the Portuguese colective brand “Engineering & Tooling from Portugal”. The main purpose of this strong participation is to meet business partners, to seek for new customers and to promote the global and innovative offer of the portuguese industry of moulds, special tools and plastics. By participating at Interplastica 2019 the Portuguese cluster also aims to diversify the markets and the destination sectors of its exports, currently mostly directed to the automotive sector.
Russia is a strategic market for this Portuguese industry because there is an important growth in the volume of production of plastic parts injected into the automotive, packaging, electrical and electronic industry as well as for the and medical devices industry. The automotive industry is expanding in Russia, which is a large market with 150 million consumers. It is thus a market with potential for the realization of partnerships.
The Portuguese Engineering & Tooling cluster is coordinated by Pool-Net: Portuguese Tooling & Plastics Network, association created in October 2008, being responsible for bringing together the engineering and tooling industry in Portugal, promoting the integration of this industrial, technological and scientific community, whose stakeholders are mainly based in Marinha Grande and Oliveira de Azemeis, two towns located jus 130 kms and 270 kms north of Lisbon, respectively. Providing global solutions for important customers, acting on a global scale, namely OEMs such as Renault, Volvo, VW, Audi, Nissan, Toyota, Porsche, Honda, Mercedes, GM, Mitsubishi, FIAT, BMW, the Portuguese cluster intents to establish strong partnerships with Interplastica visitors.
Portugal has clearly taken on a role as “One-Stop-Shop”, offering renowned expertise across a broad value chain, ranging from Design, Product Engineering, and Prtototyping to Mould Making and Product Manufacturing, all supported by the cooperation, innovation and internationalization of its stakeholders, adopting a philosophy of solutions providers for its global customers.
The “Engineering & Tooling from Portugal” brand sets its strengths on accumulated know-how, innovation and technology, quality and reliability, networking, competitiveness and social sustainability, all of them core competencies of Portuguese Engineering and tooling industry.
Portugal is the world's eighth-largest mould making country and currently exports over 85 percent of production to 86 countries. In 2017, tooling exports reached a value of 675 million euros. Exports as well as employment has doubled in the last ten years. Europe is the main export zone, although exports to North America and Mexico have grown.
This is an industry highly internationalized and technological up-dated that has made significant investments during the recent years on innovative technologies and processes, namely in new five-axis machines, software, paperless production, lean management and automation equipment. Some companies have also heavily invested in new, modern buildings and work environments which are sure to attract the best talent.
In addition to the recent efforts and investements, the cluster companies are working to accomplish challenges in the other fields such as the Industry 4.0, the Internet of Things and the Zero-defects manufacturing.
The accumulated know-how of the Portuguese industry in several moulding technologies and in plastic injection solutions, as well as the quality of products provided, has contributed to its leadership in the European mould making and plastic injection industry.
