Co-Criação empresarial industrial: O caso da FEHST, BritAs, Use & Reuse e Ruy de Lacerda

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Industrial business co-creation: The case of FEHST, BritAs, Use & Reuse and Ruy de Lacerda

Collaboration between companies is a determining factor for success in industrial sectors. Use & Reuse, FEHST and BritAs collaborated with the support of Ruy de Lacerda on a project aimed at improving the capacity to recycle and reuse parts for the automotive industry.

According to the European Plastics Recycling Branch, in 2017 more than 6.6 million end-of-life vehicles were treated, generating more than 8 million tonnes of waste, of which more than a million were plastics. With the increased use of plastics in the automotive industry, thanks to their lightness and versatility, this figure is set to rise. To combat this waste and reduce the impact of its activity, A FEHST was looking for a way to recycle parts for the automotive industry while maintaining their value and following all the normal technical specifications of this sector. To this end, it contacted Use & Reuse, its partner in the recycling of other materials, who suggested using Ruy de Lacerda’s vast network of contacts to find a partner capable of supplying equipment for this purpose. From this search came BritAs, which supplied the equipment that could provide a solution to FEHST’s needs.

The experience of Luís Ramos from Use & Reuse, Ana Moreira from FEHST and Ammal de Paul from BritAs in the recent project with Ruy de Lacerda’s support exemplifies how strategic partnerships can drive innovation and operational efficiency.

 

Use & Reuse: Five Years’ Journey in the Circular Economy

Luís Carlos Correia Ramos, manager of Use & Reuse, shared the company’s journey since it was founded in 2019. Use & Reuse began as a consultancy, but quickly evolved into a materials recycling company, focusing on the circular economy. Luís Ramos highlighted the continuous learning that has taken place since setting up the factory and acquiring equipment, which was initially a challenge due to the lack of specific knowledge.

‘When we decided to buy equipment, we faced many difficulties because we had little knowledge of the technology required. It was a period in which we had to do a lot of research, learn about the machines and how to position ourselves in the recycling and circular economy market,’ said Luís Ramos.

The company has differentiated itself by providing customised solutions for customers, helping them to recycle and reuse materials that would otherwise be discarded. Due to the European Union’s Directive 94/62/EC, which aims to regulate recycling, member countries have to recycle at least 70% of the waste they generate, including 85% of paper and cardboard, 55% of plastics and 80% of ferrous metals, which raises new challenges for companies to be able to reuse and monetise their recycling.

When asked about the recent project, Luís Ramos shared: ‘In our current process, we can’t completely eliminate contamination to guarantee the quality needed by the customer. So we turned to a technology partner, Britas, represented by Ruy de Lacerda, to find a solution. We ran tests with their equipment and now we’re waiting for the results and feedback from the customer.’

With the collaboration between FEHST and Use & Reuse, the automotive industry is moving towards a greener future, following and surpassing legal sustainability obligations.

 

FEHST: Innovation in the automotive industry

Ana Moreira, investment and RTD project manager at FEHST, has 35 years’ experience in the automotive industry, mainly in plastic injection moulding for car interiors. She emphasised that her greatest learning has been in the ability to develop interpersonal relationships, as well as technical enrichment over the years.

FEHST, located in Braga, has been in business for almost 30 years and is one of the most important suppliers to the automotive industry in Portugal, specialising in the production of systems and decorative parts for car interiors.

Regarding the recent project, Ana Moreira explained that FEHST seeks to recover painted waste in order to reintroduce it into production. “This project is part of FEHST’s need to recover painted waste. In this sense, Use & Reuse, which already kept our waste, presented us with this interesting project, which would be the grinding and extrusion of painted waste, and subsequent reincorporation with virgin material in our production. The possibility of reintroducing this painted waste into circulation and the circular economy. ” said Ana Moreira. “This project is in the testing phase, because the automotive industry is governed by very strict requirements, we have to follow standards and comply with them, and this all takes time.”

Ana Moreira emphasised the importance of partnerships and innovation, mentioning the collaboration with the University of Minho and PIEP, which provide a vital exchange of skills and knowledge.

Thanks to the partnerships developed between companies from different sectors, FEHST was able to find a possible solution to its problem in an easy and efficient way.

 

BritAs: Advanced Technology in Plastics Recycling

BritAs is a manufacturer of plastic filtration systems, founded in 1993 in Hanau, Germany. It has developed a partnership with Ruy de Lacerda in which we support it in the Portuguese market, collaborating to develop new solutions adapted to our customers’ needs.

Ammal de Paul, Regional Sales Manager at BritAs, brings a 12-year perspective on the plastics recycling industry. BritAS, based in the German city of Hanau, develops and manufactures lines for filtering plastic waste and machines for quality control of plastic products.

Ammal de Paul emphasised that the tests carried out with materials from automotive parts were innovative and crucial to understanding how recycled plastics can be reused in the same application, rather than downcycled.

“It was very interesting to see the results we obtained with these specific materials for car parts and how they can be reused in other car parts. These tests are very important because nowadays many plastics are recycled but not reused in the same application, which usually results in recycling, and in the case of car parts it’s particularly difficult because there are many technical requirements that recycled parts have to fulfil,” Ammal de Paul explained about the recent project.

Ammal de Paul also emphasised the importance of partnerships in BritAs’ day-to-day business, pointing out that without partners like Ruy de Lacerda, it would be difficult to expand and serve clients globally. When asked about partnerships Ammal de Paul shares: “It’s crucial, because without our partners we can’t move forward with several clients, in many countries at the same time. We want to continue to be present all over the world, and without our partners that wouldn’t be possible. “

 

Innovation with the support of Ruy de Lacerda

In solving the demanding and complex problems that arise as industry moves towards a more environmentally friendly future, collaboration between companies from different sectors is becoming increasingly important.

Ruy de Lacerda’s participation was crucial to the project’s success. Luís Ramos, Ana Moreira and Ammal de Paul emphasised Ruy de Lacerda’s proactivity, technical expertise and ongoing support at every stage of the project.

Ruy de Lacerda engineer Sabino Borges comments: “The integration of the different participants in the distribution chains for industrial products is becoming increasingly important as we move towards a more sustainable and global future. With a greater level of collaboration between companies from different sectors, we can innovate and find more efficient solutions to the problems that arise in day-to-day business.”

‘Ruy de Lacerda has been very useful, not only for their consultancy, but also for the technical knowledge they bring through the companies they represent. In a project related to the recycling of PS food, we went with them to Germany and Austria to carry out tests, which helped us understand the capabilities of the available technology.’ – shared Luís Ramos.

When asked about her experience with Ruy de Lacerda, Ana Moreira says: “I liked it, I think they would be a good partner to work with in the future. In fact, it was through Ruy de Lacerda that we managed to get to our other partner, Britas, in Germany. We had all the support we needed and it was great.”

Ammal de Paul has been working with Ruy de Lacerda for longer and shared his experience: “I’ve worked with Ruy de Lacerda for the last 5 years, through Britas for the last 2 years, and I think it’s one of our best partners worldwide, because we get a lot of support for sales, but also for service, and we always get timely responses on any project. They usually help us with customers in their own language and always go the extra mile to keep communication with the end customer open and to maintain trust and loyalty to Britas.”

“Partnerships are very important to us. By sharing experiences and know-how on an international level, we grow not only as a company, but also as professionals and people. In this way, we can always provide the most personalised service to all our customers and continue to serve the Portuguese industry in the best way.” says António Pereira from Ruy de Lacerda.

 

The future

The collaboration between Use & Reuse, FEHST, BritAs and Ruy de Lacerda demonstrates how strategic partnerships can lead to innovation and the creation of sustainable solutions in industry. This project not only promoted the circular economy, but also strengthened relations between the companies, showing that working together can result in significant advances and positive impacts on the market.

At Ruy de Lacerda we aim to continue fostering the development of new projects and collaborations, both nationally and internationally, to boost the growth of the industry in Portugal. The expertise of our team, combined with the diversity of highly technological and specialised partners in our network of contacts, allows us to support industries in the most diverse situations and problems.