AFM Cluster celebrates 80 years of history while looking ahead to the future of industry

Under the slogan “Fast Movers”, AFM Cluster celebrated its 80th anniversary at an event that brought together more than 400 attendees, including representatives from its member companies, institutions, partners and professionals linked to the industrial sector. The celebration served to commemorate a journey that began in 1946, but was primarily conceived as an opportunity to look ahead and reflect on how AFM Cluster intends to address an industry that is evolving at an increasingly rapid pace.

Cooperation, speed and teamwork were the three concepts around which the celebration was structured. These three pillars encapsulate the “Fast Movers” philosophy and were used by AFM Cluster to highlight the importance of anticipating change, collaborating to tackle increasingly complex challenges and placing people at the heart of every transformation process.

During the event, Xabier Ortueta, Managing Director of AFM Cluster, reviewed the organisation’s evolution and outlined some of the main challenges currently facing advanced manufacturing. His speech linked AFM’s 80-year history with the profound transformation taking place across industry and the need to continue moving forward with agility, cooperation and adaptability.

Carmen Pinto, President of AFM Cluster, focused her remarks on the people and companies that have built the organisation over the past eight decades. Her speech was closely linked to the concept of teamwork, one of the three central themes of the event, and emphasised the importance of continuing to strengthen a collective project capable of meeting the challenges of the years ahead.

The event also featured speeches by Jordi Hereu, Spain’s Minister of Industry and Tourism; Eider Mendoza, President of the Provincial Council of Gipuzkoa; Jon Insausti, Mayor of Donostia-San Sebastián; and Mikel Jauregi, Basque Government Minister for Industry, Energy Transition and Sustainability. Their contributions highlighted the strategic importance of industry, cooperation between businesses and institutions, and the role of advanced manufacturing in economic and social development.

They were joined by other institutional representatives and figures from the business and economic spheres who accompanied AFM Cluster in celebrating its 80th anniversary, including Unai Andueza, Provincial Deputy for Economic Promotion and Strategic Projects in Gipuzkoa; Andoitz Korta, Vice-Minister for Industrial Promotion of the Basque Government; Pablo Conde, Director General for International Business Development at ICEX; and Marisol Garmendia, Delegate of the Spanish Government in the Basque Country.

Eighty years after its foundation, AFM Cluster now brings together nine industrial associations and more than 850 companies linked to advanced and digital manufacturing. The anniversary therefore provided an opportunity not only to reflect on the journey undertaken since 1946, but above all to present the way in which the organisation intends to approach its next stage of development. “Fast Movers” encapsulates that ambition: to respond swiftly to change, to do so through cooperation, and to move forward as a team.