Productive innovation in the car chain Materials and Products

One of the most significant investments in the activity of ACI - Automotive Compounding Industry, a company founded in 2011, based in Guarda industrial park, was the Silicon Compound, a productive innovation project. This project involved the acquisition of a production line of silicone composite for coating wires and electric cables whose application are the hybrid and electric cars and also the new generation of battery cables with aluminum conductors. ACI belongs to the Spanish group Perplastic of the region of Logronho and is dedicated to the design, development and production of polymeric compounds for the insulation of electrical cables (PVC, polyolefins, thermoplastic rubber and silicone). It exports 61.96% of its turnover, which, in 2017, was 36.5 million euros. Its star product are the polyolefins it sells to Mexico, China, Romania, Morocco and Tunisia. Abroad has four subsidiaries, located in Mexico, Tunisia, Romania and China. "ICA's growth strategy in the medium and long term is to develop certain compounds for sectors that need to be captured, not only for its growth potential, but also for the breadth of the market and associated innovation opportunities," explained Fernando Amaral, CEO of ICA, underlining the importance of the Compound project.

In addition, other investment projects that are candidates for Portugal 2020 have contributed to the development of the ICA. This is the case of Polymeric Compounds, a project to acquire a new production technology with the objective of allowing the expansion of the geographic market as well as the diversification of customers.