Ceramics and crystal industry calls for less bureaucracy and worker training

Facing the fierce competitiveness of China and the USA, promoting common policies in European countries, while meeting environmental sustainability objectives, was one of the biggest challenges highlighted by the speakers who participated in the ECP Green Summit’24, and who also addressed topics such as the process of digitalization and innovation in the sector, circularity with the reuse of waste and energy alternatives with a lower environmental impact.

In the morning the speakers were José Cruz Pratas, president of the board of APICER; Teodorico Pais, administrator at Vista Alegre Atlantis; Luís Mira Amaral, advisory consultant at FNWAY CONSULTING and Duarte Cordeiro, partner at sustainability consultancy Shiftify. In the first debate panel, with the theme “Towards Energy Transition: Challenges and Opportunities”, Carlos Zorrinho, full professor in the management department at the University of Évora, participated; João Bernardo, president of the board of directors of the Biomass Center for Energy (representing DGEG) and Sílvia Machado, executive director for sustainability at CIP. The second part of the morning’s work was presented by Victor Francisco, responsible for R&D at CTCV, who moderated the second debate panel with the theme “Challenges of the Energy Transition in Industry”, which was attended by Bruno Veloso, vice-president of the board of directors at ADENE; Cipriano Lomba, director of technology and innovation management at Efacec; Bruno Pereira, ISQ; José Manuel Terras, head of energy transition & new technologies at Floene and Nuno Vitorio, commercial director at Indutor – Efficiency in Firing.

In the afternoon it was Pedro Brinca’s turn, keynote speaker, to open the session with an analysis of the digital transition and its impact on the local and global economy, followed by another panel debate with the theme “Accelerating the digital transition in Portugal”, moderated by Ana Peneda Moreira, journalist from SIC, in which Mário Campolargo, former secretary of state for digitalization and administrative modernization, participated; Pedro Dominguinhos, president of the National PRR Monitoring Commission and José Tribolet, professor emeritus at the Instituto Superior Técnico of the University of Lisbon, INESC.

Finally, Pedro Roseiro, project management officer at INOV INESC moderated the last debate panel of the day where the “Challenges of industry digitalization” were discussed, which included the participation of Nelson Escravana, executive administrator and director of the cybersecurity area at INOV INESC Innovation; Nelson Ferreira, responsible for coordinating the manufacturing digitalization (Industry 4.0) area for Bosch Thermotechnology factories; Nuno Gonçalves, director at IAPMEI; Paulo Soeiro Ferreira, Grupo Visabeira and Sandra Carvalho, head of academy and external communication at CTCV.

The work ended with a message from the state economy secretary, João Rui Ferreira, and a speech from Albertina Sequeira, executive vice-president of the board at APICER.

Discover the main conclusions:

Competitiveness

• Teodorico Pais warned of the danger of Europe losing competitiveness and ground to China and the USA. “These trends are worrying. China’s growth is much more ambitious and occurs at a different pace. But we believe we can reverse the course of events”, he says.
• Technical training and specialization in energy efficiency were highlighted as tools for optimizing production processes and reducing energy consumption.
• The price of electricity is an important factor that contributes to the loss of European competitiveness and attracting investment in the country. Electricity is two to three times more expensive in European Union countries than in the US, and natural gas is four to five times more expensive.
• “As long as countries do not have more flexibility in the rules, they will have difficulty supporting specific sectors and in this regard the other two blocs (China and the USA) have surpassed them. There is a lack of industrial policy mechanisms and instruments to create, in the European Union, the capacity to combat this type of companies and have opportunities to multiply employment in Europe,” says João Bernardo.

Energy sustainability

• Solar energy, biomass, green hydrogen or electrification are alternatives that can replace natural gas “more or less to the same extent”, says Duarte Cordeiro, citing the European Climate Association, pointing to a path in which there is “a mix of various energies ”.
• Portugal has the objective of achieving carbon neutrality in 2045, bringing forward by five years Europe’s goal, which made this commitment until 2050.
• Duarte Cordeiro also states that the path to decarbonization must be done with support, warning that a greater investment is needed than what exists in the Recovery and Resilience Plan (PRR). “There is an opportunity with the PRR but it will have to be strengthened in the coming years”, he warns.
• Compensation with the capture of CO2 emissions is a suggested strategy, and involves valuing the forest economically, with more investment in this process through carbon markets or trading carbon credits, ensuring that the forest is not abandoned. Experts, however, warn of the importance of ensuring the safety of capturing this CO2 and evaluating new carbon storage solutions.
• “Sustainability is at risk”, warns Silvia Machado, adding that there is still not enough production of some energies, nor the scale for them to be adopted at the industrial level, meeting existing needs. “There is a lack of infrastructure to meet the need for transportation and production. The necessary investments are enormous and will come more from private companies, who are already facing raw material costs and compliance with European Union legislation”, he says.
• The conversion of current furnaces and the development of new synthesis processes will reduce dependence on fossil fuels and greenhouse gas emissions. Replacing natural gas with hydrogen or biomethane is also part of the strategy.

Circular economy and digital transition

• The recovery of waste from products already consumed in the ceramic industry, and which can be used again in the production process, is part of the strategies for a more sustainable sector.
• “We have to create a new culture of digital awareness, whether for new business models, sensing, or digital systems. All of this is important”, says Mário Campolargo, adding that if companies with “mobilizing agendas” are able to externally “monetize the industrial chain as more sustainable” using technology, small and medium-sized companies, which are not on these agendas, also benefit. her. “There is enormous space for us to work together.”
• “The ceramics sector has around 300 companies, and of these, 85 are SMEs. The digital transition is not possible if there are no partnerships between them, but a mental framework is needed from workers and companies that understand what the digital world is in the sector”, says José Tribolet.
• “What these mobilizing agendas are doing is strengthening the ecosystem. We tend to demonize large companies, but this transition cannot be made without mobilizing large companies, due to the leverage effect, speed and practical sense of the market that they have”, says Pedro Dominguinhos.