MAXAM
MAXAM inaugurates a propellants technology center in EXPAL’s Murcia facilities
2015.07.09
Defence - Press room - News - MAXAM inaugurates a propellants technology center in EXPAL’s Murcia facilities
A R&D center, the only one of its kind in southern Europe, that will empower this strategic technology for MAXAM Group, applied both in the defence and civil sectors.The event was presided by the Spanish General Director of Armament and Material (DGAM), Mr Juan Manuel García Montaño.
- Since 2010, MAXAM has invested more than 8 M€ in these facilities.
- In the current fiscal year, the Murcia plant will receive a 3 M€ investment.
- Staff at these facilities has grown from 76 to 220 employees.
MAXAM has invested more than 1,5 M€ in these facilities, an investment co-financed by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness through its INNPLANTA Programme, to support the construction processes as well as to purchase the equipment and scientific tools needed for the center. “This facility will feed from MAXAM’s more than 25 years’ experience in this field, and it will become the development center for more energetic propellants and higher ballistic benefits such as low fume generation powders, low vulnerability propellants or rocket engines for missiles, improving the impact on environment and these products’ levels of safety”, added Sánchez-Junco.
The center’s staff is comprised of a team of three doctors and several technical analysts who count with a pilot plant in which investigators and technicians will carry out tests. Once the products are ready to be industrialized, they will subsequently be manufactured in this or any other MAXAM factory (manufacturing facilities in more than 48 countries of the five continents).
These facilities inaugurated today by MAXAM in Murcia are part of the Group’s Network of Technology Centers such as the one in Páramo de Masa in Burgos, dedicated to energetic materials.
EXPAL: 5 years in Murcia
EXPAL, spearhead of MAXAM Group’s defence business unit, manages this Spanish Ministry of Defence factory since 2010 implementing a sustainable management model that has achieved positive results.
During the last 5 years MAXAM-EXPAL have invested 8 M€ in these facilities aimed at implementing new production lines, which has resulted in 27 new products plus six more currently in development process. The planned investment for this current fiscal year is 3 M€. The increase in workload has translated into an increase in staff, going from an average 76 employees in 2010 to more than 220 in 2015, counting both permanent and temporary employees.
“When we started managing these facilities we committed to share our business profits and develop the surrounding areas. Today, our factory in Murcia is one of the most international facilities of our company, generating employment, wealth and progress for its neighbors”, Francisco Torrente, EXPAL’s Chairman.
98% of the products manufactured by EXPAL at its Murcia facilities are exported. They go to defence departments of more than 55 countries in the world, mainly NATO area. For civil sector uses, these products go to more than a hundred countries due to their integration into the MAXAM Outdoors production chain (hunting and sports shooting cartridges).
EXPAL’s facilities in Murcia hold the ISO 9000 Quality certificate, ISO 14001 Environment certificate and the OSHAS 18000 Safety and Occupational Health certificate.
In the area of education, MAXAM and EXPAL have started up different R&D programmes in collaboration with universities such as the Polytechnic University of Cartagena (advanced technology development for new propellants), University of Valladolid (cellulose) or the Autonomic University of Madrid (computational chemistry).
One of EXPAL’s management’s most important aspects in Murcia has been the care and the close attention to this facility’s historic legacy whose origins go back to 1623. The facility’s modernist building which used to be an historic library is currently in recovery process at this present moment (library from 1915), there’s also a project to recover the old hydroelectric plant (also built at the beginning of the XX century) and finally a Congreve grainer (imported from Birmingham in 1890) was restored and incorporated to one of the best mining museums in Europe, the MUMI (www.mumi.es).
MAXAM – www.maxam.net
MAXAM is a service and industrial group that operates on a global scale by developing, manufacturing and commercializing civil explosives and initiation systems for mining, quarries and construction; cartridges, shotgun shells and smokeless powder for hunting and sports use; and products for the defense industry. Additionally, MAXAM is a supplier of key raw materials for nitro chemical activity, generated for the company’s own internal needs as well as for sales to third parties. Finally, as a result of its drive towards innovative, sustainable development, MAXAM offers its clients a wide variety of solutions in the fields of safety and environmental conservation.
Founded by Alfred Nobel in 1872, MAXAM concluded 2013 with a yearly turnover of approximately 1.1 billion euros. It is present in all of the world’s major mining areas, with production sites in over 45 countries, an active market presence in more than 100 others, and nearly 6000 employees spread across five continents.
EXPAL - www.expal.biz
EXPAL develops, produces and integrates a wide portfolio of products and services for the defence and security industries. EXPAL leads the defence business unit of MAXAM group.
