“We have to develop capacities that can only be sustained with a minimum Is any Spanish machine-tool builder critical mass” makes us leaders in this niche market. The disadvantages / I N T E R V I E W are that it is difficult for projects to be repeated, as many are customised. Modularity is a key element. collaborating with other international builders? Like sharing sales or service structures or even sharing production facilities? The Association has fluid relations with our European colle- Which sectors are your best customers? Could agues and those from other countries with a strong manu- you give us some figures? facturing tradition like USA or Japan. So we are very familiar I would highlight the car industry and car parts sectors, with partnerships set up between companies. However, I which account for 34%. The power generation sector (wind, have to say that we don’t see any movement in this regard hydraulic, photovoltaic, oil industry and high pressure fluids) in the short term, although there has been in the past. which accounts for 10%, aeronautics, 7.5%, capital goods, 6% and railways, 3%. What are the main problems facing a Spanish machine-tool builder when exporting to so many countries? Our companies are mainly SMEs and the markets with most demand are increasingly further away, so the main problems have to do with reaching markets that are so far away, both geographically and culturally, with scarce human and material resources. In your opinion, what image do our machines have in the international market? I think that our position as the ninth biggest producer and exporter in the world and the third largest in Europe clearly shows that Spanish machine tools have a very good image. We are in the Premier League and customers from all over the world put their trust in us day in day out. We are specialists and leaders in many market applications. Many of your producers are building big and very specialized machines. Why did the companies choose this path? Our great capacity to adapt to our custo- mers’ specific requirements, to their applications and parts has led us to specia- lise in building machines that enable big parts to be machined and that have to be custom-designed with the manufacturer and customer working closely together. It is clear that smaller, simpler machines with less value-added are manufactured in more appropriate places. Our stra- tegy to make us stand out has been to focus on more value- added, in many cases on high performance, precision machines for big, complex parts. What are the advantages and disadvantages of competing with this kind of machines? The advantages are that we have acquired know-how that / 15