Project Title: FEPSA 2020 – Innovation & Operational Efficiency & i4.0

Project code: NORTE-02-0853-FEDER-043151

Main objective: Strengthening the competitiveness of PME

Region of intervention: São João da Madeira

Beneficiary: FEPSA – FELTROS PORTUGUESES S.A.

Date of Approval: 04-07-2019

Start date: 14-08-2018

Completion Date: 30-09-2019

Total eligible cost: 1,178,408.00

European Union financial support: ERDF – EUR 294,602.00

Objectives, activities and expected results:

FEPSA – Feltros Portugueses S.A. is a medium-sized company located in the municipality of São João da Madeira that has as its corporate purpose the manufacture of fur and wool felt hat bodies for hats. It is the world’s largest producer of hat felts and a world leader in high-end products. Today unique in Portugal and holding more than a quarter of the world market, FEPSA is the industry leader with about 15 manufacturers of fur felt worldwide. Today’s market requires small and medium production lots in order to respond to the variety of destination markets, linking fashion products and products suited to very diverse traditional markets for multiple geographies, which requires greater flexibility and control in the organization of production, reducing products in the course of manufacture, manufacturing technology adapted to the new realities and at the same time superior control of the factors influencing quality. These objectives globally represent the challenge of this investment project, which presupposes the improvement of a linear production flow without bottlenecks, dictating a substantial increase in capacity and a reduction in manufacturing times. In addition, through innovation processes, the product differentiation necessary for the competitiveness that keeps FEPSA as the world leader in high-end products is achieved. In this sense, the project foresees investments that will allow the industrialization of the recently completed RTD project, ie, the production of new felt ranges, the Ultra-Light Felts, an evolution to products below 80 grams, and the production of large-brimmed felts responding to the growing demand for the brim hat market above the internationally maximum available.