Fimel, based in Águeda, is a company that specializes in the manufacture of equipment for industrial painting and surface treatment. With over 40 years of experience, we are a benchmark in the sector and we invest in the development of innovative solutions, adjusted to the reality of the market.
Fimel was born in 1982, driven by the professional experience of its founders, whose technical and industrial knowledge led them to focus on the industrial painting sector. Today, after more than three decades in business, the majority of the administration still has active roles in the company.
Its core business focuses on the manufacture of machinery and electric devices to the general industry. The company is recognized throughout the national territory, as well as internationally, for its know-how in the implementation of painting lines. Since it is quite a specific area, which requires vast technical knowledge, Fimel has all the necessary skills when it comes to surface treatment solutions, such as heating and specific treatments, meeting our clients’ needs.
Renewable energy, such as wind energy, has been a strong bet in the last decade, since we saw great potential and consequently started developing machinery and programming tailored to our clients’ needs. It is an area where process automation is a daily challenge – something that is even more attracting for us. Our purpose is to help our clients make their processes lighter and more autonomous. We provide ongoing assistance and we are able to be at our customers’ home so as to help them prepare for tomorrow. We can consider this not only as an excellent service but also as professional assistance at any time, with no interruptions.
Therefore, and because we strongly invested in creating global solutions for our customers, we have created internally the means for automatizing processes and we developed solutions within Industry 4.0. These features make the solutions we offer completely automatized and to that end we count on the precious help of four painting lines.
We are moved by the satisfaction of all the requests from our clients and not only do we invest in high quality products, we also always combine innovation with all our items. This constant concern is something that distinguishes us from our competition, since we see ourselves as a business partner rather than a mere machine supplier. Our major daily concern is the absolute satisfaction of our customers, with whom we establish relationships based on friendship – something that is valued by them and that they want to keep for a very long time.
Given the variety of products we create, the markets we direct them for are vast and transversal to many areas of business. Our clients include Mercedes in Brazil, Volkwagen and Simoldes in Poland, Riablades/Senvion in Portugal, Sodecia in China and India, Acciona in Spain, and Autoeuropa and MGI Coutier/Avon Automotive in Portugal. In the past, we collaborated and supplied several benchmark companies, such as Bosch, Sanitana, Teka, and TAP.
Nowadays, we count on a team of 120 professionals, divided into three work units. We choose carefully our collaborators and train them – something we take very seriously, bearing in mind we want to be prepared for all the execution stages of a project, since its conception until its verification, implementation and training of our clients, so that they can get the most out of the technology supplied. Therefore, we invest in collaborators with technical knowledge and who are able to respond to the most demanding clients in all the process stages. The satisfaction of our collaborators is also a key point and that is why we are guided by values such as ambition, responsibility, cooperation, trust, and commitment.
Since we value a good relationship with every one and with the entities we work with, we always try to create partnerships that might be fruitful for both parties, allying and aggregating synergies. This motto has always been present and we believe it is the secret for establishing more and better businesses in the future. The latest partnership we established was with Siemens, which reveals the good relationship not only with clients but also with our suppliers. One of the aggregating elements, which is clear in the daily work of the company, is the constant technological support. Indeed, we continuously invest on cutting-edge technology, absolutely necessary for a proper functioning and survival of the company, on the basis of our inherent motto: to provide the best of services. From the moment we started manufacturing machinery for our customers, innovation is one of our watchwords and something we want to keep close.
As a way of expressing our visibility in the market and at the same time to be updated, we are constantly present in the national EMAF fair and occasionally in machinery fairs abroad, so as to search for this constant updating. Being in the wind sector, this presence in fairs is even more important, especially when they are related to the business field of energy. We always keep our focus on the clients and on what we can absorb to serve them better and better.
For the future, our goal is clear: to keep being at the forefront, ensuring innovation and quality in everything we do.
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1982
FIMEL – Indústria de Metalurgia e Electricidade, Lda was established on November 22, from the Sociedade RUIL – Indústria de Carpintaria, Carrocerias e Molas, Lda. The capital stock was then increased from 1,500 contos to 11,500 contos distributed in 5 quotas new members: Aníbal da Conceição Pereira, José Bastos Simões, José de Jesus Guerra, José Vieira Moreira and Leonel da Rocha e Silva.
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1987
The partner Jose de Jesus Guerra gave up his quota and the remaining four partners increased the share capital to 30,000 contos.
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1991
The company increased its share capital to 70,000 contos, remaining divided in equal quotas.
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1997
FIMEL – Indústria de Metalurgia e Electricidade, Lda has changed its legal nature to FIMEL – Indústria de Metalurgia e Electricidade, S.A., increasing its capital to 120,000 contos. Later, with the change of the currency, the social capital
increased to € 600,000 divided into 120,000 shares of € 5 each. -
1999
Investment process that went through the creation of an industrial warehouse for the production of equipment with the support of new technologically advanced machines.
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1999
Project ROBOT2000 – Robot for Continuous Lines of Electrostatic Painting in partnership with ISR – Coimbra.
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2000
Certification of the company in terms of quality according to the norm NP EN ISO 9002: 1994.
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2001
1st “Sectoral Security – Industry” Award, awarded by IDICT under the Safe Work Program, aimed at promoting and supporting the exercise of good business practices in matters of Safety, Hygiene and Health at Work.
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2002
2nd “Sectoral Security – Industry” Award, awarded by IDICT under the Safe Work Program, to promote and support the exercise of good business practices in the areas of Safety, Hygiene and Health at Work.
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2003
Transition to NP EN 9001: 2000 standard.
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2004
Great innovation in the areas of automation, design and marketing.
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2008
Change of logo.
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2009
Changing the corporate image of the company.
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2009
Transition to NP EN ISO 9001: 2008 standard.
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2011
Film boosts its business range to the area of renewable energy.
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2015
Fimel recognizes its merit by obtaining the PME Excelência 2015 award.
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2017
Strategic decision to insert in its scope the manufacturing for the furniture sector.
Implementation of a Continuous Improvement Project (Lean / Kaizen).
The Management of FIMEL, S.A. has defined and assumed this Quality Policy, based on the following principles:
Shareholders
To guarantee the satisfaction of our customers.
Customers
To guarantee the satisfaction of our customers.
Quality Management System
To guarantee the compliance with requirements and to continuously improve the accuracy of the Quality Management System (QMS).
Collaborators
To guarantee the collaboration, commitment, and satisfaction of all our collaborators, providing a work environment that is safe and pleasant, and also to raise awareness for the QMS.
Suppliers
To guarantee good partnership relations with our suppliers.
Fimel has its certified Quality Management System in transition toward the new norm, in the framework of conception, manufacture and implementation of industrial equipment for specific purposes, surface treatment and painting, provision of surface treatment services, and automated and industrial robotic solutions.
Mission
Fimel’s mission is to meet the market requirements in all its areas of activity, satisfying our customers and being a symbol of quality and innovation. As such, we look at the future with optimism and we act according to high standards of conduct and social responsibility. So as to satisfy the maximum interests of all the Management and stakeholders, we defined creating value through competent and motivated collaborators as our mission.
Vision
To be a benchmark company in the markets we operate in, standing out for our excellent operation and quality of our products/services.
Values
AMBITION: we are exigent and ambitous. We seek daily evolution, innovation and continuous improvement.
RESPONSIBILITY: we are socially responsible. We assume the sustainability and balance of the society and the environment.
COOPERATION: we are cooperative and work as a team. We value teamwork and mutual respect.
TRUST: we are near and reliable. We base our work on trust and transparency.
COMMITMENT: we are committed to our clients. We build solid relations that ensure successful businesses.
Evaluation to External Suppliers
Our suppliers are continuously evaluated based on a score.
100 points are awarded for each delivery. In the event of any failure(s) in the supply, a demerit will be attributed, according to the following table:
| Demerit to initial score for each supply | Cause of demerit for each supply |
| 0 Points | Deliveries without defects. |
| 10 Points | Defective supplies but with prior notice.
Defects in terms of quality, quantity and meeting deadlines. |
| 20 Points | Defective supplies but without notice.
Defects in terms of quality, quantity and meeting deadlines. Certificates delivered incorrectly. It does not cause delays and compliance in the final product. |
| 30 Points | Defective supplies, without prior notice, giving rise to the return of the supply, not jeopardizing the conformity of our product, jeopardizing delivery times for our final product. |
| 40 Points | Defective supplies, without prior notice, giving rise to the return of the supply and jeopardizing the conformity of our product and delivery deadlines of our final product. |
Product failures may be detected only during the production process. In these cases, an occurrence record is opened. These occurrence records will lead to the attribution of a penalty of 40 points to the final evaluation of the supplier, or it may even lead to its revocation, depending on the seriousness or effectiveness in solving the problem. This penalty will be removed from the supplier’s final score, treating this occurrence as a new supply.
At the end of each semester, a supplier classification list is created based on the average of the values applied to each supply, with a letter being assigned as follows:
– Class A – If the percentage at the end of 6 months is between 98 exclusive and 100 (Approved).
– Class B – If the percentage at the end of 6 months is between 85 exclusive and 98 inclusive (Satisfactory, but under observation)
– Class C – If the percentage at the end of 6 months is less than 85 inclusive (Not satisfactory)
The Annual Rating will be obtained by averaging the two semi-annual ratings, asking suppliers with a B and C rating for a support action plan.