PERSPECTIVES OF MOULD MAKING INDUSTRY FOR DIGITAL GLOBAL MANUFACTURING Elsa Henriques 1 , Paulo Peças 1 , P.F.Cunha 2 1 Instituto Superior Técnico, elsa.h@ist.utl.pt; ppecas@ist.utl.pt 2 Inst. Politécnico de Setúbal/ ESTSetúbal/ CENI, pcunha@est.ips.pt In production engineering radical changes are taking place supported in new manufacturing paradigms and in technological developments. The increasing demand for meeting customer requirements and technological innovations have influenced the degree of flexibility built in the manufacturing system and its ability to respond in terms of cost, volume and time delivery. Taking the example of Portuguese mould making industry, this paper will analysed the main changes that have occurred in this industry and its ability to adapt to the availability of higher level of digital technologies and how they support new business models, extending their value adding chain. 1. INTRODUCTION During the past years significant changes have taken place in the industrial world. Mould making companies have to face an increasing pressure to improve quality and to meet stricter delivery times. Competition is marked with a strong pressure on price reduction to satisfy tailored orders, volatile and global demand, shorter product life cycles, increased product customisation and reduced time to market (Henriques, 2004). To meet these challenges, companies are moving away from traditional organisations and structures into simultaneous engineering activities where product and processes are designed and developed in a more integrated manner. Sohlenius (1992) describes very clearly how concurrent or simultaneous engineering could be viewed as an approach to increase the competitiveness by decreasing the lead-time and still improving quality and cost, supported in the technology developed to promote it. These trends and drivers, as well the new approaches to product and process engineering have had a profound impact in mould manufacturing companies. As an industrial sector, mould making industry has a particular relevance in Portuguese economy and many companies have emerged, showing a good level of competitiveness. These companies have a common ability to adopt organizational and technological changes, acting as important contributors in the supply chain of several OEMs, from different industrial sectors (e.g household appliances, electric/electronic and automotive sector). These companies are mainly small and