Mundet

Exhibition of the former machines and systems of the Mundet company in the Seixal Ecomuseum

The Mundet & Cª Lda was from 1905 to 1988, a cork factory in Seixal in Portugal .

history

When Lorenzo Mundet founded his company in Catalonia in 1865 , he already had two factories, one in San Antonio de Calonge and one in Palamós (Catalonia). In 1895 one of his sons, José Mundet, opened a new factory in Brooklyn, New York, and in 1902 his other son, Arturo Mundet, opened a factory in Mexico, and José Mundet opened a store in Canada that same year .

In 1905 a new factory was opened in Seixal . At that time, the factories in Catalonia had existed for more than 40 years and the company was run in the second generation as a multinational company with four production sites abroad (USA, Canada, Mexico, Portugal). The reasons for this globalization lie in the economic challenges of cork oak plantations and cork production at a time when the market was increasingly interested in agglomerated cork in addition to natural cork. The company's main products included champagne corks, natural cork discs, cigarette butt paper, cork skin, white veneer agglomerate, hard agglomerate and crown cap discs. The so-called cork paper, a product that is produced when cork is rolled in precision machines, has been one of Mundet's best-known productions since the early years.

Mundet & Cª Lda do Seixal
Decauville -Bahn der Mundet & Cª Lda, do Seixal (red)
Gauge :	600 mm ( narrow gauge )

The cork business was expanded not only through the establishment of a large trade organization, but also through a network of factories at several locations. In-house transport was taken over by an engineer-designed Decauville field railway.

In 1906, Mundet completely relocated the company headquarters from Catalonia to Portugal , at the same time it changed its specialization from natural cork stoppers to agglomerate cork stoppers. In the 1930s, Mundet & Cª already had 12 factories in Portugal, Spain, Algeria and England (Mundet Cork & Plastics). Mundet Cork Corporation also had two locations in the United States and Canada (Mundet Cork & Insulation). The head of the Portuguese and Algerian units was Luis Gubert i Cappelá, the founder's son-in-law. The sites in the United States and Canada were run by José Mundet (second generation) and later by Joseph Mundet Jr (third generation), who also took full control of Mundet & Co. in the late 1940s.

In the 1960s, at the height of production at the Seixal site, the plants in Amora were closed. After the death of Joseph Mundet, his widow Paula Mundet took over the management until she was murdered in 1986.

From the 1970s only the factories in Seixal and Montijo were in operation. From 1974 the workers waged an exciting and restless struggle for better wages and the preservation of their jobs due to recurring management and strategy problems. The number of employees fell from around 3000 in 1947 to 645 in 1982. But it was not until 1988 that the factory in Seixal was closed.

Individual evidence

1. ^ ^{A b} Mehmet Huseyin Bilgin and Hakan Danis: Entrepreneurship, Business and Economics - Vol. 2: Proceedings of the 15th Eurasia Business and Economics Society Conference. Springer, 2016. p. 426-
2. ↑ ^{a b c} O Grupo Desportivo Mundet (1950 a 1965).
3. ↑ Desenho técnico: Planta geral da fábrica Mundet & Cª Lda, do Seixal. Na planta estão assinalados (a vermelho) os circuitos da linha Décauville usada nesta unidade industrial. Desenho à escala 1: 500, a tinta da china preta e lápis de cor, em papel translúcido ou vegetal.
4. ^ Route of Labor and Industry: Mundet Unit.

Coordinates: 38 ° 38 '23.3 "  N , 9 ° 6' 20.4"  W.