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Pool-Net Portuguese Tooling Ass

The automotive industry accounts for 70% of production

Cut to today and Portugal’s mould-making industry is busy with work and enjoying a sharp rise in product exports. “For the majority of Portugal’s tool and mould making companies, the automotive industry is the major market, accounting for approximately 70% of production, although many are diversifying into sectors such as packaging, aerospace, and health care and medical devices,” said Rui Tocha, Pool-Net’s general manager. “To support migration into these niche markets, the cluster takes part in European collaboration networks.”

But there is more to Portugal’s mould makers’ success. They know that in order to remain globally competitive there is no way round investment in the latest technology. Successful manufacturing begins with innovative and functional product design that reduces the number of parts and standardises as much as possible, even in a low volume, high mix environment. Investment in new machine technology will not increase product competitiveness unless the product design itself is innovative and cost-efficient. The same is true for machine tools. Continuous technology advancements have substantially reduced numbers of parts while the machines themselves are faster, more powerful and more accurate.

In fact, when you take a tour around some mould makers’ shops in Portugal, you will see an increasing number of highly productive, 5-axis milling machines, machining centres equipped with pallet changers, automatic tool changers or even robots for loading and unloading of parts. One mould maker, who produces high-quality and large moulds for the automotive industry and employs 200 people in Portugal and Brazil, said he invested €2m in 2015 (for instance, in a 5-axis Mecof machine with two tables and 8 m of travel), and will invest another €2.4m in 5-axis machining centres and other equipment this year. Why? Because on-time and fast delivery are paramount for any business today. Manual work can be decreased, man-hours reduced and workers’ productive time can be shifted towards the value-adding work. The company says it also invested 0.8% of its turnover (€16m) in R&D last year with the long-term goal of 2% by 2020.

One of the world’s largest mould makers with around 4,500 employees worldwide and seven tooling companies and three injection moulding companies at its headquarters in Oliveira de Azeméis installed 26 new machines with an investment of €39m in 2016. The company also emphasises that lead times are important but the business is also so busy with work from the global automotive industry that capacities simply have to be increased – with the latest software, machines and automation technology. Here, too, standardisation in design and manufacturing is crucial for international competitiveness. Additionally, the massive company has standardised the setup of all its manufacturing sites worldwide, which helps the company to adapt to urgent orders, changes and to remain as lean as possible.

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