The Basque Country and Gipuzkoa appear to the world as an industrial power and a place of high innovation, the result of a more than proven business tradition and public-private collaboration work that has also had institutions as the engine of great changes. The race to modernize factories and workshops has no finish line. In reality, that end is moving away as new technologies emerge. Today the territory overcomes this challenge with flying colours, but bringing data culture closer to micro-SMEs remains pending.
Industry 4.0 (there is already talk of 5.0, with the person at the center of the digitization process) has a thousand variants and a thousand ingredients, which include, among many other things, ‘big data’, artificial intelligence, sensors, artificial vision, ‘machine learning’, digital twins, the use of algorithms…
Perhaps the most visual example is robotics, which has been with us for years but is increasingly integrating more intelligence to move from machines that only do to those that learn and apply what they have learned. It is the case of Lazpiur de Bergara, which has just delivered a huge and highly complex machine to a client in the electromobility sector that incorporates several robots adapted by its engineers. Or from Egile in Mendaro, in whose NGV section it incorporates (this time in pure production) six robots, two of which are of the ‘pick & place’ type, which move parts and feed the warehouses, and another four, this time they are embedded in machining centers through the company’s own developments.
In Copreci Aretxabaleta, for example, have fifty intelligent robots that, in practice, do the work that was previously done by four people and four different machines. These are gadgets that, equipped with artificial vision cameras, see the pieces coming, correct their position if necessary, treat them and send them to the next process.
GKN, located in Zumaia and specialized in transmission systems, is one of the leading automotive companies in Gipuzkoa. The firm has 114 robots that, anchored to the ground in closed lattice cells, move the pieces so that the machines take care of spotting, welding, tempering, twisting or grinding them. For every person there are 2.5 of these machines.
The same happens in the legazpiarra Acorn, focused on digitalization and that last year fully automated the line that manufactures hazadas. Its director of operations, Iñaki Esain, reveals that the company has 12 active robots weighing between 30 and 60 kilos dedicated, above all, to carrying out the most repetitive and not very ergonomic tasks: “they move pieces and some perform polishing tasks or carry pieces of the press to laminate».
types of robots
Anthropomorphic.
Similar to a human arm, although there are 5, 6 and 7 axis subtypes. Ideal for painting, welding, palletizing or assembly.Cartesian.
It works with Cartesian coordinates (x, y, z) and moves in lines and at right angles. It is optimal for handling, storing or palletizing.Collaborative.
Similar to the anthropomorphic but smaller in weight and dimensions, which makes it easier to handle.Scale.
Compatible selective assembly robotic arm. Similar to Cartesian but with a higher degree of freedom.
“The robot is the most mature part, we have been with them for many years now and they have allowed us to make a leap in quality in the tooling and improve the rest of the operations,” he says, to explain that the challenge now is “the data.” “It opens up a lot of possibilities for us,” she clarifies. “This is something that you have to be in yes or yes,” she stresses.
“Automation technologies and robotics have been with us as long as the industrial revolution. Its development has allowed the industry to be more productive, efficient, reliable and precise, but its role takes on a new dimension with the advent of new digital technologies,” says José Pérez Berdud, president of Techthe Spanish Association of Intelligent Technologies for advanced manufacturing, promoted by AFM.
«We have an industry made up of SMEs, generally well equipped and prepared for high added value jobs, and with well-trained people. Digitization and automation can take us to other stadiums », he adds. “What is sometimes mistakenly described as a threat to employment can be a catalyst for raising our level of productivity and competitiveness,” she concludes.
Cristina Oyon, director of Technology, Innovation and Sustainability of the Spri, points out that the Basque Government “has been promoting the incorporation of technologies into companies for years, which help them to be more competitive”. “Our approach is broader than digitization, and also involves data management, product connectivity but also processes, and advanced, flexible, and collaborative automation,” he says, adding that “this new framework gives more opportunities for women in the industry.
Jorge Posada, deputy director of the San Sebastian technology center Vicomtech (specialized in artificial vision and artificial intelligence, which is like putting eyes on robots), stresses that “the trend of digitization is undeniable, and accepted by society in all orders.” The expert insists that “the jump has not ended” and explains that the next twist, ‘5.0’, puts the focus on the person, something that Oyón agrees with. «It is what they call the ‘humancentric’, that the machine helps you, even that it learns by itself, but that it does not decide for you; To which is added taking advantage of technology to make companies more resilient and introduce sustainability into that equation, to achieve, through intelligence, less waste in industries and more energy efficiency,” says Posada. “In Euskadi we are not in the tail of all this, far from it”, he assures, to value the fact that “no one in the Basque Country anymore disputes that all this can help us, which makes, on the other hand, the emergence of business initiatives dedicated to bringing new technologies to the company.
One of those startups is a ‘daughter’ of Egile. She is called SmartPM. The firm has climbed into the future by developing a platform that integrates and manages all the automation of any manufacturing process in a simple way. “It’s like Sauron’s ring, which sees everything and learns at every moment,” says its general manager, José Castellanos, who points out that this intelligence improves productivity thanks to predictive analysis, ‘machine learning’ or autonomous management of cells, including ‘drivers’ such as sustainability or energy consumption. “There is a pending cultural change,” he points out, since many companies are mere followers of larger ones and do not fully see the enormous advantages of intelligent process automation.
Something similar points out Alberto Conde, CEO of the San Sebastian Hebet, one of the oldest in this work of digitizing the industry: «The culture of data must be extended, visualize the why, that the data tell us how the company works, and only then apply the algorithms. The problem is that people want to run too much, but this is a marathon », she points out. At the same time, Conde stresses that “in this, the Basque Country has a certain lead” due to advanced manufacturing and the automotive industry, but she calls for “intensifying training.”
David Sánchez, Director of Industry and Mobility at Tecnalia, is one of the great experts in robotics, a field in which the technology center is a reference, with its own platform that easily translates and aligns different ‘software’ so that the operator can handle everything easily. «We come from ten years of 4.0, and we are walking towards more intelligent machines with the ability to react; Basic robots but capable of doing things they couldn’t before. The computational capacity is complex, and they no longer make only repetitive movements, they are capable of varying production depending on the temperature or environmental conditions of a factory. They adapt to the environment in a fluid production », he says. Sánchez rejects the idea that this reality threatens employment: “The countries with the most retention of industrial employment are the most robotized.”
Nerea Aranguren, Director of Innovation at Danobat Group and manager of the elgoibarresa IdekoAware that “in this matter there are two speeds”, he points out that “the future lies in robots that are simpler and friendlier when it comes to connecting with the factory, that do not always do the same thing and that add intelligence to precision”.
The BDHI allows Basque SMEs to “try before investing”
The incorporation of technology to small businesses, also the purchase of a robot, is not always easy. Fear when making a certain outlay can stop the decision. A brake that in the Basque Country is less thanks to the Basque Digital Innovation Hub (BDHI) which, as Cristina Oyon explains, “allows our SMEs to get to know, touch and test the technology, as well as receive the best possible advice, before investing”. It is a network co-owned by R&D Centers, VET centers and universities, supported by Spri, with more than 300 assets available in robotics, additive manufacturing, artificial intelligence, cybersecurity or digital electrical networks. There are grants of up to 15,000 euros. 40 SMEs have already been encouraged.