The Engineering and Industrial Management Specialization Committee of the Portuguese Engineers Association is organizing a cycle of five webinars on the theme: "Design and Manufacturing Strategies for Small and Medium-sized Companies". This event has as its speaker Professor Emeritus Graeme Britton and will be moderated by Hugo de Almeida Rolim, member of the Specialization Committee.

The first of this webinars will be dedicated to "Design and manufacturing strategies": In this webinar, after the speaker's presentation, the challenges faced by Industrial Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) will be discussed and the four design and manufacturing strategies will be described.

Based on the 2022 report by the European Commission, Portugal's business landscape is dominated by Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs); they constitute 99.9% of all enterprises. These SMEs play a pivotal role in the country's economy, employing 76% of the workforce and contributing a significant 68% to the overall economic value. Roughly one-third of the SME sector are manufacturers, who operate in a challenging environment characterised by low-volume production and a diverse product range. Productivity is low and so they are not competitive internationally.

Manufacturing SMES require assistance and guidance from knowledgeable experts to improve their international competitiveness. By redesigning products and manufacturing systems in SMEs around the world, my successes range from doubling the productivity in a woodworking shop by changing their waste disposal system to reducing the lead time from 3 weeks to 3 days for a company making ambulances.

Dissemination of agile tools, methodologies, and strategies for product and process development in Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs). The Commission for Specialization in Industrial Engineering and Management of the Ordem dos Engenheiros (Portuguese Institution of Engineers) aims to contribute to enhancing the international competitiveness of Portuguese industrial SMEs