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A case of the bends: Basque rolling stock producer to make nine trains for Bosnia railways
Dies are cast: Basque iron parts producer to invest 10 million-plus euros in local factory
ITP, in world jet engine design and production elite
A case of the bends: Basque rolling stock producer to make nine trains for Bosnia railways
Patentes Talgo’s Basque factory in Rivabellosa in Alava is to produce carriages for nine trains ordered by the federation of Bosnia Herzegovina. Assembling the 81 carriages ordered entails a workload of 350,000 hours, equivalent to five months’ production capacity at the factory. This extra work consolidates the 186 jobs at the factory to 2010, as it is already working hard on rolling stock for Spain’s high velocity AVE train.
The carriage units for Bosnia are also high velocity, being reliable enough to travel up to 220 kph. They adapt the swing suspension technology Talgo patented half a century ago to track conditions in Bosnia, where curves and bends are the order of the day. The Bosnians are looking to run the new carriages on the country’s existing lines, using the locomotives already in circulation there.
A company spokesman said yesterday that Bosnia’s national rail authority needed “to reduce train travelling times without having to invest in new track.” Which is where Talgo comes in: “our free-wheel and guided axle system”, continued the spokesman, “is hugely adaptable and gives a dynamic performance in lines with lots of bends, like the ones in much of Bosnia Herzegovina”.
According to the spokesman, a recently approved 68-million-euro loan from the Spanish Government’s aid development fund has proved decisive in Talgo’s winning the contract. The loan covers most of the train design, manufacturing and supply costs.
Summary of a news item published in
El Correo,
23 May, 2006
Connection in the pipeline: system connection for Basque and French gas distribution networks to come into service in June
A pipeline that will link the Basque regional gas distribution network with the French national gas distribution system for the first time is set to come into commercial service in early June, after a building process lasting just over two years. The 28-kilometre pipeline running between Spanish border town Irún and the French locality of Arcangues, is the tip of the iceberg of a much more ambitious project to be executed over the next few years that will reinforce natural gas natural exchange capability on both sides of the border.
Basque regional president Juan José Ibarretxe, Spain’s Industry minister José Montilla and his French counterpart François Loos are to inaugurate the gas pipeline officially on June 19.
Twenty-five of the pipeline’s 28 kilometres run on the French side between Arcangues and Biriatou. French gas company TIFG, part of the Total group, financed this part of the project. The three kilometres separating Irún and Biriatou are the responsibility of Naturgas, controlled by Portuguese power concern EDP. In all, the operation required an investment of some 22 million euros.
But these 28 kilometres of pipeline are a small part of the much larger project designed to connect the French and Basque networks. Altogether, the operation involves deploying 315 kilometres of pipeline at a cost of 180 million euros. One end of the new network will be the port of Bilbao, with its liquid gas regasification plant where the methane carriers unload, and the other at the French town of Lussagnet, where TIFG has a natural underground warehouse.
Summary of a news item published in
El Diario Vasco,
20 May, 2006
Dies are cast: Basque iron parts producer to invest 10 million-plus euros in local factory
Basque brake-fork producer Fuchosa CEO José Manuel Corrales announced yesterday at a pres conference that the firm had prepared a 10.5-million-euro strategic plan designed to optimize processes at its Achondo factory and fund a series of improvement and innovation project developments.
Located in Achondo (Vizcaya) and producing nodular iron parts for the automotive industry, Fuchosa is part of a holding company that also includes Polish firm EBCC.
During his appearance, Corrales stressed Fuchosa’s capability to cooperate closely with technology centres, universities and other agencies and institutions on developing its improvement processes. By way of example, he mentioned the cooperation agreement signed with Azterlan, which is expected to lead soon to the creation of a permanent innovation centre.
Covering the period to 2009, the strategic plan envisages a stable workforce at the Achondo factory, where growth in production would be maintained at present levels, although business earnings are expected to rise from 42.3 million euros billed last year to the 44.2 million scheduled for 2009. Any growth would be achieved through the planned improvements in productivity.
Last year Achondo cast 35,910 tons of metal and expects to increase the figure to 39,174 tons in 2009.
One major qualitative business growth alternative Fuchosa is targeting at Achondo is the possibility of machining parts that are currently produced by casting. Despite being a crucial project for the firm, it has not been included in the strategic business plan because management know they won’t be able to develop it before year-end 2009.
The company is rightly proud of its technology capability, which enables it to offer the market world-class industrial techniques run by fully qualified technicians. What’s more, the Fuchosa business plan also envisages taking at least one new metal transformation technology on board, to extend the company range that much further.
Summary of a news item published in
Estrategia Empresarial,
16 May, 2006
ITP, in world jet engine design and production elite
Aerospace turbine producer Industria de Turbo Propulsores is one of the few international firms capable of designing, developing and producing low-pressure turbines for modern aerospace engines and industrial gas turbines.
While taking part in European new prototype design, development and production programmes, ITP is also involved in responding to 30 per cent of world demand for large jet engines. The remarkable progress made by the company in its 17-year existence, and its current position amongst the world elite in this notoriously complex industry, is largely explained by the fact that it consistently ploughs back 20 per cent of its earnings in a continual process of investment in innovation and technological development.
People are the vital ingredient in ITP’s innovation drive, which has involved creating its own R&D groups, knowledge centres, and increasingly intense cooperation with technology centres.
This strategic turbine design policy has given ITP a role to play in the production of the engines fitted in practically all civil aircraft launched since 1998, including the A340-600, currently the biggest Airbus aircraft in service, in whose engines ITP has a 10 per cent share. It is also involved in the giant A380 and Boeing’s B787. At present, ITP turbines are part of 30 per cent of the current worldwide large jet engine order portfolio.
ITP also has a role to play in all the European engine consortiums created since the company’s appearance. This includes the Eurojet consortium, created for the engine destined for the Eurofighter, with an 18 per cent share, the Europropulsión Internacional consortium for the Airbus A400 engine, with 20 per cent and MTRI for the Tiger helicopter with 25 per cent.
In short, ITP is the fourth leading European company with this level of involvement in engines, ahead of the Italian firm AVIO (the former Fiat Avio) and Volvo AC.
Summary of a news item published in
Información. Cámara de Comercio de Bilbao,
20 May, 2006
Open and shut case: Spanish aerospace systems producer to test components for new European aircraft in Basque Country
Spanish aerospace systems producer CESA has announced plans to test door and undercarriage hatch opening and closing devices and a range of mechanical components for Airbus’s leading-edge European military transport aircraft, the A-400M, at the aerospace technology foundation CTA’s laboratories at the Miñano technology park near Vitoria.
A contract signed by CESA and CTA at the latter’s HQ at Miñano is part of the framework agreement between the two formalized last November. CESA, part of the EADS group, is the main contractor for the ramp operation system for the aircraft’s main cargo door, with a total value throughout the programme’s lifespan of more than 130 million euros.
The joint CESA-CTA programme will be testing and scoring ten types of actuators designed to open and close doors and undercarriages. Scheduled to last between three and four years, the development programme equipment test and assay phase has a budget of three million euros.
CTA is to have a brand-new 6 million-plus lab for the project, now under construction at Miñano. Thanks to the operation, the aerospace technology foundation will be able to strengthen its aerospace systems business, to join its more traditional engine and structure area test work.
Summary of a news item published in
Expansión,
25 May, 2006
Plain torqueing over the AGA: Basque business invests 8 million to get gyroscope onto INTA space mission
Alava-based business Advanced Dynamic Systems (ADS) is currently developing an advanced gyroscopic actuator (AGA) for orienting satellites in space. At half the usual weight, this innovative model is capable of generating a torque up to four times greater than current French and American models. Both the European Space Agency and NASA have shown interest in the development.
Located at the Alava Technology Park, Vitoria, ADS researches, develops, industrializes and markets dynamic equipment and systems for earth-bound, naval and space applications. With barely a year of business life under its belt, the company now has 12 employees, 11 of them engineers. The workforce is expected to double in 2007.
At present, ADS is concentrating on developing the AGA, described by sources at the firm as “an innovative international patent consisting in a device to control satellite orientation, capable of setting them in one position and reorienting them as required.”
AGA is a member of the Control Moment Gyro (CMG) family producing high rotary capacity, much in demand at present for use in the new generation of satellites. Until recently, only French or US equipment has been available in Spain.
But now ADS has signed an agreement with Spain’s national technical aerospace agency INTA, which ensures the company’s AGA development flies as part of the technology in Microsat 1, a 150-kilo satellite with a scientific mission. Microsat 1 will be launched into space in 2009 by the Ariane 5 rocket.
From 2005 to 2009, ADS is to invest 8 million euros to cover the engineering model definition and development phases, the prototype qualification phase and the gyroscopic actuator flight phase.
After receiving the Toribio Echevarría award for technological innovation last year, the firm is now looking into the possibility of the AGA being used as a gyroscopic engine in cars. The feasibility study is part of a project supported by the Spanish Ministry of Education & Science through the EU Profit programme.
In principle, the gyroscopic motor would replace the engines and gearboxes of cars as we know them today. Conversations with major carmakers have already started.
Summary of a news item published in
Estrategia Empresarial,
30 April, 2006
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Last revision: 5-26-2006 LEHENDAKARITZA |
