“The Antolin brothers who risked a business project in which I have been a useful tool”

This recognition, although it is personalised to José Manuel Temiño, really recognises the magnificent trajectory of a company called Grupo Antolin, a company that was founded, like many others in Spain, in the 1950s, starting from practically zero. The two Antolin brothers, together with their father, had a small agricultural machinery repair shop in Burgos. They also manufactured spare parts for the first trucks that circulated in Spain, some ball joints... The two brothers considered making these ball joints for mass production vehicles for the car manufacturers that were being implemented in Spain. The then president, Avelino Antolin, travelled to Germany and reached an agreement with the leading manufacturer of steering and suspension ball joints of the time, Lemforder, to set up a company in Spain with a Grupo Antolin majority, and manufacture these products. They did it so well, for a piece as critical to the safety of the vehicle as a ball joint, that this led the industry that was coming to Spain to trust them and they could do more things. The audacity belonged to the Antolin brothers who risked a business project in which I have been a useful tool. Those pieces that we were making, interior cladding, door panels, ceilings, some technical parts such as window crank handles in a small company called Talleres Ara. Our first objective was to create our own technology for these parts. We were creating business lines by product and we began to be successful in the Spanish market. Subsequently, manufacturers began to develop unique, global platforms. Faced with this trend, we were presented with two options: follow them to those countries where these platforms were installed or sell the company to large foreign multinational companies that were interested in it. The Antolin brothers had the courage to choose the first option and, therefore, follow their customers”. The company has had two great keys to success. On the one hand, technological capacity, thanks to men and women capable of innovating in products that have reached a leading position in the market, and secondly, internationalisation”. As we have the opportunity to have the Minister of Industry, I want to emphasise that in Spain we have great capacities, great minds to carry out projects. Therefore, let us support companies so that these people can develop their capacities in them and thus be able to retain that talent. I thank my two great families for this award. To the Antolin family, for the opportunity they have given me for 35 years and the trust they placed in me during all that time, and in my own family, which has suffered because of the long time that I spent outside of Spain throughout my career. Finally, I convey my confidence that Grupo Antolin, now led by the third generation of the family with the presidency of Ernesto Antolin and the vice-presidency of María Helena Antolin, will be able to maintain a company with, as it has always had, vision in the long term, sustainable growth, generating social welfare in many countries in the world, but, above all, in Spain.