20 years developing Navarra technology

2000/10/01 Carton Virto, Eider - Elhuyar Zientzia Iturria: Elhuyar aldizkaria

• Ikerketa-zentroak

The public company CETENASA, created by the Government of Navarre, is composed of about 70 workers. Very close to Noainen Iru, it has its headquarters in P. Francisco Armendáriz, Director of Quality and Trade at CETENASA. "About 30 years ago we started with a team of engineers from the School of Engineering of Navarre and that is why, although CETENASA is only eleven years old, this year we celebrate our 20th anniversary. The average has been realized since 10 years are very scarce for a technological center. This center is just a child who has just started walking at age 10." After clarifying the confusion generated by the chronological list that appears in the entrance sign to the headquarters, he explained to us from top to bottom what is CETENASA.

Four main areas

"The mission of the company is to promote the economic and social development of Navarre, promoting the use of technology as an innovation tool and, of course, developing this technology. This improves the competitiveness of companies." CETENASA works mainly by four tracks. The main service it offers is applied research, with the participation of the company receiving the project. At the end of the work, the company's staff is knowledgeable of the technology developed and is able to enrich and innovate.

The second important field is technological services. "Companies also need 'small' services, that is, they often want to identify this material or know why that other material has been broken, but they don't have the necessary equipment to do so. In all these cases they turn to us to fill that gap," said Francisco. Each year, thousands of such consultations are received and answered, less important from a technological point of view, but very necessary for the development of small businesses.

The anticipation of the needs of the companies is another of the functions of CETENASA. For this purpose, once the areas of interest for the realization and development of studies have been identified, the energies and money are allocated to general training projects. "The Government of Navarre comes into play here," says Francisco. The Government of Navarra receives annually important grants for the training and recruitment of knowledge and technology, in order to meet the needs of companies in the short, medium or long term. CETENASA develops, to a lesser extent, a training that is not offered in the environment, but is not its basic function. However, they carry out very concrete actions such as days and courses. In general, CETENASA has as its main mission to improve and innovate the technology used by small and medium-sized companies in Navarre and solve their problems. But, what are these technologies more concrete? "CETENASA is not a company structured around a specific area or topic, but we cover many areas and therefore we are a horizontal company in that sense," says Francisco.

Materials and metrology

CETENASA has an important section dedicated to materials. Metal materials within the section such as steel, light alloys, etc. On one side, and on the other, polymers. "This section is the oldest of CETENASA. 30 years ago we started with metal materials and later expanded the section to plastics. Initially, materials were identified, characterized, etc. And over time he devoted himself to other studies."

They also investigate laser technology. "Both metals and polymers have been working by laser for about 15 years in Iru, the organization called the Laser Center of Navarre. This center was one of the first in Europe and pioneer in Spain, with the aim of extending laser cutting technology to companies in the environment. Subsequently, work was started in other applications (coating, welding, heat treatments...). Then unknown technology was perfectly integrated into the companies and today many use it."

CETENASA also has a second large section dedicated to metrology. "Metrology appears in all areas of life. If we want to buy a kilo of cherries, we will use the scale to weigh cherries; to know how fast we go in the car, we will use the speed meter. In both cases metrology is necessary to be able to calibrate both the scale and the speedometer," says Francisco. The same happens in the industry, so 25 years ago the metrology laboratory was created in Navarre.

The laboratory was born with the aim of dealing with the demands of small companies navarras that did not have sufficient economic resources to acquire equipment that allow to visualize the surface finish or the shape of a piece. However, about 15 years ago, with the implementation of ISO laws, they began to do industrial metrology and went from measuring dimensions, temperature, pressure, humidity, etc. Thus, at present, they have six or seven metrology laboratories to measure other magnitudes. In addition, the activity is not limited only to Navarre, but is aimed at small companies from all over Spain.

Another department works in the improvement of production in companies, developing technologies around the productive processes. "This department was launched 11 years ago with the creation of CETENASA. In general, we carry out initiatives such as system automation, computerization or adequate distribution, with the aim of improving the company's production." At the same time, training actions are carried out for the personnel of the companies.

The support for small businesses CETENASA is not a technological center of great research, but an entity that watches over the small and medium enterprises of Navarre, base of the local industry. All these small businesses are grouped mainly in the automotive, transport and agri-food sectors. They also work in mining and chemical industry, but to a lesser extent.

Last year they worked with more than a thousand companies, most of which were services, but Francisco told us that they started between 45 and 50 projects. "It costs companies a lot to launch projects. It is difficult to attract small businesses to innovation plans. The difficulties arise because we have no culture for innovation; projects of this type are expensive, you have to risk them much, for what I will develop the technology so that in three months everyone can copy it, etc., to refuse. We have these messages put in the head and it is not easy for people to get out of it."

However, they advance. "For this purpose, two years ago the Technological Plan of Navarre was launched. It arose with the aim of encouraging the company to develop development and innovation plans and it seems that results are being obtained. In any case, I am quite skeptical with that change of thought. To the lack of culture, we must add the scarcity of economic resources, since we speak of small and medium enterprises. But as we have insisted so much, and companies receive important grants, innovation plans are growing little by little. However, with regard to the development projects, Navarre was in 1999 the territory that most made per capita of the Spanish communities."

In collaboration with the university

Like other technology centers, CETENASA works with universities. "We currently have collaborative projects with the Public University of Navarre, the University of Navarre and the University of the Basque Country," said Francisco. In addition, CETENASA welcomes students who carry out the final project and are offered the possibility to carry out the doctorate. Many scholars pass by there every year.