The FREZITE Group's financial team was the winner in Walter's Global Process Championship: Financial, Quality, Environment, Health, and Safety (QEHS). The diploma awarded to the 19 members of the finance team highlights their contribution to "build a sustainable and high performance culture". Although most of them come from Portugal, this multicultural team includes employees from Brazil, Mexico, Spain, and the Czech Republic.

The employees of FREZITE, SERI and FHP got together to celebrate Christmas. The meeting of the companies of the FREZITE universe in Portugal was held on 16 December, after a two-year interregnum due to the pandemic. The event was also to reward the employees who submitted the best ideas for organisational improvement and to distinguish the employees who completed 20 years of service in the Group's companies.

For the seventh time FREZITE associated itself to FEUP - Faculdade de Engenharia da Universidade do Porto, sponsoring the awarding of the J. F. Silva Gomes/FREZITE Prize, created to distinguish the best master's dissertation in mechanical engineering with a significant experimental component. The award was given at the ceremony of the new masters, held on November 26, to Miguel Silva Pinto Duro for his thesis "Machinability of Maraging steel produced by LPBF based on milling tests".

CEIIA was the stage for an inspirational talk with the founder of FREZITE, José Manuel Fernandes. The initiative promoted by the Nova School of Business & Economics took place on 18 November, at the facilities of the Portuguese Centre for Engineering and Development of Innovative Products in the mobility industries. The objective is to transfer the knowledge and leadership experience of the charismatic founder of the FREZITE Group to the new generation of entrepreneurs attending the training for SME (small and medium-sized enterprises) Managers at that institution.

AIMMAP - Associação dos Industriais Metalúrgicos, Metalomecânicos e Afins de Portugal (Association of Metallurgical, Metalworking and Related Industries of Portugal) created a 3D platform that allows the virtual visitor to have an immersive experience, with the aim of promoting the companies of the sector internationally. FREZITE is one of the companies that has joined METAL PORTUGAL Week, which AIMMAP is promoting from 24 to 28 October as part of its Internationalization project.

José Manuel Fernandes was the guest of Porto Canal channel television "Economia Real" (Real Economy), an information programme where several current issues were discussed, including the acquisition of FREZITE. The programme was broadcasted on the 3rd of October in prime time scheduled and repeated on the following day in the channel of this regional station in the North of Portugal.

Celebrating its 30th Anniversary, the Board of ASAS – Associação de Solidariedade e Ação Social de Santo Tirso (a local association of solidarity and social action) honoured the companies that have supported the action of this institution that works for the promotion of social inclusion, especially children and young people in risk. FREZITE was one of the companies distinguished with the Institutional Medal in the event promoted by ASAS on 23 September, at Quinta de Fora, in Santo Tirso (Portugal). The work continues to "give wings to life".

FREZITE Brasil invested in the renovation of its machinery, but also in the expansion of its administrative facilities and common areas. The company invested in an adjoining building to which it transferred its commercial, administrative and common areas. The investment made brings automation and innovation to FREZITE's production process to better meet the needs of the Brazilian market.

Partner of Fibrenamics, an Institute committed to innovation in fibrous and composite materials, FMT - Metal Division of FREZITE - continues with this partnership that has proven to be successful with the University of Minho. The Fibrenamics association gathers a community with more than 2 thousand members from 40 nationalities, intending to spread knowledge and generate debates in areas related to Intelligence, Science, Technology and Business. In September tests were carried out on tools at INEGI - Institute of Science and Innovation in Mechanical and Industrial Engineering developed under this promising partnership.

To better meet the demands of the market, the FREZITE clamping fixtures and special machines company has strengthened its project and design team. Ongoing training of new employees by senior colleagues allows the company to pass on the know-how and quality requirements recognised by SERI's customers. Investments in Human Resources made with the sustainability of the business in mind.

The action promoted by the company's human resources department was intended to "sweeten" the working day. On 29 July, on a hot day, the FREZITE team was surprised with... an ice cream offer. A "give away" for the commitment of employees, which has returned into excellent results, when the company has just completed 44 years of activity. CONGRATULATIONS!

After a presentation in the United States of America, it was France's turn to receive the launch of the book "10 Nomes, 10 Histórias" (10 Names, 10 Stories). The sixth edition presents stories of emigration, overcoming, public cause, returns and many conquests. Discover the journey of José Manuel Fernandes, the Founder and Chairman of FREZITE:
https://www.lusopress.tv/pdf/10nomes10historias_6.pdf

With an open day to welcome its customers and show the solutions it has to offer to the market FREZITE s.r.o. celebrated its anniversary on 1st July. In a festive atmosphere that also brought together its employees and partners to mark its successful 15-years journey. Music and socialising were added bringing a special atmosphere to a workday for technical training. Congratulations FREZITE!

Frezite Group after years developing its businesses towards high end engineering and growth will be an active player on Sandvik. Frezite will be Business Unit of Walter Group, a division of Sandvik Machining Solutions. Will be part of further segmentation to the supply of sustainability and environmentally friendly industries like the wood processing sector, as well as in the development of the electrification and light weight sectors of automotive and aerospace to pursuit future growth plans.

See the Press Release HERE.

Located in the new Via Distribuidora XXI, next to the North Cyclovia inaugurated on June 17th, the sculpture "The Family" was donated by the Fernandes family (owner of FREZITE Group) to the Municipality of Trofa (Portugal) for its support to the FREZITE Project. Designed by the founder of FREZITE, José Manuel Fernandes, the sculpture was executed by a local company Trofinox. This project perpetuates the gratitude to the town that facilitated the growth of FREZITE, taking Portuguese engineering beyond its borders.

M&M's Motorsport, a team made up of six trainees from CENFIM da Trofa – who participate in the F1 in Schools project – relies on FREZITE's consultancy in terms of tools and materials to be used in the machining of the elements that make up the car. It is an international multidisciplinary competition where teams of 3 to 6 young people compete against each other. The challenge is to design and manufacture a miniature car from the official F1 Model Block, using CAD/CAM design tools according to specific regulations. At the beginning of the month, the team has already guaranteed passage to the national stage and aims to reach the international competition, which will take place during the last F1 Grand Prix, in Abu Dhabi.

FMT – Frezite Metal Tooling (the company's Metal Division) and FHP participated in the 9th edition of AED Days, a hybrid event that brought together the main aeronautics, space and defense players to discuss the present and future challenges of the sector. Between May 24 and 27, conferences and workshops, a forum and B2B meetings were held at the Taguspark Congress Center, in Oeiras (Portugal), for companies seeking business partnerships.

Two groups of trainees of Centro de Formação Profissional Cenfim da Trofa (Portugal) visited FREZITE this month of May. First were the group of CNC Machining and Programming class and, on the following day, the class of Industrial Maintenance. With a policy of open doors for education institutions, the company continues to invest in profitable partnerships with organizations related with technical training.

FREZITE sponsored the XIX Congresso Nacional de Fundição, which took place on 11 May at Torre da Oliva in S. João da Madeira (Portugal). With about 200 participants, discussed topics related to the sector, namely the circular economy, energy transition, development of new technologies, investment in railways, innovation and new production processes, digitalisation and workforce empowerment.

António Costa Silva visited the group's facilities in Trofa, on May 3, and took the opportunity to learn more about the production capacity of FREZITE. After the working session with the Chairman of the group, José Manuel Fernandes, they both joined the solemn session of the 173rd anniversary of AEP - Associação Empresarial de Portugal (Portuguese Business Association), in Porto, attended by the Portuguese President of the Republic, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa.

Promoting synergies and complementary knowledge within the group, FREZITE held a training on clamping systems concepts. Provided to the project team of the Metal Division, this action took place at the facilities in Trofa (Portugal), stimulating continuous training to the employees of the group. An initiative that already involved the FREZITE companies in Poland and Germany.

The group participated in the job fair that took place on March 28th within the scope of the 1st Mechanical Engineering Journeys of ISEP - Instituto Superior de Engenharia do Porto. Then it joined to ConnectinGears – the Mechanical Engineering Congress – of the Faculdade de Engenharia da Universidade do Porto, which took place between 29 and 31 March and was attended by 36 companies, including FREZITE. By this way FREZITE continues its cooperation policy with educational institutions.

A group of German pupils of dual technical education visited the facilities of FREZITE in Trofa (Portugal). A tour that results from a partnership between CENFIM – (Portuguese Professional Training Centre of Metallurgical and Metalworking Industry) and the SBS-Jena school, in Germany, promoting technical and pedagogical innovation. The visit took place under the Erasmus cooperation project, which involves more than 200 entities in Europe.

To correctly apply the methodologies for calculating the capacity of processes and machines, as well as provide the necessary knowledge and tools for measuring and monitoring capacity, is in progress a joint training course on Process Capacity for employees from the Metal Division of FREZITE and Seri. Optimising Group synergies, FREZITE invests in the continuous development of its employees' skills.

Investing in a policy of greater sales proximity, FREZITE has been growing in Central European markets, namely in countries like Croatia, Serbia and Slovenia. Note that the Group already exports its products and technology to more than 70 countries, but there is still a lot of world to be coloured in yellow.

The FREZITE branch in the Czech Republic has completed 15 years of activity and currently has a team of 25 employees. To celebrate the anniversary, during the year 2022, FREZITE s.r.o. is adopting this graphism in its communication. It means an endless bond of trust, togetherness, help, belonging, friendship, not only to their customers, suppliers, but also to the FREZITE group and FREZITE s.r.o. families.

A program is being implemented at the FREZITE Group. It started in the second half of last year with the management teams in Portugal and, this month, it is taking place in Brazil. The leadership training program is an initiative that will cover the Group's other management teams - with local trainers - namely in Germany and the Czech Republic. This is FREZITE, committed to training leaders.

For the sixth time FREZITE has associated with FEUP - Faculdade de Engenharia da Universidade do Porto, sponsoring the J. F. Silva Gomes/FREZITE Award, created to distinguish the best MSc dissertation in mechanical engineering with a significant experimental component. The award ceremony was held on 28th January, prizing a thesis related to the manufacturing of cutting tools.