grupo antolin awarded q-innovauto · 2013-12-03 · e 09007 burgos - spain tel. 34 947 47 77 00...

Winter · 2006/07 · nº 48

Grupo Antolin awarded

Q-Innovauto Antolin-TangerA future in northern Africa

Cooperating with Design Schools

ELISAVA School 'Master Degree Show' 2006

Maqueta NOTICIASinglesa:Maquetación 1 7/2/07 07:15 Página 1

news grupo antolin · winter 20072

Summary

NEWS Published by Grupo Antolin

Grupo Antolin is an international company at the cutting edge of design and production ofcomponents for car interiors for theautomobile industry.Present in 21 countries, it has aworkforce of more than 10, 400employees.

Legal Deposit: M-18594-2006

EDITORIAL BOARDGrupo AntolinHuman Resources DepartmentCarretera Madrid Irún, km. 244,8E 09007 BURGOS - SPAINTel. 34 947 47 77 00Fax: 34 947 47 79 48www.grupoantolin.com

EDITORIAL OFFICEHuman Resources Department Leticia Fernández· [email protected]

DESIGNGermán Delgado· [email protected]

PHOTOGRAPHYRafa Sáiz

PRINTED BYCOIMANC/ Marqués de Portugalete, 16E 28027 MADRID - ESPAÑATel. 34 91 742 12 03Fax: 34 91 742 67 81

page 3 in first person

page 4 cover 1st Prize Q innovauto 2005

page 7 protagonists Antolin-Tanger

page 9 report International mobility

page 12 designing the future Collaboration with Desing school

page 14 the history corner Mercedes-Benz

page 16 the photo Carbon Nanofibres

page 18 in brief News in brief

page 28 health Take it all in good humour

page 30 on the way India


winter 2007 · news grupo antolin 3

“"A job well done first time around"”

Once again we say goodbye to yet another year and usher in the new one that offers us the chanceto go on developing together, consolidating a business project that now supports more than tenthousand families located in twenty-one countries.

In spite of the difficult times in which our most important clients are currently immersed, our Groupwas able to maintain its rate of growth in 2006 and, at the same time, achieve a positive profitmargin, in sharp contrast with the grave situation of financial health being experienced by manycompanies in our sphere of activity at the moment.

It is precisely the successful global implantation of our company that has led to such a positive situation, with our adequate diversification strategy in terms of both regions and clients being astabilising factor that guarantees our perennial continuation in the field and increases our capacity to ride out adverse market situations such as the ones the automobile industry in theWest is currently going through. Such situations, moreover, will persist in the coming year andshould lead us to adopt an aggressive attitude towards improving our costs, based essentially onoptimising the significant efficiency of our expenditure and promoting our activities aimed at enhancing our processes, thereby achieving quality products in each operation that will eliminatethe need for subsequent controls and rejections, with everyone assuming the indisputable objective of "a job well done first time around".

We have the skill and human capital to successfully tackle and overcome all these challenges anddifficulties, and I am sure we will all put up a good display of our determination, effort,competence, motivation and willpower to achieve such aims.

Finally, I would like to convey to everyone working in Grupo Antolin my best wishes for peace andhappiness in 2007, along with my gratitude for all your effort and interest in continuing to helpus all strive to go on developing together in this exciting Company.

José Antolin Chairman

...in

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son



COVER

Grupo Antolin, 1st Prize

Q innovauto 2005



For the 11th Edition of the Congress onQuality and the Environment, organisedby AEC, on 22nd and 23rd November inBilbao, the challenges represented byquality and the environment of signifi-cance to the car industry were submitted for debate.

The prize-giving ceremony for the 2005 Q-Innovauto Awards took place duringthe first day of the Congress and in themiddle of a session involving the partici-pation of the most important represen-tatives of the sector. Grupo Antolin received the prize for their Internal Quality Campaign in the category of Diffusion and Awareness-Raising.

Our Group competed, amongst others,with Renault (Sevilla) and DaimlerChrysler(Vitoria), who obtained second and thirdprize in the same category, with all threeoffering an example of the high level bothof the competitors and also the work presented.

We would also like to draw attention tothe special mention afforded Grupo Antolin-Aragusa for the quality of the con-tent of their work: “Re-use of RejectedMedallions“. With an investment of 0 €

and an annual saving of 12,000 € a year,they were able to find a solution for theelimination of the waste produced wheninjecting the plastic in the medallion, byre-using it in parts that are useful bothfor building cars and for the auto-partindustry, thus considerably reducing theimpact on the environment caused by thedifficulties involved in re-cycling it.

Both prize and special mention were re-ceived by our Vice Chairman, Ernesto An-tolin, who had a meeting with executivesfrom SAQ, in which he confirmed that theactivities of our Group reflect our firm de-termination to promote Quality.

Congress on Qualityand the Environment– A reference for theSector

This Congress, which has been held everyyear since 1996, is a reference for the sector since it presents the latest techniques and tools for quality being de-veloped by the companies to enhancetheir competitiveness.

Since last year the Environment has alsobeen included since it is a demand that

On 22nd December, Ernesto Antolin, Vice Chairman of the Group, received the Q-Innovauto Award for the Internal Quality Campaign “Quality Guardians”

from SAQ. (Spanish Association of the Quality)



GRUPO ANTOLIN’S INTERNAL QUALITY CAMPAIGN

Firm support for Quality

As you all know, in October 2005 the Department of Quality Assur-ance launched the Internal Campaign entitled “Quality Guardians”with a clear objective:

To make ALL employees at Grupo Antolin without exception awarethat their work has a vital role in contributing towards the successof the company, the confidence of the clients and the final user.

After several months’ work, we have defined a strategy based on fourbasic pillars:

- Creation of an umbrella concept: Quality Guardians

- Creation of a campaign logo that will allow for its continuity.

- Creation of an evocative image that will strengthen the concept.

- Implementation of this strategy developed in 4 phases:

· Preliminary Phase, to involve the Company Executives in the Cam-paign.

- Phase 1, to add surprise and create a positive attitude towardsthe Campaign, conveying the idea that we are all involved in work-ing for people’s welfare.

- Phase 2, to generate group commitment.

- Phase 3, to generate individual commitment.

Different posters depending on the objectives to be covered, per-sonal mailings, messages stored on the web, are just some of thesupports that we use and translate into six languages in order tobreathe life into our objective: QUALITY.

is becoming more and more urgent, withthe sector now allocating more resourcesto this area, and strengthening its commitment with each passing day.

In this eleventh edition of the Congress,the event brought together more than200 professionals, including members ofGrupo Antolin. The SAQ car industrycommittee, formed by representativesfrom the car manufacturing industry andalso from auxiliary sectors, was respon-sible for organising the event.

The conferences began with two roundtables: “Integration of environmentalelements in design and development”and “Experiences in customer-supplier re-lations”. The programme was completedwith six workshops on subjects such asthe management of components afterthe useful life of the vehicle or the prac-tical aspects involved in constructing con-trol measures.



PROTAGONISTS

Antolin-Tanger

A multicultural community enclave, Tanger hasattracted the attention of investors such as Grupo Antolin, who opened their Antolin Tangerinstallations at the end of October in the presence ofthe Moroccan Prime Minister.

In the 90s, Grupo Antolin embarked on anambitious route to globalisation and inter-national expansion towards newly emer-ging markets such as our own: Morocco.

Located in northern Morocco at a dis-tance of 15 km from the south of Europe,Grupo Antolin-Tanger, which specialisesin sewing seat covers, was set up in May2005 with an investment of 50 millionDirham (the local currency) and corporatecapital amounting to 11M €. Thanks toits geographical location, Tangir is con-sidered to be the real gateway toMorocco. The residence of the diplomaticcorps, it is the commercial and educa-tional brain of the country and one ofits main hubs, and the driving force be-hind the economic and intellectual de-velopment of Morocco.

A future in northern Africa


At the end of last October, the PrimeMinister of Morocco, Driss Jettou,opened the Antolin Tanger installations during an official visit tothe Duty-Free Export Zone in thepresence of our Chairman, JoséAntolin, accompanied by the head ofDEOM, Marie Hélène Antolin.

The visit was marked by a few wordsof welcome given by José and Marie Hélène Antolin on the futureprospects of the Group, and also bythe assessment on the part of the PrimeMinister of the efforts of this initiativeand the expansion of industrial activityin this country. For Jettou, there is noquestion that for Tanger the return onthis tax break will be infinitely greater,thereby helping the region to becomemore competitive.

The second industrial centre of Moroccoafter Casablanca, this city has undergoneimportant industrial growth which hasenabled infrastructures to be put in placeto promote the largest duty-free exportzone in the country, with a total surfacearea of 345 hectares, of which AntolinTanger occupies an area of over 26,000m². Thanks to this location, it benefitsfrom one of the most favourable tax sys-tems, such as exemption from taxesduring the first 15 years of business, andthe waiving of fees for registration and thepublic deed required for incorporationor increase of company capital, and thepurchase of land and patent rights. To allthese advantages we should also add thecontributions made from the Hassan fund,which likewise permits the cost of the siteto be partially or wholly financed.

The city formed the centre of the ruralexodus to the region, with a populationthat has quadrupled in the last twodecades. Such a phenomenon has led tothe generation of labour for the com-panies established in the area. AntolinTanger now employs around 100 people,half men and half women. This figurewill be increased over the next fewmonths until it reaches approximately250 jobs, all thanks to the new projectinvolving the manufacture of high techsunroofs, which will be carried out withthe aid of our colleagues from GrupoAntolin Vosges.

GA’s productive activity in this countrycommenced with the NCV2 project,sewing seat covers for the MercedesVito, a project that was validated by the

client in February 2006. We currentlyalso produce covers for the train sector(TGV, AGC, etc.) Early in the lastquarter of the current financial year,Antolin-Tanger already had a turnover ofmore than 2.4 million euros. The com-pany is now going through an importantperiod of development with a significantincrease in sales as new projects areadded. Projects that, as we have men-tioned above, include the transfer of ma-jor product lines for the production ofsunroofs at the end of 2006

Our portfolio of clients includes both in-ternal customers such as Grupo AntolinAlava, Grupo Antolin Ara and Grupo An-tolin Transport with 5,500 covers a week,and also external customers such as Nis-san, PSA and Renault for sunroofs.




REPORT

InternationalMobility A decisive step in our career

Going abroad as an ex-pat is an important decision in our professional life, enriching itand giving the employee the chance to learn, to improve their skills and participate innew projects and experiences.

Our employees' mobility from one countryto another enables us to respond to the de-mands of the business and those of ourclients. The client prevails: as we all know,Grupo Antolin’s work is defined by projectsthat are carried out where our client is, andtherefore it is essential to recognise the importance of having mobile workers.

To contribute to recognising how impor-tant it is for each of us to be geographi-cally available, we shall give a broad ou-tline of the policy followed by the GROUP.This policy is described in detail in theprocedures for setting up a framework fordealing fairly with all mobilities affectingour various employees.

There are two types of mobility set outin the Procedure: Temporary Displace-ment and expatriation.

TemporaryDisplacement

This concerns those assignments with a du-ration of a minimum of 31 days and a ma-ximum of 182. They respond to a need fora rapid reaction to a client’s requirements,to cover the lack of specific knowledge atlocal level, and for the person concernedit means an opportunity to acquire inter-national experiences in the short term.

The conditions to be applied are defined indepth in the P-RH-03 Procedure for Geo-graphical Mobility, which is available to allemployees in the Group Intranet. This ba-sically outlines a bonus payment and/orallowances during the relocation period,and trips back to the country of origin.

Expatriation

Unlike temporary displacement, here weare talking of assignments on a long-termbasis for periods of up to a maximum of5 years. In global terms, this type of relo-cation is used in situations where new bu-sinesses and also projects are to be laun-ched, situations that require both technicalknowledge and also knowledge concer-ning the group’s own culture.

Although here the procedure acts like a gui-de, the conditions will basically be defi-ned according to the country, the job to bedone and also the family situation of theperson at that moment (single, married,with or without children). Generally-spea-king, the main aspects to be taken intoaccount are the following:

HUMAN RESOURCES DEPARTMENT – GRUPO ANTOLIN


50

40

30

20

10

0


Salary

Normally the salary and also the existinglegal requirements for national healthcontributions are taken over by the des-tination country. However, with respectto the destination country and the legalagreement that exists with such country,the above may change and thus:

· Salary in destination country and na-tional health contributions (according toagreement) in country of origin.

· Salary and national health contributions(according to agreement) in country oforigin and destination.

Further benefits

· RELOCATION ALLOWANCE, a grossamount set out in the procedure, defi-ned to cover various expenses involvedin settling into the new location.

· MOVING EXPENSES, various proceduralcubic capacities which are processed by

the Department of Supply Chain Ma-nagement.

· HOTEL EXPENSES, in the country of ori-gin a maximum of 15 days and at des-tination a maximum of 1 month.

· ALLOWANCE for RENTED ACCOMMO-DATION, a gross amount depending onthe local property market.

· MEDICAL INSURANCE, In the EuropeanUnion, the cover of the Social Securitysystem in the destination country shouldbe applied. In the REST OF THE WORLD,a private Medical Insurance Policy shouldbe taken out.

· SCHOOLING, State Schools should bechosen as a first option and InternationalSchools in exceptional circumstances.Children that remain in the country oforigin receive aid for travelling expen-ses and studies.

· LANGUAGE CLASSES for the Employee

are contracted according to their trainingneeds. For the wife and children, aid is al-so available to help them adapt to livingin the destination country

Travelling

· PRELIMINARY VISIT, designed to gain fa-miliarity with the area, find a place to li-ve and a school. Only for the employeeand their wife for a maximum of five days.

· PERSONAL TRIPS, designed to keep theemployee and their family in contact withtheir country during expatriation. 1 or 2trips per year depending on the country.

Once mobility at Grupo Antolin has been reviewed as stipulated, we should notforget the human side of the whole pro-cess. It is essential that attention be paid tothe personal and family needs of the per-son that is to relocate and integrate their fa-mily in the destination country. In most cases, this is the factor that will determi-ne whether the process is successful or not.

GERMANY

BRAZIL

FRANCE

MEXICO

UK

USA

INDIA

CZECH REPUBLIC

JAPAN

CHINA

SOUTH AFRICA

MAROCCO

BELGICA

SPAIN

12%

1%

7%

13%

15%

19%

3%

9%

2%

4%

1%

1%

2%

10%

Distribution ofrelocated staffaccording to country atGrupo Antolin

Number ofrelocated staff at Grupo Antolinper year

53

2004

50

40

30

20

10

0

2005 2006

51

31

Number ofrelocated staffper year andaccording toduration atGrupo Antolin31

22

2004

Short stay

Expatriation

2005 2006

34

17

22

9 36%

64%



DIEGO VIZCAíNOQuality Manager – Headliner ProductionDepartment of Quality AssuranceGERMANY, SOUTH AFRICAand CHINA

Going to work for Grupo Antolinabroad is hard and very demanding,but also intense in terms of humanrelations, vision of the future, and inpersonal satisfaction. We now bear theindelible mark of other cultures,helping us to discover ourselves and toappreciate other people much moreand also the situation around us. It is anunforgettable experience, an indivisiblepart of our existence. I hope I can learnto appreciate the immense wealthaccumulated from past experiences toenrich those of the future

ENRIQUE FERNÁNDEZEnginer-Headliner ProductionGERMANY

What at first appeared to be a difficultexperience turned out to be a verypositive and unforgettable experiencefor us thanks to the support of thepeople sharing such moments with us.

FARNAN RUSHEHead of Strategy and MarketsDepartment of Supply ChainManagementUSA and CHINA

For the last 7 months I have beenworking at our delegation inShanghai, this being the secondtime that I have relocated with theGroup. Obviously, if my family and Ihave decided to repeat theexperience of living and workingabroad with the company, it mustbe because we think it is verypositive. At a professional level, Ilove to have new challenges, andthe opportunity to help in theinternational growth of the Group.I believe that the objective of anemployee that is relocated shouldbe to contribute their experienceand promote Grupo Antolin'sapproach to work overseas, butalways respecting the culture andidiosyncrasies of the destinationcountry. When you relocateoverseas because of work, you havequite a good idea of what to expectin professional terms, but not somuch on the personal front. In thisaspect I think that the people thatshow most courage in acceptingthe challenge are our families, whocome with us on our journey intothe unknown. For me it is essentialthat my family should feel at homein their new environment and so farthey have adapted perfectly to lifein China.

ISMAEL DEL MORALHead of the Seat Division. Graphic Engineering. Department ofInnovation and MarketingINDIA

Recipe for expatriates.

Put the following ingredients in acocktail shaker: new professionalchallenges, concerns, nerves,enthusiasm, a pinch of "what am Idoing in this country and where ismy Mum?", pillow for your head,eyeing up the window and a goodsafety belt to ride out the stormwhen times get rough. Shake andthe result is:

· personal development,

· languages? Like the best of them,

· experiences? unforgettable,

· memories? indelible,

· confidence? Just what was

needed.

With all of this and those not-so-sweet moments, the cocktail is sogreat that it would be rightfullyincluded in the best of the recipebooks on DESSERTS.



The GA Industrial Design team offeredthe students at Elisava the proposi-tion of developing a complete interior focussing on a B segment. Thetype of user this concept is designed foris a young, dynamic person that is fondof nature andkeen on new technolo-gies, and values their independence, considering their vehicle to be something very personal that should adapt to their own way of life.

Starting from such premises, three students began work on what was to betheir final project for the Master of Transport.

This type of work is oriented towards thecreative exploration of really new ideas that to a certain extent have moved be-

yond the future, both from a formal anda conceptual point of view.

Throughout the entire process, Grupo Antolin has supervised and given ad-vice on developments, while at the sametime allowing the students the free-dom to express their own ideas. There were several proposals that focussed on an interesting concept. Minimalist geome-tries that offer various modes of functi-on, different “Color&trim” configura-tions that turn the interior into a kind of chameleon that can adapt to various lifestyles.

The final outcome has materialised both virtually (modelled and rendered in 3D) and physically (scale model) turning out to be ayoung interior that can be customised, in which space and function have a mail role.

INDUSTRIAL DESIGN DEPARTMENT

DesingCollaboration with

schools

DESIGNING THE FUTURE

Within the framework for cooperation with theElisava School of Design in Barcelona, the

Department of Industrial Design at Grupo Antolinis sponsoring a project for their Master of

Transport degree.


The project was presented on 24th October at a ceremony that was attended, amongst others, by representatives from the varioussponsors, together with designers from the SEAT and RENAULT studios in Barcelona and Grupo Antolin.

ChocolateStrawberry Lemon Fashion


Desing school

Elisava of Barcelona


THE HISTORY CORNER

The brand: GottliebDaimler and KarlBenz

The invention, around 1880, of the “highrevolution” engine along with the car fos-tered the creation of motor transport com-panies by Gottlieb Daimler, on the onehand, and by Karl Benz, on the other. Thus,they both started on their own projectscompletely independently, each manworking by himself without being awareof the other. Benz founded the firm Benz

& Co in Manheim in October 1883 whileDaimler-Motoren-Gesellschaft (DMG) wasset up in Cannstatt near Stuttgart in No-vember 1890.

Kart Benz invented and marketed the firstcar running on an internal combustion en-gine in 1885. Although he was not at allsuccessful until 1888 when, without hisknowledge, his wife Bertha decided totake their children on the first “long dis-tance” journey from Manheim toPforzheim and back again (about 160kms). Thus, the three-wheeled car drivenby “demon forces”, according to the ex-

pression of those days, managed to beatthe critics and to show how reliable andeasy to control the vehicle was.

Meanwhile, Gottlieb Daimler had plansto build petrol-driven engines for use inall types of vehicle. It was in 1884 that hemanaged to develop an engine thatreached 1HP at 600 rpm and decided tomount it on a carriage specially orderedfrom the firm W. Wimpff & Sohn. Follow-ing Maybach’s instructions, the engine wasassembled to create what was to becomethe first four-wheel car at the “Maschi-nenfabrik Esslingen” plant. The logo was

Today this credo still stands as the legacy of the Mercedes-Benz tradition.

It represents a tradition that was unheard of at the time, rather than a mere list of

motor engineering triumphs that were landmark achievements in their day. The

history of Mercedes-Benz provides a bridge from the shy beginnings of motorisation

at the end of the 19th Century to current standards of high technology

Mercedes-Benz, ”The best … or nothing at all”




a three-point star that represented univer-sal motorisation “by air, land and sea”.

Then, in 1897 Emil Jellineck, a wealthybanker, who was the Austrian Consul inNice (France) and a car fanatic, decidedto order a vehicle from DMG that was ca-pable of doing over 40 km/h. Thus, thebusiness grew with car sales to high soci-ety and in 1900, after reaching an agree-ment to market DMGs, he placed an orderfor 36 units with an 8HP engine, whichthey named after his daughter Mercedes.Unfortunately, Daimler was not able to wit-ness the growth of his company, as he diedin March 1900, being replaced by May-bach.

At the end of 1900, a revolutionary enginewith 35HP was fitted inside a racing carwith a low gravity centre, pressed steelframe, lights and a radiator and many other innovations that prefigure the modern car.

Both companies continued with their owndevelopment, building various manufac-turing plants separately, competing inspeed racing and diversifying their pro-ducts. That is how the factories of Benzin Gaggenhau and of DMG in Marienfeldecame into being in 1907. Following the in-troduction of DMG on the stock exchangein 1911, in 1920 its stocks are capitalised tothe order of 100 million German Marks, re-sulting in its consolidation as one of thebiggest industrial companies in Germany.However, apart from hindering sales, theheavy inflation suffered during the post-war period meant that companies couldnot survive unless they had a solid financialbase and consolidated models. Even so,both rivals were forced to live with eachother and began to cooperate in 1924, uni-fying design and production along withpurchasing, sales and publicity so as tobe able to overcome such a difficult situ-ation and maintain their competitiveness.

In 1926, the two companies decided tomerge and create Daimler-Benz AG. Thebrand Mercedes-Benz was born with thelogotype of a three-point star surroundedby a laurel leaf. Maybach and Benz bothdied in the year 1929.

From Daimler-BenzAG until theDaimlerChrysler AGmerger

Right from its very beginning, the nameMercedes-Benz has been a synonym of ex-cellence, high performance and luxury. Inthe early 30s, the model 170 was knownas the first four-wheel car to be producedwith independent suspension. In 1937, 30“Volkswagen” prototypes, widely referredto as the people’s car, were built and tested,based on a design of Daimler’s technicalengineer, Ferdinand Porsche, in Sindelfingen, to start mass production in Wolfsburg, in what was to become thehead office of what is now Europe’s largestcar plant.

On July 18th 1944, over 80% of the Sin-delfingen factory was razed to the groundby the explosion of more than 20,000bombs. However, mass production restartedin Untertürkheim in May 1945 with 1,240workers.

The 50s see the introduction of the famousMercedes-Benz 300 SL “Gullwing” andthe beginning of the brand’s participa-tion in Formula 1 racing, being represent-ed by the driver Juan Manuel Fangio, win-ner of the drivers’ and constructors’ WorldChampionships in 1954. At the same time,the sedans of the 220 Series and of the300 series with 6-cylinder engines are thefirst cars to include the energy-absorbingdeformation zone patent in their design tokeep the interior intact if there is a collision.At the same time, production of the 170Vand 170S models derived from the mod-el built in the 1930s is finally completed.

This brings us to 1963, the year in whichthe brand increases its popularity in therange of luxury cars with the launch of the600, propelled by a 300 HP engine with anair suspension system.

The 70s witness the launching of the fa-mous S Series as the height of luxury onwheels and the ABS system starts rollingout in mass production, aimed at furtherenhancing the safety of the vehicles. Thispermanent concern for safety and technological development leads Daimler-Benz to introduce airbags, traction controland self-levelling rear suspension in the1980s. This technology begins with the190 E compacts and remains as one of thebrand’s vital chassis engineering compo-nents today.

Mercedes-Benz boosted the power of theirvehicles when they signed an agreementin 1995 with AMG to prepare a versioncomprising excellent sports features foreach of their models.

Daimler-Benz AG and Chrysler agreed tocombine their businesses in 1998, with thismerger becoming known as “the mergerof equals” and creating a new world en-tity: Daimler Chrysler AG. The resultingcompany ranks seventh in the world forproduction with a productive presenceon all five continents.

The Mercedes brand markets approxi-mately one million cars per year coveringthe whole range of vehicles from thesmall A-Class to the exclusive S-Class, in-cluding the M-Class and G-Class 4-by-4s.Not forgetting, moreover, that Mer-cedes-Benz also makes vans and leadsthe way in the production and sale of lor-ries in Europe.



THE PHOTO

Regional Innovation Award

CarbonNanofibresA winning product



Out of a total number of 34 candidates, Grupo Antolin was one of the three companiesto win the Regional Innovation Award in Castilla y Leon in the 1st Congress onInnovation, organised by the Foundation for Business Excellence (EXECyL) onNovember 20th in the Region of Castilla y Leon.

Marie Hélène Antolin received the prizefrom the President of EXECyL, Mr Pru-dencio Herrero, awarded by the panel ofjudges to Grupo Antolin in the categoryof Innovative Product for our 'carbonnanofibres'. The fruit of several years' re-search on the subject, our aim is to pro-

duce plastics with nanofibre contentthat display enhanced mechanical properties and adequate electrical andthermal conductivity for manufactur-ing special parts for the car industry,parts with a low thermal expansion co-efficient, parts for electrostatic paint-

work and for the fuel system, etc. Thepresident of EXECyL underlined the vastamount of effort invested by regional or-ganisations in innovation, while, at thesame time, stressing how satisfied theywere that this traditional industry shouldwin the prize.


StrategicalliancebetweenGrupoAntolinand Kasai


IN BRIEF

News in Brief

The signing of the strategic cooperation agreement with theJapanese company, Kasai Kogyo, on 23rd October is animportant step in the growthand development of our rela-tions with Japanese manufac-turers. An agreement that mayalso turn out to be beneficial inthe future for enhancing our re-lations with other Japanesemanufacturers, for whom weare likewise preparing severalactivities.

One of the latest generationof Kasai factories, located atthe foot of the unmistakableMount Fuji, provided thevenue for the signing of thisagreement, for which occa-sion Ernesto Antolin, ViceChairman, Jose ManuelTemiño, CEO, and Pablo Baro-ja, Head of DOAAP, travelledto Japan on behalf of GrupoAntolin.

In a sector in which globali-sation has reached such tan-gible dimensions as that ofthe car industry, this alliancemakes perfect sense in light ofthe complementary nature,both on a geographical leveland also with regard tocomponents and technolo-gies. It is a magnificent ex-ample of how this type of ini-tiative can offer our clients aservice with a great deal ofadded value, by taking ad-vantage of the synergies aris-ing from this cooperation toallow cuts to be made in theexpenses earmarked for de-velopment, to reduce the in-vestment required to placenew products on the market,and toofferamorecompetitivesolution to deal with theemergence of new demands.

The main purpose of thestrategic agreement reached

The following photo portrays the exchange of presents between both companies.

Our main products, roofs,doors and seats, were repre-sented as well as other impor-tant areas, such as design andnew fabrics, acoustics and vi-brations, lighting, electronics,safety, etc, which were verywell received by the visitors.

Apart from personnel repre-senting the various productsand sections of the Group,there were several senior ex-ecutives present on behalf ofToyota such as the Vice Chair-

man, Kenji Gondo, for Design- Development in the Engi-neering Department, EdwardMantey for Electronic Engi-neering, and Makoto Okamo-to for Vehicle PerformanceDevelopment.

We would like to extend ourcongratulations to all thoseinvolved on behalf of theclient and hope that this exhibition will help usstrengthen our business relations with Toyota.

Together with personnel from our main office in Burgos, GrupoAntolin-North America presented the most recent innovations ofthe company to our client, Toyota, at their technical plant inAnn Arbor, Michigan, on 30th November.

Technologicalexhibition at TOYOTAin the USA



by the two companies is topresent a joint and globalresponse as suppliers to theRenault-Nissan consortium.After more than a year nego-tiating this issue, this alliancewill allow Grupo Antolin tohave a partner with an indus-trial presence in Japan that willact as a reference, and alsoopen up new opportunitiesfor cooperation, which will nodoubt come to fruition handin hand with the integrationof the operations of one ofour most important clients.

The Japanese company, Kasai,is one of Nissan’s traditionalsuppliers in the interior carcomponent sector. It enjoysgreat respect in Japan with re-gard to its technical skills inthe injection sector,numbering Toyota and Hondaamongst its clients. As inJapan, Kasai also has an in-dustrial presence in the UnitedStates, China, Thailand andthe United Kingdom.

For its part, Grupo Antolinfirst started its commercialand technical activities inJapan in October 1998,having invested a great dealof work in these fields fromthe moment it set up itsoffices until the present time,with it now being possible tosay that our Japanese clients

recognise us for our tech-nology, the flexibility of oursolutions, and also our capa-city to provide solutions on aglobal scale.

The completion of this agree-ment is fully integrated inGA's strategy for Asia, it be-ing a clear example of thepioneering spirit of our firm,which has been recognised byour client in the officialpresentations made to Nissanin Japan and to Renault inFrance.

It should be stressed that bothGrupo Antolin and Kasai firmlyintend this to be only the ini-tial phase in their relations,which will not only offer newbusiness opportunities as theydevelop, but also, the ex-change of experiences with-in the framework of this newcooperation agreement willlikewise enable us to enrichour business cultures thanksto our different sensitivitiesand domestic realities. In thisway, the outcome of our jointeffort will be much greaterthan the sum of our individualactions, placing us withoutany question of a doubt at anadvantage with respect to ourcompetitors in these interest-ing times that our sector ofthe industry is currently goingthrough.

From left to right:For Kasai, Masaru Saotome:

Executive Officer & GeneralManager, Business Unit

Administration Group Manabu Kashiwagi: Senior

Executive Officer, BusinessStrategy Office, Cost Control

Group Kuniyuki Watanabe:Executive Vice President andon behalf of Grupo Antolin,

Ernesto Antolin, Vice President,

Jose Manuel Temiño,Executive Officer,

Pablo Baroja, DOAPPManager and Javier Méndez,

General Manager GA Japan.

In the not too distant future, thefacilities at Grupo AntolinHeadquarters will be equippedwith what has come to be knownas a “solar car park”.

Aimed at generating elec-tricity by capturing the raysof the sun, the appropriateofficial bodies have been ap-proached to request fourplants with 100 kw each tobe set up in the car park be-hind the main building atGrupo Antolin. This will alllead to the use of a clean, re-newable fuel known asgreen power.

The sun, which is the sourceof life and origin of the otherforms of energy used by manever since time began, can

satisfy our needs, if we learnhow to use the light itconstantly sheds on ourplanet in a rational way.

Solar power is the energythat is obtained directly fromthe sun. This energy can beharnessed for use directly, orelse converted into otheruseful forms such as elec-tricity, for instance.

The heat gathered in the co-llectors can be used to meeta large number of needs. Atthe same time, while thismight seem strange, anotherof the most promising appli-cations for solar heat will berefrigeration during the hotseason, precisely at thesunniest time of the year.

A SOLAR CAR PARK, aguaranteed fuel supplyfor the next 6,000 million years



Madame Departe, accompa-nied by Pascal SCHMIDT andFrançois ROSEN, KAM fromPSA and KAM France, re-spectively, was received byour Chief Executive, JoseManuel Temiño and DOESTerritorial Director, DamiánGordo, at Grupo Antolin Vi-go, which was the startingpoint of the visit, in the com-pany of the Managing Direc-tor, José Luis Antolin, whowas an exceptional guide. Heshowed Madame Departethe facilities where they makethe back seats for the B58(the 2nd and 3rd rows), and thenew C4 Picasso, a vehiclethat is built by Grupo PSA atits Vigo Centre.

It should be remembered that,although GA already has a lotof experience making theseseats, this is the first time thatwe are supplying this type ofproduct to Peugeot Citroën,and therefore we see it as achallenge in terms of quality

and customer satisfaction.

After a short flight, they arrived at GA’s Main Offices inBurgos, where Madame Departe had the opportunityto learn first hand about ourknow-how and see our product catalogue, by visitingthe various laboratories andworkshops, and also duringthe presentation delivered byFernando Rey, our Innovationand Marketing Manager.

One remarkable pointthroughout the whole itinerarywas the quality of both serviceand product, present in any ofour company’s activities alongwith the person in charge of thepresentation, as was indeed thecase with Fernando Sanz, ourQuality Manager.

The intensive day finishedwith the visit to three of ourfactories in Burgos: Ardasa,Aragusa and Eurotrim beforereturning to Le Bourget.

The Sales Manager of Grupo PSA visits Grupo Antolin

Laser-signedFABRICSGraphic customisation is nowanother feature of the fabricsproduced for the parts made byGrupo Antolin

The laser-engraving machinerywas set up last October atthe installations at theGroup’s Central Office and,after making the final ad-justments, is now ready foroperation. We are referringto a laser that will modifyany type of surface in linewith whatever parametersare entered.

As far as our own specificpurposes are concerned, weintend to use it for researchand for customising ourproducts, thereby giving ourclients more added value.

The Sales Manager of Grupo PSA, Madame Departe, was on a business trip in Spain on October 26th to visit some of the facilities owned by Grupo Antolin in this country.

Work has commenced on thenew office blocks in Bursa,Turkey, just in front of theplant that currently exists in thisregion.

Ototrim’s facilities in this coun-try will shortly be completedwith some 1,082 sq metres di-vided into two floors, alongwith 209 sq metres of basement housing themeeting rooms, offices, communal and auxiliary areas.

Ototrim began its activity in1993 and currently focuses onthe production of ceilings,door panels, rear shelves, sunroofs and automatic windows, for which it has astaff of over 300 workers, in-cluding both direct and indi-rect employees.

NewOffices forOtotrim



The red carpet was rolled out atthe International Motor Showin Paris to welcome thousandsof visitors that wanted to see forthemselves first hand an ad-vance of what people will bedriving around during the nextmotoring season.

Faithful to its biannual date,the 2006 Paris Motor Showshut its doors around themiddle of last October.Around sixty novelties,counting both World and Eu-ropean exclusives, are re-leased at this motor show.

Over the sixteen days thatthe show was open this year,the stands were full of reallyincredible cars. A hall full ofnovelties where there weremany prototypes and fanta-sy sports cars that undoubt-edly attract the attention of

the public. One presence thatstood out as being stronglyrepresented was that of the4-by-4s and off-road vehi-cles, which we will soon beseeing on all our roads.

We mustn’t forget those carsthat enjoy the public's approval and have arrived onthe scene to replace modelsthat have been real successstories in terms of sales suchas the Citroen C4 Picasso,the Ford Focus CC, the Lancia Ypsilon, the Mini, theOpel Corsa, etc.

And beware of the Asiancompanies that come to thecapital on the banks of theSeine with a fascinating of-fer: Mazda Senku, HyundaiArnejs, Kia Cee’d, SuzukiSplash… and a whole legionof new Chinese cars.

TVM (Team Value Manage-ment) is a programme that waslaunched by the Ford Motor Coin Europe in the year 2002,seeking the integration of its De-partments of Quality, Engi-neering, Sales and Finances,with the suppliers, through thecreation of work teams. Theaim is to identify inefficienciesthroughout the chain of valueand to work together to achievean increase in the value of theproducts, by reducing costs andmaximising their quality.

During 2006, Ford decided tofind a new stimulus for theprogramme. This led to exe-cutives and their teams be-ing renewed, and being givenmore to do.

Throughout the current year,Grupo Antolin has had theopportunity to take part inseveral TVM events at ourplants in Valencia, Genk or

Saarluis. The recent occasiontook place on 9th Novemberat GA’s R+D+I installations,attended by a team from Fordled by Mr Wilfried Göx.During the course of the day,our visitors had the opportu-nity to see Grupo Antolin Plas-bur and Grupo AntolinAragusa, and also to partici-pate in a debate on theirproducts with techniciansfrom the Main Office andfrom these two plants.

At the close of the event, theFord representatives ex-pressed their satisfaction forits outcome, and thankedGrupo Antolin for theircoope-ration, stressing theimportance of learningabout opportunities for im-provement for futuredevelopments, right fromthe very people that workwith these products on a dai-ly basis.

TVM Activities at Grupo Antolin

2006 Paris Motor Show: Coming Shopping?


China is en route to becomingthe first car market in theworld. The ninth edition of theMotor Show in Beijing demon-strates the huge potential forgrowth of the Chinese market.With a wide range of Chinesemakes, European manufac-turers are increasing their presence in this country withmodels that have been adaptedwith a new customer in mind.

With 1,500 manufacturersfrom 20 countries, the Show,which opened between 19thand 27th November at theChina International ExhibitionCentre, received over half amillion visitors, who were ableto view local and internationalnovelties, on an exhibitionspace covering more than120,000 square metres, fromthe major car manufacturersin the world.

China’s market potential overthe past few years has meantthat virtually all the car man-ufacturers have trained theireye on this Asian giant, notonly with a view to exportingtheir products but also withthe intention of building mod-els 'in situ' that are adapted tothis newly emerging market.This explains why the Beijing(Peking) Motor Show is so im-portant. There were a largevariety of models to be seenhere: on the one hand, Chi-nese makes such as Chery,Geely, Brilliance, BYD, GreatWall, Huatai, etc, exhibitingvehicles that have been de-veloped independently by the

local manufacturers. Thenthere were the six main do-mestic consortia who also dis-played their cars at the show:FAW, SAIC, Dongfeng,Chang'an, BAIC and ChinaAviation Industry Corp. Andfinally, we cannot forget themodels produced by almostall the international car man-ufacturers, with their respec-tive brand names:

DaimlerChrysler, BMW,Volkswagen, Ford, Peugeotand Dongfeng Peugeot,Citroen and Dongfeng Citroën,Renault, Fiat and Nanking Fiat,Toyota and Guangzhou Toyota,Lexus, Nissan and XhengzhouNissan, Honda, GuangzhouHonda and Dongfeng Honda,Daihatsu Motor, Suzuki,Subaru, Mitsubishi, Hyundaiand Beijing Hyundai, Kia andDongfeng Yueda Kia, Lotus,Spyker, Porsche, Ferrari andMaserati.

In conclusion, an exhibitionthat started off modestly butthat is now a must for seeinghow the major brand namesjockey for position on theAsian market and how the lo-cal manufacturers plan to leapon to the stage in Western Eu-rope and America with a prod-uct that is surprisingly cheap.

2006 beijing motor show (china): a BUBBLING market


The first issue of the newsletterpublished by Grupo AntolinNorth America (GANA)came out last October thanks tothe recently created Communi-cation Committee.

So as to make the employeesfeel much more involved andassume a certain amount ofownership where the compa-ny is concerned, we set up theCommunication Committee atGANA, composed of differentpeople belonging to variousdepartments in the company.

This basic objective was fur-ther compounded by theneed to facilitate the flow ofcommunication in all direc-tions, albeit mainly upwardsand downwards, and also totry to solve any problem thatmight arise and affect any col-league or their productivity.

To use the Committee’s ownwords: “we want each personto feel confident that we willkeep their suggestions and in-

terests anonymous, and wewill endeavour to find solu-tions in the appropriate man-ner and time. We would alsolike to stimulate communica-tion within and between De-partments so as to avoid du-plicating work, a lack of com-munication and otherpotential problems. Finally, wewant to make it clear that allemployees are valued members of the company andwe shall do so by notifyingthem of any information thatmight affect them either directly or indirectly, and assuring them that their opinions on serious mattersare always important and taken into account.

It is our aim to form a Committee that is under-standing and can provide helpto all those that are ready tobelieve in our objectives.”Amen!

A challenge forcommunication:GANA COMMUNICATIONCOMMITTEE

At the back from left to right:Scott Wakefield, Michelle Herrera, Lauren Slachta, Ian Thompson. In front from left to right:Anne Marie Perreault,Troy Curran, Calida Coleman



On 14th December the annu-al convention on the Quality ofMass Production was held atthe central offices of GrupoAntolin. It was attended by theQuality Assurance Managersfrom the various plants ownedby Grupo Antolin in Europeand the corresponding Depart-ments from the Central Of-fice for Quality Assurance.

First of all, the global resultsfor quality were presented forthe year ending in November.Then each person responsiblefor Quality at the Plants pre-sented their own results, andthe main problems they hadencountered concerningquality. Finally, they reflectedon the role of the CentralOffice for the Quality of MassProduction.

After reviewing the results,three “Best Practices” werepresented in the context ofQuality, implemented by GAKent (awarded the Land RoverPrize for Best Supplier), GA Vi-go (Monitoring Flaws) and GALusitania (Internal Notificationof Incidents), which are clear-ly exportable to other plantswithin the Group.

To conclude, each Head ofQuality of Mass Productionat the Central Office forQuality Assurance presenteda summary of their activitiesduring 2006 and the objec-tives and broad outlines oftheir work in 2007.

The day was viewed in apositive light by all thosepresent, particularly theopportunity to be able toacquaint themselves with theresults of the various plantsand compare them all withone another. For plants withsimilar products it wasinteresting to be able to ex-change ideas on problems re-lating to product-process and,finally, to show how improve-ments have been made in theactivities concerning Quality inMass Production.

The Central Office for QualityAssurance is now working toimprove our results in 2007.Our clients’ objectives with re-spect to Quality are very am-bitious and they are going toinsist that we all make a greateffort to achieve them.

Grupo Antolin present atthe meeting betweenZapatero and Blair

Grupo Antolin amongstthe 20 companiesattending the Turco-Spanish meeting inIstanbul (Turkey)

Last October, Mª Helena An-tolin participated in a roundtable chaired by the Prime Min-ister of Spain, José Luis Ro-dríguez Zapatero, and theBritish Prime Minister, TonyBlair, in which, together withother Spanish and British busi-nessmen, they contributedideas that can subsequently bepromoted by these governmentsboth on the domestic front andalso within the EuropeanUnion.

There were three basic ideasconveyed by executives fromthe 17 companies (ten Spanishand seven British firms), whomet with the Spanish andBritish Prime Ministers at a ho-

tel in Madrid, consisting inmaking more rapid progressin the European CommonMarket, increasing expendi-ture on research, develop-ment and innovation (R+D+i)and reforming the universitysystem so that faculties canenjoy greater flexibility andautonomy and have closer re-lations with business compa-nies.

The fact that the two leadersmet with prominent business-men, according to theSpanish Leader, is due to theneed to identify "the mainpriorities for making the EUa leader in innovation andcompetitiveness".

Bilateral commercial relationsand business opportunities forSpanish companies in Turkeywere one of the key points onthe agenda that were discussedover a working breakfast andduring the conferences held inIstanbul on 12th and 13th No-vember.

Grupo Antolin is one of theapproximately 15 to 20 largeSpanish companies and theirequivalents in Turkey thatwere present at the meetingorganised by the Union ofChambers and Commodity

Exchanges of Turkey (knownas TOBB, in its Turkishacronym, standing for TürkiyeOdalar ve Borsalar Birliği).

During the congress, whichincluded interventions by boththe Spanish Prime Minister,José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero,and the Prime Minister ofTurkey, Recep Tayiip Erdogan,a working breakfast and con-ferences were set up to dis-cuss business opportunitiesand investments for Spanishcompanies in Turkey and viceversa.

Convention on theQUALITY OF MASSPRODUCTION



Once again this year thechildren topped the bill

2006 Painting Competition ·2006 Painting Competition · 2006 Painting Competition · 2006 Painting Competition · 2006 Paintin

It is always a pleasure for usto organise the traditionalprize-giving ceremony forthe painting competition.The efforts of all these chil-

dren to explain to us whatChristmas means for themthrough their paintings spurus on each year, and wewould like to take the op-

portunity here to thankevery one involved for contributing to the successof the festivities in 2006.

2006 Painting Competition · 2006 Painting Competition · 2006 Painting Competition · 2006 Painting Competition · 2006 Painti


PR

IZE-

WIN

NER

S


1stPRIZE

2nd PRIZE

3rdPRIZE

Marie Brusadelli

Chen Yuan

Angela Vermeulen

CATEGORY

A5 to 7

years old

Painting Competition · 2006 Painting Competition · 2006 Painting Competition · 2006 Painting Competition · 2006 Painting Competi

Painting Competition · 2006 Painting Competition · 2006 Painting Competition · 2006 Painting Competition · 2006 Painting Compet

3rdPRIZE

Alorah Cannon

1stPRIZE

Caroline Valque

2nd PRIZE

Shanon Chivers

CATEGORY

B8 to 11

years-old


On 6th November our clients,Jaguar and Land Rover, organised the 4th Edition of anevent devoted to the suppliersof Vehicle Interior Systems, towhich Grupo Antolin Solihullwas invited for a very specialreason.

The Executives for Interior Sys-tems for Jaguar-Land Roverhave spent two years organisinga league for suppliers, wherewe can display how compe-tent we are with just one aimin mind: to supply “Best inclass” products to our client.The table has a similar formatto a football league, therebygiving the competition be-tween the different suppliersa certain sportsmanlike qual-ity. It should be pointed outthat Grupo Antolin has heldfirst place in the ranking sinceNovember 2005 until thesame month now in 2006,with the score being revisedevery two months.

The event was led, on behalfof Jaguar and Land Rover, byChris Duffy, in his capacity asQuality Manager and RobLloyd, as the Group’s Chief En-gineer, both for Interior Sys-tems, while Grupo Antolinwas represented by PedroSantesteban, UK GA GeneralManager, Belen de Pedro,

Headliner Division QualityManager, Salvador Peris, JITGA Solihull Plant Manager,Mark Miller, GA Solihull Quali-ty Manager and Peter Middle-ton, Sales Representative forJaguar-Land Rover.

As an acknowledgement ofour contribution to quality,during the ceremony, Jaguar-Land Rover invited us to give apresentation on our two mainstrengths as recognised by oursuppliers throughout the se-quenced delivery process forthe headliners and uprights ofthe T5- Land Rover Discovery3 and Range Rover Sport, andalso for the headliners for theX150 -Jaguar XK- and theDVDs for the X350 –Jaguar XJ.The person selected for suchoccasion was Mark Miller, asthe JIT GA Solihull Quality

Manager, who spoke on theone hand, about communica-tion and relations with theclient and, on the other, aboutthe systematic administrationof data used to solve prob-lems. Likewise, our LR VRTleader, Mark Bailey, pointedout that as a result of the goodjob performed by Grupo An-tolin, one of the strikingachievements is the fact thatthe headliners for the T5 mod-el have become a “Best inclass” product for the wholeJaguar-Land Rover Group withrespect to quality guarantee.

The ceremony ended with JITGA Solihull Plant Manager,Salvador Peris, receiving the2006 award on behalf ofGrupo Antolin from BobJoyce, Engineering Managerat Jaguar – Land Rover in“Recognition of the Contin-uous Contribution to QualityImprovement in Jaguar-LandRover Interior Systems”.

We would like to take this opportunity to thank all thepeople who have contributedto making this award possible,and also to share our joy witheveryone in receiving this annual recognition of beingthe only supplier for InteriorSystems for the whole ofJaguar-Land Rover: “GrupoAntolin 2006”.

JIT Grupo AntolinSOLIHULL: “BEST IN CLASS” productfor Jaguar-Land Rover


In the middle of a simple cere-mony, the foundation stonewas laid for what will be thenew factory in India devoted toroof production, just as we announced in the previousedition of this newsletter.

The construction of what willbe the next plant designed tomanufacture support roofs, aswell as the assembly of head-liners for Ford, commencedon a 20,200-square-metreplot of land located alongsideHyundai. A total of 5,600square metres, reserved forthe production warehouse,offices, laboratory, meetingand training rooms, lockerrooms…and auxiliary area.Once the work is finished,with completion expected inApril 2007, production willbegin in May of that sameyear for Hyundai, Ford andHindustan Motor.

The fourth largest metropoli-tan city in India is consideredto be the automobile capitalof this country. A major por-tion of the car industry isbased here, which, added tothe fact that the majority ofthe vehicles produced in theentire country are built inChennai, make it deserve thenameof theDetroitofSouthernAsia, as it is often called.

Foundationstone laidin Chennai


VW-GroupAward forGrupoAntolinWith the following words ex-pressed in this short, but impor-tant article, Volkswagen re-ferred to Grupo Antolin as thedeserver of the award receivedby our Vice Chairman, ErnestoAntolin, on behalf of GrupoAntolin and presented by seniorexecutives from VW.

“This excellent company hasproved that with the devel-opment of the moulds for theheadliners of the new SkodaRoomster, it is not just anoth-er supplier that gets paid fortheir ability to develop ourproducts.

Their 100% identificationwith the product, their re-sponsible attitude towards

achieving all the functionsand objectives required,added to the fact that theyhave never ceased to considerthe vehicle from a global per-spective, are the features thatdefine this company.

The company has always re-acted in a flexible andcompetent way, showingrespect for fixed deadlines tocover all orders, includingthose thathavebeen subjectedto change during the courseof their process of develop-ment.

With such a highly motivatedand committed staff, the re-cipient of this award iswithout any question one ofour best suppliers.”


Grupo Antolin (Sede Central), Grupo Antolin - Alava, Grupo Antolin - Ara, Grupo Antolin - Aragusa, Grupo Antolin - Ardasa, Grupo Antolin -

Autotrim, Grupo Antolin - Dapsa, Grupo Antolin - Euroepsilon, Grupo Antolin - Eurotrim, Grupo Antolin - Ingenieria, Grupo Antolin - Linara, Grupo

Antolin - Martorell, Grupo Antolin - Navarra, Grupo Antolin - Palencia, Grupo Antolin - PGA, Grupo Antolin - Plasbur, Grupo Antolin - RyA, Grupo

Antolin - Vigo, Irauto, Grupo Antolin - Autoform, Grupo Antolin - Deutschland, Grupo Antolin - Logistik Deutschland, BRASIL, Intertrim, Iramec,

Trimtec, Grupo Antolin - Bratislava, Slovakian Door Company, Grupo Antolin - France, Grupo Antolin - HFR, Grupo Antolin - IGA, Grupo Antolin -

Ingenierie Sieges, Grupo Antolin - Logistique Douai, Grupo Antolin - Loire, Grupo Antolin - Transport, Grupo Antolin - Vosges, TANIS, Grupo Antolin

- Lusitania, Grupo Antolin - Silesia, Grupo Antolin - Kent, Grupo Antolin - U.K., Grupo Antolin - Bohemia, Grupo Antolin - Turnov, Grupo Antolin -

Illinois, Grupo Antolin - Kentucky, Grupo Antolin - Louisiana, Grupo Antolin - Michigan, Grupo Antolin - North America, Grupo Antolin - Wayne,

Grupo Antolin - Silao, International Door Systems, Mexican Door Company, Oficina de Representación en Shanghai, Antolin Shanghai Autoparts,

Chongqing Antolin Tuopu Overhead Systems (JV), Krishna Grupo Antolin, Grupo Antolin - Pune (Centro de Diseño), Grupo Antolin - Pune, (Licencia

Tecnológica), Grupo Antolin - Japan, Antolin - Tanger, Grupo Antolin - South Africa, Ototrim

Our colleagues at Grupo Antolin Turnov have undergone anaudit carried out by Volkswagen so as to be able to supply medal-lions for the B6 in imitation leather, rolling out 100 % of theircapacity at the beginning of 2007.

For their part, the F91-A project corresponding to the newCabstar truck manufactured at the Nissan plant in Avila isstarting to become a reality with parts being made at the various companies forming part of Grupo Antolin: Aragusa,Eurotrim, Plasbur and RyA.

In progress ...

The ambassador of India inSpain was received by GrupoAntolin on 16th November to-gether with other local firms andexecutives from the EuropeanBusiness and Innovation Cen-tre (BIC), responsible for or-ganising Suryakanthi Tripathi’svisit to Burgos.

The Development managerfrom the Department of Operations for Africa, Asiaand the Pacific, Juan CarlosGonzález, attended on behalfof Grupo Antolin, with themain thrust of the meetingbeing the need for us to havesome kind of presence on theIndian market if we really wishto form a global business.

The Indian diplomat remind-ed us that her country «is go-ing through a period ofgrowth, with needs in all sec-tors, not just technology, afield in which it is now leading

the way». «In our country, wenow have firms from Burgossuch as Grupo Antolin and wewould like there to be hun-dreds of them». Furthermore,she indicated that there are also Indian companies that areactive in Spain and waspleased to receive an invitationto set up installations on thetechnological estate in Burgos.

After the meeting, Suryakan-thi Tripathi, had time to visitcertain public organisationsand some of the most em-blematic monuments in thecity.

Nowadays, India is one of theprinciple countries in theworld, with growth in the re-gion of 9%, which is very similar to China, and a population of over a thousandmillion inhabitants, whichcontinues to grow at a rateof 8 or 9%.

India, a greatopportunity



HEALTH

HumourTake it all in good

Laughter and humour have been the sub-ject of in-depth analysis since ancienttimes. Philosophers and scientists of thestature of Aristotle, Plato, Hobbes, Kant,Freud, or Darwin investigated this strangephenomenon of human nature. Whilepopular wisdom has always upheld therelationship between the emotional stateand illnesses, today the beneficial effectof humour on health is accepted on thebasis of scientific fact. Research into thesematters is being taken up by a relativelynew branch of medicine, called Psycho-neuro-inmunology, which tackles thestudy of an organism’s capacity for psy-chophysiological self-regulation and the

way in which emotions influence people’simmunological system.

Regular doses of this “natural” medi-cine stimulate the circulatory and respi-ratory systems, as well as the sympa-thetic nervous system and, more importantly, they stimulate the T cells,which are charged with operating theimmunological system, making themvery beneficial both to protect us and also to keep diseases at bay. Once a person has finished laughing, they re-lax; their blood pressure falls; their di-gestion improves; and they relax theirmuscles, and feel less pain thanks to the

effect of endorphins. Laughter is often accompanied by tears, which al-so helps eliminate toxins. And this isall without counting some 400 musclesthat leap into action, making laughterthe best cream available to fight a flaccid face or body.

Furthermore, the real key to the thera-peutic effect of humour is its capacityto reduce stress, considered to be the se-cond most important health problemin Europe after tobacco, since, when welaugh, our adrenaline and catecholaminelevels are reduced, lessening the factorsthat unleash anxiety or depression.

Humour is a universal language, breaking down barriers, and integrating people; it is afeeling that is catching, and a natural form of entertainment. It is also a free medicine anddoes not usually have any side effects. Why not try it? It’s healthy.

HUMAN RESOURCES DEPARTMENT– GRUPO ANTOLIN MEDICAL SERVICE


Humour also has an effect on social rela-tionships, encourages a feeling of hope,helps put things in perspective and aidsa person's understanding both of them-self and of other people. It is a real elixir forlife that boosts a healthy person's capaci-ties, increasing their vitality and thereforethe energy they have available for any task.

Learning to laugh

A healthy child laughs about 300 timesa day. However, as we grow older, gettingup and going to bed with the positive attitude offered by humour is not so sim-ple. We accumulate serious memories andit becomes more and more difficult tolaugh. Just like any other exercise, it needsto be practised: the more we laugh, theeasier it becomes to trigger laughter andvice versa. Furthermore, if you are oneof those that firmly believe that you are either born with this ability or you’re not,you are mistaken: you can also learn howto laugh. But not all types of humour arevalid. The untimely -used at the wrongmoment and in an inadequate fashion –and the type that involves cynicism or alack of respect may turn out to be detrimental.

Having a sense of humour, then, meansknowing how to relativize what is goodand bad in life. Learning how to laughat one’s own ills is the first step towardsachieving the rewards of this philosophy.Integrating it as a daily habit in our dailyroutine would be the second one. The keyundoubtedly lies in our being able to ex-pand our “cosmic vision”, i.e. the abilityto perceive humour, or something that isfunny, in our immediate vicinity. And, fi-nally, the third fundamental step: our happiness will normally be all the greaterif we share it with others.

Laughter that heals

As we have seen, laughter has a multi-tude of effects on the human organism.These are all positive and to be recommended. Besides increasing a person's health and capabilities:

· It strengthens individual and group mo-tivation.

· It maximises communication since it fo-cuses public attention, relieves tension,and shortens distances that might otherwise hinder the exchange of information, and softens the negativeimpact of difficult messages.

· It encourages mental capacities such ascreativity or learning, smoothing theway towards innovation because it allows you to distance yourself fromproblems, empty your mind of superfluous thoughts and emotions,and see things from fresh angles or unexpected points of view.

· It brings human teams together, sinceit is the ideal remedy for removing barriers, differences and sources of tension that might arise within the veryheart of the family, or in the midst ofa company or workgroup

· It strengthens human relationships andgenerates a friendlier and more humanatmosphere to live and work in.

· It relativizes reality: thanks to laughterand good humour we are capable of removing ourselves temporarily froma situation that might be painful for us.

It has been scientifically demonstratedthat health and good humour are closely related. So, no more excuses! SMILE!



The opportunity came up, and during mylast holiday it materialised into the chanceto go trekking through the Ladakh val-ley, in the region of Kashmir, in north-west India. The icing on the cake would beour ascent to the top of a peak that wasfairly modest in height compared with thehuge granite giants that spring up likemushrooms in these latitudes, but suffi-cient to test our resilience and determi-nation, and known by the name of “StokKangri” (6,153 m).

After the nightmare of preparing theequipment, visas, customs checks and otherpaperwork involved in any trip of this na-ture, we finally landed in New Delhi, thecapital of India and a representative thatwas by no means unique of the sort of “or-ganised chaos” shaping this country,where thousands of contraptions bothwith and without an engine, jostle withone another for space to move throughthe city streets, avoiding cows, chickens,hawkers and many a time, ... absent-minded tourists.

We left the hustle and bustle of the capi-tal behind us, along with the humid, oppressive heat, to get to the startingpoint of our route between the valleys andmountains: Leh, the main town in theLadakh region. This area of India providedrefuge for some of the thousands of ethnic Tibetans that fled their country whenit was annexed by China, to such an extentthat it is now known as “Little Tibet”.

Once there we now started to realise whateffect the altitude has on our bodies, which,

at 3,500 m above sea level, react in a muchmore relaxed and even somewhat lazy fash-ion. The first reports of the state of the trailson our itinerary don’t sound at all hope-ful, and we are told that many paths andbridges have been literally wiped off themap because of the strength and volumeof water in the rivers after weeks of rain andsnow at the top of the mountains. This set-back forces us to change our plans com-pletely, leading us to try to find a routegoing in completely the opposite direc-tion to the one intended, and drastically re-


EN ROUTE

A few years ago when I saw the pictures and accounts of the great expeditions to the Himalayason the TV, I never imagined that a few years later, I would experience first-hand one of thoseadventures that are the dream of nearly every mountaineering enthusiast.

IndiaJOSÉ MARÍA PÉREZ BERMEJO - GRUPO ANTOLIN INGENIERÍA


ducing our period of acclimatisation to thealtitude, which was absolutely essentialfor the success of our mission.

We went from the 250 m in Delhi to the5,400 m at the advanced base camp infour days.... headaches, drowsiness, andnausea start to appear because of the al-titude. But the group marches on in tightformation determined to attack the StokKangri peak.

However, the mountains dictate their ownrules and show man how insignificant hecan become when he dares to defy them.So, on the night chosen to start the climbto the summit, the persistent rain thathammers against our tents in the storm atbase camp turns to snow at the summit,with it building up in sufficient quantity tomake it impossible to insert the nails topeg down the ropes on the ridge alongthe crest of the mountain, and therefore,faced with the risk of a fall, the decision tocontinue might well be classed as “suici-dal”. Our guides advised abandoning theidea of going further up. Besides, the coldmountain air had affected my health, withthe sudden change from the 40ºC and75% humidity in Delhi to the 2-3ºC at thebase camp giving me a cold that hinderedmy difficult breathing in an atmospherethat was already very low in oxygen. TheStok Kangri adventure was over.

Despite the initial disappointment, the factis that the other adventures experiencedon the trip made up for that upset. India isa country that has so much to offer tothe traveller that is curious and avid foremotion and surprises, which pop up at

virtually every step along the way, oraround every corner.

Although material poverty is evident alongwith a tangible lack of resources, the localspossess a richness of spirit that makes theirsmile a symbol of identity for these people.

Worthy of special mention in my memoriesof this trip are the Sherpas, who are happy, peaceful, friendly people. Extreme-ly talented mountaineers and high altitudeexperts, and wearing only rubber sandals,a shirt and an anorak with holes in it, theyare capable of overcoming the elementsand are capable to conquer even the mostchallenging peaks, making “western”mountaineers feel ridiculous and evenashamed of themselves wrapped up in several layers of ultratechnical thermal materials and boots, that even the greatNeil Armstrong himself would sign up forhis conquest of the Moon. People capableof drawing tears from even the strongestperson when, with no more protectionother than a shirt on their back and a biggrin, they offer to give up their place underan awning to shelter from the rain.

I would not like to end without encoura-ging all those that get a kick out of going on big trips not to think twice,should they have the opportunity, aboutincluding India in general and the Himalayas in particular as a top priority ontheir list of potential places to go. I guarantee they will come back with theirheads full of scenes, sensations and per-sonal experiences that will be extremelyhard to forget and which, I have nodoubt, they will find highly enriching.

Capital New DelhiLanguage The official languageis Hindi (30%), co-existing withEnglish as the language forbusinessPopulation In July 2006 thepopulation was estimated as being1,095,351,995.Geographical locationBorders: in the northeast withChina, Bhutan and Nepal, in theeast ...with Bangladesh andMyranmar (Burma), in thesoutheast with the Bay of Bengal,in the southwest with the ArabianSea and in the west with Pakistan. Currency Rupee.Further information TheHimalayas are a mountain rangelocated on the continent of Asia thatextends across the countries ofBhutan, China, Nepal, Tibet, Indiaand Pakistan, forming an arc from of2,600 kilometres from east to westand another from north to south of350 kilometres. It is the highestrange of mountains on Earth, with14 peaks rising to an altitude ofover 8000 metres, with MountEverest, at 8,848 metres, being thehighest mountain in the world.



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