SOREFAME, Sociedades Reunidas de Fabricações Metálicas, Lda. Profile

SOREFAME, Sociedades Reunidas de Fabricações Metálicas, Lda. Profile

"Material Circulante Rebocado Sorefame" (2016). In Associação Portuguesa dos Amigos dos Caminhos de Ferro, [online]. Available at: https://www.caminhosdeferro.pt/preservacao/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2016/10/2016-10-18-Pedido-de-Salvaguarda-de-Carruagens-Sorefame.pdf [Accessed 14 Fev. 2020].

PT BUILDS

1943-2001, Portugal

Rua Vice Almirante Azevedo Coutinho, Venda Nova, Amadora, 2700-843

1943

Ângelo Fortes

2001

Sorefame was founded in 1943 by the engineer Ângelo Fortes. Initially, it assumed the name “Sorefame, Sociedades Reunidas de Fabrações Metálicas, Lda.”. As the name implies, Sorefame resulted from the merger of several national companies for the manufacture of metallomechanical equipment. The company also arises in the context of the post-war period and in the policy of the “Estado Novo” for the modernization of the Portuguese Industry, with Sorefame being the first large metal-mechanic factory in the country. Headquartered in Amadora, its first works consisted in the supply of metallic pieces to the Castelo de Bode and Belver Dams.

The company's exports started in 1951, as well as the expansion of the areas of activity. Equipment for the electrical industry, the chemical industry and the oil industry began to be produced. The supply of this materials started to be used in structures such as bridges, boilers and reservoirs. At the same time, the company was seen entering markets such as Iran, Sudan and Angola, here opening a branch, “Sorefame Angola”. Also, in the 50s, Sorefame expanded into a remarkable business area in its history. The electrification of the national railways network, starting in 1952, allowed the company to start producing railway rolling stock for the Portuguese Railways (CP). Years later, and following this activity, Sorefame innovated in the area, starting to produce trains made in stainless steel boxes. After the Railways the company started to supply the Lisbon and Porto Metropolitan and, at the same time, railway operators from the Portuguese overseas colonies and other countries. In addition to the intervention in these large-scale constructions, Sorefame was also present in Public Works of great relevance in the national context, namely in the 25 de Abril Bridge, in 1966, and in the Cabora Bassa Dam, in 1974.

In the 1980s, the company entered the Senete Group (Energy, Transport and Equipment System) together with the private company “Mague” and the multinational “Asea & Brown Boveri”, which, since 1994, was the single shareholder of the group. In the new millennium, in 2000, the company “Daimler-Benz” bought the shares of “Asea & Brown Boveri”. What was left of the old Sorefame was officially extinguished in 2001, ending nearly 60 years of activity of a structural company in the context of the Public Works of the 20th century, going through the periods of the Estado Novo, the 25th of April revolution and the Democracy.