Born in Oliveira de Azeméis, in the north of Portugal, Monteiro grew up in a family linked to the mold and plastics sector. The technical base was consolidated at the University of Porto, where he obtained his degree in Mechanical Engineering. His first steps in the industry took place at Simoldes Aços, in projects for European car manufacturers and in studies on molding processes, which brought him closer to global chains in the automotive sector.
The path to entrepreneurship began very early. Still in Portugal, he created Plastic & Tooling Concept, focused on the development of plastic molds and products. The company, however, could not withstand the combination of the economic crisis and competition from unlicensed solutions, a situation reported by several industrial software providers in Europe in the post-financial crisis period. The closure of the company led the engineer to a period of professional re-evaluation and the decision to seek new paths outside his home country.
Mexico was the first big restart. Monteiro began working as an independent designer, serving companies related to the automotive industry and structuring work from a home office. The Lean model allowed us to take over projects in the area in which we had experience, at the same time as it required adaptation to another corporate culture and different ways of contracting engineering services.
Years later, another change of route brought him to Brazil. Entry into the Brazilian market was not immediate: bureaucratic problems, lack of network of contacts and regulatory differences created the first obstacles. The integration took place through an engineering services company focused on the automotive industry, in projects in large factories in the North East. From then on, the engineer begins to work in the management of multicultural teams and in integration initiatives between teams from different countries.
In 2006 the decision was to open our own engineering group, first from home, starting the company that would later be called LUZA. The expansion of the portfolio, the formation of technical teams at different locations and the signing of contracts with global automobile manufacturers have helped consolidate international operations. The trajectory follows a broader movement in the sector, in which companies specializing in technical services have begun to play an important role in global supply chains.
This context is not isolated. A report by consultancy Research and Markets estimates that the global IT services market will be valued at around $1.5 trillion in 2024 and could reach around $2.59 trillion by 2030, with an average annual growth rate of 9.4%, driven by cloud computing, automation and cybersecurity. The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) says global spending on software will reach around $675 billion in 2024, almost 50% higher than the level seen in 2020, a move associated with the digitalization of processes and adoption of artificial intelligence across various industries.
It is in this environment that Monteiro adopted, following the Covid-19 pandemic, a model of distributed teams, connecting engineering and IT professionals from different regions. The experiment, initially adopted as an emergency response to mobility restrictions, has become an integral part of the organization’s long-term strategy. Today, the company works on the assignment of specialists and the development of projects in sectors such as mobility, energy, telecommunications, information technology, mining, agribusiness, life sciences and defense, in partnership with medium and large companies.
The story of the Portuguese engineer also attracts attention due to the combination of technical training, successive new beginnings and the use of digital structures that have been consolidated in recent years. Instead of a linear trajectory, we observe a sequence of route adjustments in response to economic crises, country changes and transformations of the sector itself. This type of path has become more common in engineering and technology-related fields, where international careers and projects spread across multiple locations are no longer an exception.
Influenced by family references and figures linked to high-level sport and entrepreneurship, Monteiro generally summarizes this trajectory around concepts such as discipline, resilience and long-term vision. For him, lasting results tend to emerge from the combination of technical knowledge, character and the ability to learn from cycles of trial and error. In a context where demand for skilled professionals is growing faster than supply, stories featuring this profile help illustrate the challenges and opportunities for engineering over the next decade.
LUZA is a multinational engineering and technology company, from the former PTC Group, founded in 2006. The company works with the assignment of specialists and the development of engineering and IT projects, in models that range from on-demand service provision to turnkey deliveries. Present in Brazil, Portugal and other countries, it is present in sectors such as mobility, energy, telecommunications, information technology, mining, agribusiness, life sciences and defense, leading initiatives that involve product development, testing, system integration and optimization of industrial processes.
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