The company, which exports 80% of its sales, has received a grant from the SPRI Group of the BDIH Konexio program

EKIN is a company from Amorebieta that has become one of the three world leaders in the manufacture of high-tech brushes for the automotive and aeronautical sectors. The company, with about 300 workers, exports 80% of its sales. It has received financial support from the SPRI Group through the BDIH Konexio program with which the Basque Digital Innovation Hub is making the connected network of advanced manufacturing assets and services available to SMEs for training, research, testing and validation.

The company emerged in 1963 from the hand of several entrepreneurs from Amorebieta, who worked in the area in a tool manufacturer “and saw an opportunity to develop this activity and their knowledge. For which they founded a cooperative in an activity of a product that was totally imported, brushes”, reveals Josu Rodríguez, CEO of EKIN.

The company grew with the manufacture of broaches, which are cutting tools for internal and external grooving of parts by chip removal, in the automotive sector. “And it evolved into a wide range with round, flat and zipper configurations for multiple applications.”

In the mid-1980s, the company entered another business niche, the machine tool, specializing in broaching and rolling mills, where its tools are used. “An agreement was reached with a Japanese group to introduce the technology. We are not a manufacturer of tools to use, because we do not think of selling only the tool but to provide the best solutions for the client, evolving towards more efficient and ecological solutions incorporating dry broaching machines”.

Internationalization
The next milestone is in 2010, with the integration of a competitor company, Ebay, located in Igorre. “We pooled our capabilities and managed to be national leaders in brushes and generate new market opportunities.” In 2011, a production plant was opened in Mexico, which was followed by two other plants in India and Brazil in the following three years. “This international implementation was marked by our obligation to cover certain areas through a local presence to provide the best solutions for our clients”.

The plant in Brazil was closed a few years later and EKIN now maintains four production centers: those in Mexico and India, abroad, and in Amorebieta and Lemoa, the latter focused on heat treatment.

The sectors for which it works are the automotive industry (both commercial vehicles and those for passenger or industrial transport), aeronautics, energy and hand tools. The products that it sells are brushes of different configurations and applications together with the machine tool for the use of these products.

The workforce of this cooperative is around 300 people and this year’s turnover will be over 20 million euros, compared to 17 last year. 6% of the business is devoted to R&D. Exports account for nearly 80% and the main countries where they sell are Germany, France and Eastern Europe, in addition to local sales in Mexico and India.

The help of the SPRI Group of the BIDH Konexio program focuses on the optimization of the process that reduces the regeneration of worn knurls and machine defects. In addition, the advantage in the programming of the profiles and the application of correctors before grinding, which contributes to reducing material waste, with the consequent increase in the profitability of the process.

The challenges are the redefinition of production for the future, with improvements in productivity and resources. “We are with the 2023-2025 strategic plan with the idea of ​​continuing to grow not only in volume but also in value. We are analyzing new products so that they add more value and also develop the activity of our machinery division. We want to promote solutions for the energy and automotive sectors, which is our natural sector, such as electromobility as a new opportunity”. EKIN has already started selling brushes and machines that are mounted on electric bicycles.

All this while maintaining the values ​​of cooperativism, “such as solidarity and cooperation and following the spirit of the founders of generating wealth in the environment”.