Within the scope of the Virtual Innovation Day 2021, an initial targeted measure on the way to Moulding Expo 2023, representatives of national associations from Portugal, Canada and South Africa debated the current situation of the worldwide markets for tool and mould making.
Despite all the challenges imposed by the novel coronavirus, Manuel Oliveira (CEFAMOL- Portugal), Robert Cattle (CTMA - Canada) and Tapiwa Samanga (PtSA - South Africa) remain optimistic about what is yet to come.
Both Portugal and Canada consider digitalization to play a major role in all markets and Manuel Oliveira mentions that the portuguese companies are working towards progressing with digitalization in the area of knowledge management and R&D.
What is also common to the Portuguese and South African associations is the importance given to people training.The PtSA cooperates with a number of other companies and associations in South Africa and within this framework of a nationwide training programme, the South Africans operate three fully equipped training and testing workshops for aspiring toolmakers. "Furthermore, in order to gain an international perspective, our training facilities cooperate with institutes in Germany and the USA. In the long term, this increases our competitiveness in South Africa," says Tapiwa Samanga.
