Taking Ties to a New Level

India and Spain’s striving to strengthen their bonds at the bilateral level is bound to reap rich dividends for both the countries. A look at how EU’s third largest economy is contributing to the growth of India’s manufacturing industry.

It’s been more than 60 years to the diplomatic relations of India and Spain. The association has evolved over the years and now more efforts are being invested by the duo in order to enhance their current status of bilateral economic give and take.

The forming of the new Indian government in 2014 was the precise turning point in the bond shared between the nations. The new government’s impetus to export industries along with significant investment in infrastructure and urbanization have opened up avenues for Spanish companies with relevant expertise to become India’s partners and contributors to Indian flagship initiatives such as ‘Make in India’ and ‘Digital India’.

Machine Tool sector in Spain

Mikel Artola, International Manager, Machine Tools, Accessories, Component Parts and Tools manufacturers’ Association of Spain, AFM Advanced Manufacturing Technologies, offers an overview on the machine tools sector of Spain and the opportunities that it presents to its counterpart in India.

“The advanced manufacturing and machine tools sector closed the 2016 financial year with a 1.5 percent increase in its production with respect to the 2015 data, amounting to €1.5 billion. “The different subsectors—metal cutting, metal forming, components, tools, accessories and machining—experience small changes but the panorama has not changed very much,” says Artola. “Stability in the figures is a persistent trend in the Spanish machine tools sector,” he adds.

Spanish companies have gained a significant experience in foreign markets with 79.16 percent export rate in 2016, and an average 77.89 percent in the last five years, informs Artola. “In 2017, India was the 10^th largest market (€26.5 million) for Spanish machine manufacturers, which was a promising growth as compared to previous years (73 percent more than in 2016). However, 2012 witnessed a peak with India being the 4^th largest market for Spain and generating business worth €45.7 million,” he adds. For Spanish component manufacturers, India stands remarkably as their 7^th largest market, absorbing four percent of their exports.

Manufacturing machines in collaboration

‘Make in India’ is a key policy that will contribute to the development of Indian manufacturers, and foreign companies have to look for opportunities to leverage this new framework, Artola believes. “Spanish machine tools industry is remarkable in its flexibility and adaptability to different sectors and applications, and in its specialization in big-sized and high-performance solutions. This suits well with Indian industries’ demands, so mutual collaboration will be beneficial for both sides,” he notes.

Additive manufacturing in Spain

Manufacturers all around the world have realized the significance of the fourth industrial revolution and how important is to embrace the advanced technologies to retain their competitive edge. Similar situation is in Spain where the machine tool manufacturers are striving to upgrade themselves technologically. They are increasingly integrating digitalization to offer newer services to their customers.

Artola provides a glimpse of the Additive Manufacturing (AM) scene in Spain with the names of the companies that are into it along with their recent developments. ADDIMAT represents the AM industry of Spain and, together with its members, is promoting advanced technologies and raising their awareness among industry. “Additive equipment providers of Spain are continuously developing new machines, one example being IBARMIA which is improving the laser metal deposition process integrated on its hybrid machine,” explains Artola.

ADDILAN is a recently established additive machine manufacturing company for the production of medium-large parts using WAAM. Dynamical Tools has developed a new 3D Selective Laser Sintering printer. Grupo Sicnova has launched new products, including the JCR 600 – a large format industrial FDM 3D printer, and the CloneInspector 3D – an automated cabin for three-dimensional measurement. Last but not least, service providers such as Optimus 3D, Mizar and Verot have acquired new industrial AM machines to cater to the growing customer demands.

BIEMH 2018

Artola is quite upbeat about the upcoming BIEMH, a biennial trade show in Spain focused on the machine tool industry, “BIEMH is expected to have a thrilling and unique edition in 2018 due to the strong market situation. It is the largest industrial event in Spain and one of the most important machine tools exhibition in Europe, occupying six pavilions, and with more than 1,500 exhibitors, 2,600 products and 1,100 machines.”

The show will be held at Bilbao Exhibition Centre in Bilbao, Spain from May 28 to June 01. The five-day event will gather leading international companies working in the fields of machinery, process automation, tools and components and metrology. These companies will showcase the widest range of technologies to date, live smart manufacturing experiences and innovative solutions that will help business grow.

“BIEMH 2018 will be featuring parallel shows – BE DIGITAL, ADDIT3D and WORKinn – with the view to focus on the fast growing new trends to strengthen the complete value-chain of the industry,” he informs summing up.