PORTUGUESE COMPANIES FOCUSED ON AUTOMOTIVE INTERIORS
For the first time in Germany, six Portuguese companies will travel to Stuttgart to participate in the Automotive Interiors Expo, an event specialising in automotive interior components and systems, which will take place between 31 May and 2 June. Endutex, ERT, IDEPA, MSG, JR Moldes and TMG Automotive, are the companies that form part of the made-in Portugal space, together with CITEVE, CeNTI and Associação Selectiva Moda, which has organised this initiative as part of the From Portugal internationalisation project.
For the first time in Germany, six Portuguese companies will travel to Stuttgart to participate in the Automotive Interiors Expo, an event specialising in automotive interior components and systems, which will take place between 31 May and 2 June. Endutex, ERT, IDEPA, MSG, JR Moldes and TMG Automotive, are the companies that form part of the made-in Portugal space, together with CITEVE, CeNTI and Associação Selectiva Moda, which has organised this initiative as part of the From Portugal internationalisation project.
Among the different sectors of application of technical textiles, the automotive sector, and the automotive interiors segment in particular, has been the one in which the Portuguese textile and clothing industry has shown the highest growth in volume and in value. This evolution is proof not only of the technological development of the national textile and clothing industry, but also its growing capacity to be part of a value chain with highly specific commercial procedures, in contrast to what takes place in other segments of the fashion business.
The participation of Portuguese companies in the “Automotive Interiors Expo” is therefore of utmost importance for the growth of this business, as this is a specialised event with the objective of developing business between automobile manufacturers, designers, design and engineering companies, component manufacturers and other participants in a complex and stratified supply chain.
At a time in which it is possible to envision, in the short term, the integration into automotive interiors, essentially made up of textiles and textile-based composites of advanced features and interactivity (light-emitting and chameleonic, climate controlled, sensorized and interactive materials, materials, those that react to interior air quality, etc.), Portugal is participating in this fair with cutting-edge companies – Endutex, ERT, IDEPA, MSG, JR Moldes and TMG Automotive – as a competent cluster in the area.
Idepa, a company that has specialised in trims for 50 years, will also be present at the exhibition. According to Yesica Filipe, from the company’s marketing department, “world class logistics, post-sales service and the capacity for integration with client ERPs by means of the EDI electronic communication system, make Idepa a leading company in the textile accessory sector for the car seat industry”. The company already works with “several important players in the automobile sector”, supplying “products such as Isofix, airbags and informative cloth labels, woven, tailored and application-specific elastics, hot and laser cut ribbons and straps, stand-alone as well as embroidered on fabric and leather”. Idepa also has a design team “that works with different materials, seeking out new trends and inspirations, creating products that lead clients to appreciate the details”.
MSG will be at the Automotive Interiors exhibition with the objective of consolidating its image as a seat manufacturer and “presenting production versions of seat design for electric vehicles”. This event was chosen due to the fact that it takes place in Germany, a place where “three of the world’s largest automobile manufacturers are based, and the largest suppliers in this industry are also present in this country”, said Joaquim Soares, the company’s general director.
Portugal’s capacity for anticipating technological trends will be further established by the presence of two organisations from the Scientific and Technological System, which are also at the forefront: CITEVE – Centro Tecnológico das Indústrias Têxtil e do Vestuário de Portugal (Technological Centre for Textile and Clothing Industries of Portugal) and CeNTI – Centro de Nanotecnologia e Materiais Inteligentes (Centre for Nanotechnology and Smart Materials), with an extremely active presence in the development and testing of advanced products for automobile use, especially for interior applications, which explains their presence at the fair.
The participation of the six portuguese companies in one more Automotive Interiors Expo edition is an initiative promoted by the Selectiva Moda Association, co-financed by the EU Structural and Investment Funds as part of the Operational Programme for Competitiveness and Internationalisation (POCI), Portugal 2020 and COMPETE 2020. The FROM PORTUGAL project is made up of approximately 81 international activities which take place in the second half of 2015 and in 2016, covering the entire textile and fashion industry and spread over four continents, with a total investment of over 13 million euros.
