Fagor Arrasate acquires 70% of Girona’s Ribinerf

2023-06-06 16:41:36

Fagor Arrasatededicated to the development of equipment for the shaping and processing of metallic materials and composites, has acquired 70% of Ribinerf, a company established in Girona in 1986 which manufactures robotic machinery with 3D technology and artificial intelligence.

The Gipuzkoan company, part of the Mondragon corporation, points out that with this acquisition it is committed to “reinforcing its technological capabilities associated with the automation of manufacturing processes”. «This is an operation fully aligned within our innovation strategywhich aims to offer automation solutions that are increasingly intelligent, flexible and productive”, explains the general manager of Fagor Arrasate, Unai López.

Leading edge technology

The operation makes available to Fagor Arrasate one market-leading technology for the automation of quality control processes, “picking” (preparation of orders) and “racking” (storage on industrial shelves), which are critical for customers in the automotive, household appliance and steel industries, they note. Ribinerf’s machines “do not limit themselves to doing the task”, but, thanks to AI, “they have the ability to make decisions and to resolve on their own the incidents that appear in production» thus minimizing line stop times and working with maximum performance, which allows improving the competitiveness of its processes, the company assures.

The application of robotics, artificial intelligence and 3D vision also mean “substantial savings” in the costs associated with non-quality and they avoid returns of batches of parts by customers, López points out. On the other hand, the co-founder of Ribinerf, Xavier Ribalta, believes that the operation with Fagor Arrasate will allow his company access to new markets and customers.

Fagor Arrasate has among its customers the Volkswagen Group, Ford, Stellantis or Tesla, as well as suppliers such as Gestamp, CIE or Magna, as well as companies in the steel sector and household appliances. The company has 660 jobs spread across its plants in the Basque Country, China, Mexico, Germany and the United States and the average turnover in recent years has been over 200 million euros.