Global presence

To begin with, due to proximity and seniority, the international markets we have the easiest access to are the European Economic Community. And within the European Economic Community, the countries that border us, logically, Portugal, France, Germany, Italy, all these countries, well, we usually sell a lot.

Then, we also sell a lot to Latin America, due to the proximity of the language and the sea and air routes that are more or less close, much more than the countries in Asia.

We also played a lot in North Africa, Morocco, Algeria, Egypt. Mauritania, Türkiye, Iraq, Iran, all those countries, we sell relatively regularly.

And also some countries in Eastern Europe and close to northern Europe, such as Norway, we have some good clients, some in Finland, Russia as well, Kazakhstan

Another very strong market we have is Pakistan.

Basically, that is… the countries that we export also sell, well, as I said, to Latin America, including Mexico. Well, it is a quite interesting market. The Dominican Republic also sells something. Well, that’s our international market.

Well, we have an export department that for some countries, especially English-speaking ones, is managed by one person, who is a salesperson, and then we normally serve the rest of the countries from Spain, from the headquarters of our home.

No, we have never thought about opening offices outside of Spain, although in some countries, let’s say, they force you a little to sell, so you have to open an office, a half-baked business with local people, for example. We don’t enter India for that reason. And in many other countries, Türkiye, there are certain countries where it is mandatory. So, well, for now… We serve everything from the Madrid headquarters.

Thus, a priori, two important projects occur to me.

The important projects that we have had the option to sell, especially, well, expansion joints outside of Spain. I think I remember the Havana airport, we made a lot of expansion joints. Then we have also done a lot of support for the Mayan Train of Mexico. In Colombia we have also done projects, but I don’t remember. The name of the projects. the Red Line, the red line, we have also done a lot of support. And well, well, suddenly I don’t remember anything else. Algeria we have sold many together. The thing is, well, I can’t tell you which project. And Pakistan too, a lot of meetings and support and, well, highways that they have built there.

These elements that we sell there is always an assembler. Therefore, we give the guarantee on the materials, not on the finished and assembled piece. Because it depends…

The result that the piece gives depends a lot on how they assemble it. So, what we do do is give guarantees on the materials. We guarantee the durability of the finished and well-assembled piece for a few years, 10 years which is normal.

And then what we also guarantee is that it complies with the CE marking. And, for example, in Mexico, the United States… And American countries usually have other regulations in force, they have different regulations that are also formulated and materials are purchased to certify that we are within those regulations.

Let’s see, when we work abroad, if it is on the same continent, normally the logistics are land.

And if it is outside the continent, then to America, which we usually export, to Pakistan it is usually done by sea via containers.

And in any of the places where we sell, there is always air support, which on some occasions, it has also happened to us that we have made supports that were worth 10 and the transportation was worth 25. But hey, the client wanted them and had to send them by plane. Some support for Mexico, which weighs a lot, but oh well. That is, logistically what we do is that, working by land, sea and air.

We solve it ourselves or we give the client the option to solve it himself. In other words, let’s say, it doesn’t matter, one option or another, we arrive at the destination, we arrive at the client and we have customs agents and the client when he decides what to do, well, it doesn’t matter. I mean, in the end we have experience. We give the client the option of one thing or another.

Let’s see, we always collect sales, we always do it in the local currency, which is the euro. Then the client pays us in their currency and the conversion is done through the bank and they pay us the euros that we ask for.

The payment method, well, depends a lot on the continent we are selling to. Normally in the EC, sorry, in the European Union, in the EC it is from when we were young, in the European Union they usually sell in 30 days and the people who buy from us are, well, except for Italy, which is a very similar country to ours, the other countries, Portugal, France, Germany, Norway, the United Kingdom, Romania.

Well, if they are countries of the European Community that have a known solvency, such as the Nordic countries, Germany, etc., then we give them 30 days per transfer.

Which are some European countries that are a little more like that, like Italy, like Romania, like Bulgaria, as such, they pay before the material is released and that’s it.

And then, when we export, we usually usually charge a part in advance to put… The order is in progress, because they are orders of large amounts. And then, before shipping, we usually charge the rest of the order by transfer. Before, on some occasions documentary credit or documentary remittance has been used, but less and less because it involves a large cost and in the end the client understands that since it is European material, they have to pay for it that way, like any country that exports.

Well, normally the client, that is, the countries we sell to, have their own quality standards. And what we do is adjust the materials to your regulations. In other words, if they have to comply with the regulations of Mexico, for example, that the rubber has to have certain characteristics, the steel has to have certain characteristics, then it is bought. That adjusts to the characteristics they want.

Well, one, with the manufacturing certificates. Two, tests are carried out in internal and external laboratories. SGS audits are carried out before shipping the merchandise. And, finally, the client is sent all the quality regulations where it is justified that it complies with what they, that is, what their quality regulations are. This is how we guarantee quality.

What is always guaranteed is that it complies with the ISO. It is guaranteed as long as the materials are of the standards. Normally the CE marking is valid for almost all sites. But if the CE marking is not valid, then whatever standards they have. The ASTM in Mexico. And well, in Pakistan, well, Pakistan is a country that is a bit left in, that is, they don’t have so many regulations, let’s say that they admit almost everything a bit. But hey, we always sell with quality, even though in those countries you can almost sell anything.

But well, it is also true that sometimes we believe that the country, because it is located in a poor area of ​​the globe, we believe that it has no regulations. And many times the regulations that apply in some third world countries are much more demanding than perhaps a country like Norway or Germany. In other words, each country has its regulations, but the fact of being poor or rich does not indicate to us that it will be more or less demanding with the regulations it has, for example. Now we have released a Mauritania batch of elastomeric supports for access to the airport, because it is not a country that has many roads, but the rules are clear. And steel has to provide characteristics that are not found here in Europe, rubber has to meet a series of characteristics that are not found in Europe, but are far inferior in Europe to those that are required of us. And that country, which theoretically is a third world developing country, not as developed as Europe, but has legislation…

Well, doing tests within laboratories, that is, internal, internal laboratories, they do tests and it is justified with the result of the test, which is always good, of course.

Well, we normally have around 20 people, that is, the range is between 15 and 25 more or less. Right now we are 20, 21, 22, tomorrow more work comes, we are 23, after the lack of work we are 21 and in that more or less we band, about 20 workers.

Well, the truth is that we have the ease, that is, we have ease when it comes to hiring people because we don’t really ask for any experience because we have, since our company is a very specialized company, no trained people come from universities. So we take almost anyone who wants to work and what we do is teach them within the company how things are done, the processes, how to fill out the paperwork.

And well, then the office, logically, they should have notions of, well, office automation, etc., well, man, if they know a language, all that is good, but come on, we don’t have qualified people with high demands for a degree.

Well, if anyone is interested in working, then send us your resume to our email in the name of the personnel department, we analyze it and if we are interested, we put it in a job board… and when there is a lack of people, then logically we look at the resumes there is and we are selecting. And we are doing people, like this.

Normally, when the product does not give the result they want, what clients do is send us an email with a photograph. And with the problem they have. So what we do is analyze the documentation, see if they are normally things that can be picked up and sent new, with which the change is made, and if they are more technical problems or for example supports that are mounted on structures or something that It cannot be transported, but it is already placed in… in the specific work, we go anywhere in the world to see the problems that arise and with the client hand in hand we go to the site, we go to the work and we look for a solution.

What happens is that, in many cases, since they are things that are assembled, in most cases they tend to cause problems because there is poor assembly. In other words, support… I remember a work right now… A work that we did in Algeria, that we went there because of course, there was a lot of support and such, and we had to go. And it turns out that the supports were incorrectly mounted because the support has to be a support that is perfectly flat and that rests perfectly on the pillar and that the bridge where it rests is perfectly flat. Well, we found that the supports were poorly placed and that your hand fit between them.

So what’s up? That the work is part of the support and it is destroyed because that… Although when the supports are calculated, if they have to support 10 tons, it is usually stated that they support 100, but of course, if it only supports a little bit, then of course, the support is broken. So, we go where we need to.

We don’t have the budget limit. Yes, we have to take responsibility for any work, anything done poorly. And well, then we also have very high insurance and civil liability, because if there were any problem, we have support for any problem..

And yes, and what we do do is in the event that the fault is ours, we go with the mea culpa and pay whatever is necessary until the client is happy.

Well. The policy is to give… that is, our policy is that the client is happy, outside or inside, wherever they have to go and without any economic limitation. So, well, what we do is that, serve clients wherever they are, go there, see them with them and without any budget limit.

Well, the procedure for…, with customs regulations, normally the freight forwarders, that is, the transportation agencies already have their own customs agents. So what they do to you is they give you a price for the merchandise on offer. And what they give you is that they give you a price for the merchandise placed on the client. Logically, well, what you do is the documents that are issued when you make an export, well you have to fill them out, you have to check them to ensure that they adapt to what you have sold and that’s it. And once reviewed, you must enter the correct sales information, since the rest is something that the customs agency, either hired by our agency or hired by the client’s agency, solves. So we don’t get much involved either, except in the papers.

Well, normally when we are in the office and we have to serve clients who do not speak Spanish, we use the tools that the Internet offers us and well, a technician… we have a technician who speaks a language and when the client calls on the phone, we usually pass it on to him. to the same person who resolves the communication issue.

When we travel abroad, we go with our foreign sales agent who knows how to speak French and English well, and in some cases we have gone to a country, well I don’t know, I remember Finland, I recently remember Kazakhstan, well we normally go with a interpreter who accompanies us on the trip, and is the one who speaks the local language, and well, it gives us support to be able to communicate better with the clients we are going to visit.

Well, as I told you, we always sell in euros, so we no longer have that problem, we don’t have it because the client, that is, we don’t work with exchange insurance or anything like that, because our structure doesn’t allow us for that. type of tools. Financially in that sense we are a little behind, but hey, in the end the euro is a very strong currency in the world. And well, there is no problem for people to pay us in euros.

It is true that this sometimes makes us uncompetitive with some exports, because if the client, for example, from South America, offers the product in dollars, a possibly more advantageous exchange rate is always assured. Or in Pakistan we have often lost operations because… the Turkish manufacturers offer the product in another currency and… and well, it is true that it affects us in some sense sometimes in loss of sales, which is a Good point, we have to study.

Let’s see, we… what we basically do is… well, put the website in all possible languages ​​so that whoever accesses it can easily read it in the language they best understand. And then, many times what has been good for us is the commercial missions that we do through the Madrid Chamber of Commerce, which is… well, they always prepare your visits, they… give you everything you need so that in the country you go you don’t have communication problems.

In these types of initiatives… lately what we are doing is reducing plastic packaging as much as possible. We are… this year we are going to put up solar panels for our own, with our own consumption. And at a social level, the truth is that we are… it is a chapter that we are waiting to… put into motion. But hey, if everything works… along the right lines, well, man, one day yes… it is something we would like.

Let’s see, the regulations of any country, when the client asks you for the price of the elastomeric supports, they normally send you, along with the official request, with the request for offer, the standards that the materials must comply with.

How do we ensure that? Well, with the suppliers. When they give you values ​​that the steel has to meet, look for the quality of steel that fits those values ​​and when they give you a mixture that has to meet certain characteristics, then buy the mixture that meets those characteristics. .

And how do you ensure that? Well, with the quality certificates issued by the steel manufacturer and with the quality certificates issued by the rubber manufacturer.

And then, once…, the support is vulcanized, the piece is manufactured, then physical tests are carried out on the rest of the characteristics in our internal laboratory, physical tests are carried out with physical samples in the laboratories wherever the client wants us to do them. , because if, for example, in Mexico there are some of the tests that force you to do them there in their country, well, they are done in their country so that the client can do it. And they are made in your country so that it meets the physical regulations of the specific support and that it is verified there in your country.

Well, once, that is, our sale as it goes without assembly, once the product leaves our warehouses, it already comes with all the guarantees that have been previously contracted. There on site and we do not make any type of guarantee because it is a product that conforms to a plan, there are no physical characteristics, techniques that are already proven and contrasted and from there the assembly does not depend on us, which means we cannot That is, we do not guarantee anything beyond that. Except for a guarantee of durability as long as the assembly is appropriate.

Well no, that always has to, that is, on the web there are a series of plans, a series of measurements, a series of tables that are published, that can give you an idea that those measurements, those measurements that are published, They are what help us get an answer.

And what can be done with that? Well, that piece, that support or that expansion joint is, that is, can serve in the physical space that remains on the plan, on the road, wherever. But of course, beyond that, beyond what the gasket fits in its hole, only technical support can be given, that is, how much, how much this support carries or how much the gasket carries, it cannot be given. . There is no type of support.

For example, the joint is not published, that is, well, if there is some technical data, for example, the expansion joint, well it has some opening movements, that is published, that is, in the end there is a series of points that do define the product you have to use, and if that does not help you define the material you have to use, then you can now consult us and by paying the technical data that has been provided to you, we will tell you yes or no, or we will adapt something to give you a solution.