INEGI will contribute to reinforce Portuguese leadership in the production of bicycles

In Portugal, 2.7 million bicycles are produced annually, in a sector that employs 8000 people. And to help the two-wheel and soft mobility sector maintain its growing trajectory, a project in part dedicated to reinforcing Portugal's leading position as Europe's largest producer of bicycles is starting. It is called «AM2R» and is one of the 23 innovation agendas, supported by the Recovery and Resilience Plan (PRR), which has the contribution of INEGI.

The consortium is made up of 50 entities, including companies and technology and innovation centres, which aim to boost the development and endogenization of advanced knowledge around new products and production processes.

It is in this last point – production processes – that INEGI will contribute with skills around the development of flexible, sustainable and efficient manufacturing processes. More specifically, the Institute's team will develop new manufacturing processes for new components, develop and optimize the process of forging parts in aluminum alloys, and seek to reduce energy consumption in forming processes and heat treatments, among other tasks.

The project also focuses on other means of transport with two wheels, so INEGI will also develop the frame of an electric scooter, called Mariabike, using recycled or reused materials.

At the same time, the team will use its knowledge and experience in logistics, storage operations and digitalization to support the creation and implementation of a digitalization plan for the warehousing activity, specific to a new logistics platform currently being developed for the sector. The objective is to reduce or eliminate the use of paper in the operation, reduce dependence on labor and training time for warehouse operators, and minimize the probability of errors occurring in the process.

The AM2R project - Mobilizing Agenda for business innovation in the Two Wheels sector is financed by the European Union through the Next Generation EU and the Recovery and Resilience Plan (PRR), under the operational program Capitalization and Business Innovation.