Exlabesa officially inaugurates its new factory in Portugal

Exlabesa celebrated the official inauguration of its new production plant in Portugal on Monday 9th December. The Portuguese Secretary of State for the Economy, João Rui Ferreira, presided over the event accompanied by the Mayor of Soure, Mário Jorge Nunes.

This new factory joins the company’s other nine production centres spread over three continents, strategically located in the United States, the United Kingdom, Spain, France, Germany, Poland and Morocco. From these facilities, Exlabesa serves nearly 16,000 customers in 40 countries.

The new production centre specialises in the extrusion of high added value aluminium profiles for the most demanding industrial sectors, such as construction, transport, infrastructures and renewable energies. Its strategic location, in the centre of the country and less than two hours from Oporto, Lisbon and the Spanish border, allows it to offer a fast and efficient service to customers in Portugal, Spain and France through Exlabesa’s extensive logistics network.

This plant, located on a plot of more than 86,000 m² and with a covered area of more than 10,000 m², has two 2,800 tonne extrusion lines, as well as a vertical coating line with a capacity to process profiles up to 7,200 mm long. These state-of-the-art production facilities enable an annual capacity of 16,000 tonnes of extruded profiles. The modern facilities are among the most advanced in Europe and are certified according to ISO 9001, CE marking and the international Qualicoat certification, which guarantees the highest quality of lacquering.

In addition, the plant plays an important role of development for the region, with the creation of around 120 direct jobs in the area.

An ambitious expansion plan in Portugal

As part of its global expansion plan, the company is firmly committed to this new production centre, backed by a global investment plan of more than 45 million euros over the next few years. This plan includes the expansion of the facilities to 31,000 m², as well as the incorporation of three additional presses: two of 3,500 tonnes and one of 4,500 tonnes.

This will allow an annual production of more than 45,000 tonnes of extruded aluminium, making the centre one of the most important in Portugal and Europe.

Boosting circular industry and decarbonisation

In line with its firm commitment to sustainability and the principles of the circular economy, this new centre guarantees the extrusion of profiles with a low carbon footprint thanks to the incorporation of Exlabesa’s RE-local recycled aluminium.

This recycled aluminium, produced in the company’s own recycling and smelting centres, has a carbon footprint of only 2.95 kg CO₂ eq. per kg of aluminium, certified by Bureau Veritas. In this way, it significantly boosts the decarbonisation of the industry, reducing its environmental impact by up to 82% compared to primary aluminium worldwide.

Thanks to this strong commitment to innovation and sustainability, the new factory has also obtained the Alu+C- environmental label, which allows it to sell guaranteed sustainable profiles on the French market.

^{Main picture, from left to right: Mário Jorge Nunes (Mayor of Soure), Fernando Quintá Mariño (President of Exlabesa Extrusion Coimbra), João Rui Ferreira (Portuguese Secretary of State for the Economy), and Ramón Vázquez García (Plant Manager of Exlabesa Extrusion Coimbra).}