lthough superficially and quickly, I take advantage of this space to address four concerns that I believe are relevant to the Portuguese Textile and Clothing Industry (ITV) current state, hoping that future interventions may deepen each of them.

New Generations, Old Habits – ITV’s generational renewal is excellent news, as it brought new skills, more sophistication and a more worldly vision to our companies. That resulted in organizations with improved management, new strategic approaches and, therefore, an important step towards the sustainability of the sector was given.

It is, however, fundamental to fight  the old habits that insist on passing on from generation to generation: a) individualism; b) inability to cooperate; c) “grow” at any cost; d) do not share risk or reward, failing to look at their peers as simply that: peers, not competitors.

Misalignment in the supply chain – The Portuguese ITV is both small and special. We are flexible and fast, we have quality and we are capable of innovating in all areas of the production process. It’s thanks to all of these abilities that the brand “Portugal” is establishing itself with great strides and the quality of our companies is well recognized.

All of these amenities have the purpose of adding value to our customer (and, of course, to the other stakeholders), but I fear that our potential may be limited by some factors, such as the difficulty that different supply chain players have in understanding that only together and effectively articulated we can be consistent in adding value to the sector.

In other words, it is necessary to align efforts, competencies and commitments, from the yarn supplier to the manufacturer (which is the head of the market and coordinates the entire value chain). The theme is boring and the solution is to share goals and difficulties – each one thinking solely about themselves isn’t, without a doubt, the way to do it.

4.0 Industry – The popularity and high adherence to the ITV’s 4.0 version is a good sign, which is also due to the ATP’s and COTEC’s exemplary work in sharing knowledge and experiences. As coordinator of the development of systems, processes and procedures at Pedrosa & Rodrigues (and let me tell you that these activities are always done as a team), I have experienced the pains of growth within the 4.0.

However, the benefits of this growth are evident and allow us to see expressive glimpses of the future, which I will now list: a) Information technology investment will grow exponentially in the coming years; b) The factory of the future will be sustained by robotics, automation and software, although people are increasingly their heart and soul; c) KPI’s (Key Performance Indicators) and Dashboards with predictive capabilities will be developed. That is, the information we use to make decisions must translate both the “foreseeable future” of the operation but also its “past”.

And a quick note: if there’s a positive evolution of the concerns enumerated in points one and two, I am sure we will take Industry 4.0 further.

The only certainty we have is uncertainty – Uncertainty is now a constant factor. We have to live with this uncertainty, and that has implications in how we manage our businesses. Complaining about uncertainty, distancing ourselves from it, or postponing its impact will be unproductive and risky.

ITV’s evolution is well known and to me it seems sensible to establish that much more will change – we are very different today from what we were in the 1990s and it’s not controversial to say that we will be very different in 2030.

The difference between today and the 90s is that the changes that are about to happen will take place at a much more dramatic pace and intensity. It will be the manager’s ability to identify these changes and the impact they will have on the companies’ structures and resources that will make all the difference.