Optoelectronics installations opened in Spain

Edited by the Manufacturingtalk editorial team Dec 29, 2006

Fagor Automation has officially opened its new technological optoelectronics installations for producing engraved crystal used in linear and rotary encoders.

Fagor Automation officially opened, on 29 November, its new technological optoelectronics installations in Eskoriatza, Spain, in teh presence of the Lehendakari of the Basque Government, Juan Jose Ibarretxe, and by the President of MCC's board of directors, Jesus Catania.

The engraved crystal used in reception systems or encoders is produced in these installations, and linear and rotary encoders are manufactured for the automation and control systems.

The complex also has an Automated and Robotised Logistics Centre, at the service of Fagor Automation's production plants in Mondragon, Usurbil and Eskoriatza.

The encoder crystal engraving plant is strategic, as it produces the engraved crystal used to manufacture Position Reception Systems or encoders.

Fagor Automation itself, in collaboration with leading Spanish and foreign companies and universities, has developed the technology and equipment.

Some EUR 15 million has been invested in this venture, including buildings and production equipment, and given its highly innovative nature, it has received subsidies from the Provincial Government of Guipuzcoa, the Basque Government's Centre for Technological and Industrial Development (CDTI), the Central Government and MCC.

Historically, innovation has been a differential element in Fagor Automation, allocating 10 to 12% of its sales and amounting for 21% of the workforce.

Fagor Automation, which celebrated its 25th Anniversary last year, is the only Spanish company dedicated to the design and manufacture of machinery automation and control products, mainly for the Machine Tool sector, and is the second company in the world in the measurement optoelectronics device field, 5th in numerical control systems and the leader in its sector in Spain.

It forecasts a turnover of EUR 65 million this financial year, 18% more than in 2005, 80% from international sales, mainly to China, Taiwan, Brazil, the United States, Italy and Germany.