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New MCG manufacturing unit in Ponte de Sor

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Sustained Expansion: MCG Transportation installed in Ponte de Sor a new industrial unit exclusively for buses floors manufacturing. The Ponte de Sor Municipality perspective by Vice-President Rogério Alves.

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The work of this MCG business unit teams continues to earn the trust of some of Europe’s largest train and bus manufacturers. To meet these challenges, MCG Transportation
is expanding its industrial activity with a new factory in the city of Ponte de Sor, in the north of Alentejo Portuguese region. An investment that is very well seen by the local Municipality.

With employees recruited exclusively in the region, the start of production is going very well, with operations already running at a good pace. Nuno Simões, one of the most experienced production managers at MCG, was the person designated to coordinate this new industrial unit.

In addition to this expansion and the future construction of new infrastructures in the space where MCG Transportation is originally installed, in Carregado, this business division continues to grow at MCG, with more members for the engineering and production teams, more specialized training for its technicians and new projects in an advanced stage of industrialization.

‘MCG means the return of the mobility and transport sector to Ponte de Sor’

As a result of an excellent relationship between MCG and the Municipality of Ponte de Sor, the company’s recent expansion to this Alentejo region city was actively and first-hand coordinated by Hugo Hilário, Ponte de Sor’s Mayor. A process of capturing investment in which MCG has been supported by the local authority.

At a more operational level, since the beginning, the entire project to install MCG in Ponte de Sor has been closely followed by the Vice-President of the municipality, Councilman
Rogério Alves. It was with him that we talked as a way of thanking for all the support we have received so that MCG is successful in this new MCG Transportation operation.

MCG / M Magazine: How important is MCG’s activity in Ponte de Sor for the local economy?

Rogério Alves: It’s a very important milestone on several levels. First, because of the direct impact, it has on job creation in a sector that was once extremely important in the region and is now gaining new life.

Then, from the perspective of having in our business network a major national player in the mobility and transport sector, something that makes us proud and happy and means a return of this sector to Ponte de Sor. And this perspective is encouraging.

Finally, the perhaps less tangible reason, but also important from a historical, social, and emotional point of view. We are talking about the fact that a historic property [former
facilities of the extinct company Delphi, meanwhile acquired by MCG] will return no life. That was the home of the company with the most jobs in the entire district of Portalegre and has been closed for over a decade.

MCG / M Magazine: What synergies do you find between MCG and the rest of the business community that the municipality has been trying to attract to Ponte de Sor?

Rogério Alves: The current conjuncture of growing interest in the aeronautical and aerospace sector in Ponte de Sor has generated several investments in the last years and placed us today as one of the largest national centers in this area.

As MCG operates in the mobility sector, with prospects for diversifying products and increasing industrial responses, synergies can be established with the various players in the aeronautical components manufacturing that are already part of the Ponte de Sor cluster.

The recent approval of three mobilizing agendas of the Recovery and Resilience Plan that have Ponte de Sor as the headquarters of their production units also opens up great
business possibilities for companies like MCG. We are convinced that this will only be the company’s first step in Ponte de Sor and that it will find great opportunities for growth and development in the medium term.

MCG / M Magazine: What are the expansion plans for the former Delphi facilities and what facilities will they make available to attract more development to Ponte
de Sor?

Rogério Alves: The project for Delphi’s former facilities is concluded and will be launched by the end of the year. There, the so-called Ponte de Sor Business and Technology Center will be born, and it will have several valences: business welcoming areas made up of industrial pavilions ready to receive companies, with adjustable dimensions to the manifests of interest, in an area of more than 10 thousand meters squares.

There will also be a space for training and development in technology which will be created conditions for the qualification of human resources from various levels of education in areas associated with the regional business network, composed of training rooms, laboratories, study and meeting rooms, common areas with a restaurant and other social facilities, in a total area of around 6,000 square meters.

An area dedicated to hosting exhibitions and business events will be designed to serve the entire region, equipped with an auditorium with a capacity for about 300 people,
meeting rooms, common areas, and exhibition areas, in a total area of 4,500 square meters.

And it should be noted that the extensive coverage of the complex will be equipped with photovoltaic solar panels to take advantage of solar energy, contributing to one of the fundamental objectives of the intervention: environmental concern and energy efficiency. We are convinced that this will be one more response in the design to attracting investment and creating economic dynamics for the region.