The integration process begun almost two years ago by AMT (Spanish Association of Accessory, Component and Tool Manufacturers) and AFM (the Spanish Machine Tool Manufacturers’ Association) was finally completed last 16 December. The aim of the process was for the two groups to merge into a single Association, stronger, more representative and with renewed capacity for serving the Manufacturing Technologies Sector. The Articles of Association of the new entity were approved by each association’s Assembly and the 17 members of the Board of Directors appointed. José Ignacio Torrecilla is the new President, taking over from his predecessors Alexandre Fernández i Grau and Koldo Arandia, the Presidents of AMT and AFM respectively.

José Ignacio Torrecilla (Azkoitia, 1954) is the Managing Director of the Maherholding Group, whose associate companies include GORATU MÁQUINAS-HERRAMIENTA and SHUTON. In his speech he affirmed that “the reality we have begun to build today will enable us to set our sights on a future with increased opportunities for collaboration between the member companies, and our Association will be stronger, better able to generate services for the companies and more representative of the Sector.”

138 associate companies, with a joint potential turnover of almost 1500 million euros, will be members of the new Association. The Sector represented directly employs some 7000 people, and a further 7000 are estimated to be employed indirectly.

AMT, the Spanish Association of Accessory, Component and Tool Manufacturers, was founded in 1990 and its long-standing career has focused mainly on internationalisation. It became part of the AFEC Cutting Tools Association in 2005. AMT has 60 associate companies, with an expected overall turnover for 2011 of 330 million euros.

AFM, the Spanish Machine Tool Manufacturers’ Association, is backed by an impressive history: it was founded over 65 years ago and is in fact Spain’s oldest Industrial Association. It has 80 associate companies with an expected overall turnover of 1000 million euros for 2011 (some 750 million from machine tools and the remaining 250 from other machines, components and manufacturing technologies).

The Association is embarking on this new phase with the aim of jointly and even more intensively taking on the sector’s challenges with regard to the companies’ dimension, the need for a more determined presence and collaboration on aspects such as innovation.

This event included the presentation of the new management team, which will consist of Xabier Ortueta as Managing Director, Patricia Tamés as Assistant Technology Director and Conchi Aranguren as Assistant Manager for Internationalisation and Markets.

As regards prospects for the year end, Iñaki Torrecilla observed: “Although 2011 has been a very variable year with respect to sub-sectors and business typology, in general the results for both order acquisition and production will be an improvement on those for 2010. The more internationalised companies have performed better and have escaped the domestic market’s low consumption levels to a certain extent. We expect growth of around 20% in both turnover and exports.”

“For 2012,” the President continued, “we anticipate a more complicated situation, with a widespread drop in demand, during the first half of the year at least. We trust that the situation will pick up in the second half of the year and that recovery of the domestic market will soon be a reality. We will be devoting all our efforts to BIEMH 2012, the Machine Tool Biennial, which will be held from 28 May to 2 June at the BEC (Bilbao Exhibition Center).”