The expectations about Balanças Marques’ future are certainly high. Everyone still expects great achievements from the company José Pimenta Marques founded in a 15 m2 workshop, in 1967. The several proof of success of the last few years do not faint the will to work, to conquer new territories. Innovation, strength and ambition are a part of the DNA of those who succeeded the family’s patriarch as company leaders. For all of them, there is always more to do, more to achieve – even when the title of best weighing company in the world is already theirs.
Balanças Marques is a dream over 50 years old. It’s a dream that has been passed from parents to children, from grandfather to grandchildren, on a long way in which the main pillars have remained intact, as strong as on the first day. And it is also a dream that is always under construction for Marques family.
The achievements of the last few years may be – and really are – a reason of great pride, but they are not enough to decide that the dreamactually come true. The different generations working in the company do not want to stop here. “After having been considered the best in the world, now we can only hope to be the best in the whole galaxy”, jokes Tiago Marques Pereira, one of José Pimenta Marques’ grandchildren.
It’s expected that, in the future, will be Tiago, alongside his brother Rafael, to take over the company’s wheel and guide its destiny. To José Pimenta Marques, both of them will be, without any doubt, great administrators – like his children have been. “The four of them were the great pilots. Now, these grandchildren of mine will continue the good work, they will be good pilots too”, states the “proud father and grandfather”, as he calls himself. He has confidence and faith on the route they will one day take as leaders of the family’s company.
As Tiago and Rafael dare to admit, that’s something that leaves them with a great weight of responsibility. “Above all, what we want is not to fail in this responsibility we were given and lead the project on a good road, as it has been happening on the last 50 years, under the rule of other generations”, reveals Tiago.
The two brothers hope they will, someday, meet the expectations their predecessors have always had about them and their future at Balanças Marques. When the time comes, they want to be able to keep the company on the level it is today. They have ambitious plans for the future. And, as it has been so far, they intend to maintain the same principles their family’s patriarch was always ruled by in his life and work, since the very beginning.
Like José Pimenta Marques took advantage of the market’s needs and demands to make the company grow, the third generation also intends to do the same with the current technological changes. “Balanças Marques has always been on the forefront of the weighing industry and was able to stand out”, Rafael highlights. “So, in short terms, we want to keep ourselves in the forefront, we want to keep innovating and take advantage of changes like the so-called cloud”, concludes Tiago.
With that in mind, both of them want to surround themselves with the right people to help them on the way. Employees are one of the company’s greatest investments and one they want to keep as a pillar for the future. The brothers value the staff’s work and they recognize their importance to fulfil their own vision for it is to come. “We can’t work here alone. We have to keep attracting new talents to help us on the way”, Rafael explains.
They both agree this is the path to follow. They believe the secret to the company’ success lies, as always, on the family’s and employees’ hard work, as well as on the technological development. They take pride on the ambitious and innovative DNA they have always shown. To the future, they carry the “duty, obligation” of at least keeping Balanças Marques on the high point it is today. However, their goal is to take the company to the next level, if possible, and to be able to always honour the work of their grandparents, mother, uncles and aunt.
