The Lehendakari and the Gestamp CEO sign a protocol to expedite the setting up of a centre of training excellence in advanced technologies in the Basque Country

Lehendakari Iñigo Urkullu, the Basque Premier, and Francisco J. Riberas, the Gestamp CEO and Chairman,  this morning signed a partnership protocol at the Lehendakaritza to facilitate the setting up of the Gestamp Technology Institute (GTI) centre of excellence in  Boroa, Bizkaia.  The centre will provide training in advanced technologies for the current workforce of this industrial group, as well as for the new professionals that will join the group in the future. 

The protocol has been approved by the Basque Cabinet today and will ensure that Gestamp’s training needs are met, regarding the opening of new production centres and the setting up of new lines that this Basque industrial group plans to carry out globally.  It will also lead to better levels of social and economic development in the Basque Country by means of improving the professional qualification of people and their employability. 

In order to meet these needs, the protocol signed today establishes the partnership framework between Gestamp and the Basque Government to set up a centre of training excellence – the GTI – in the Automotive Intelligence Center complex in Boroa. 

Its activity will be aimed at teaching – mainly face-to-face - university post-graduate courses, vocational training specialised post-cycle courses and other specialised training (including hot stamping, cold stamping, welding, die-manufacturing and laser cutting) in a permanent, standardised and centralised manner, along with the development of R&D project associated to those technologies.

The cycle will be compatible with the dual training and sandwich course systems and the students will have an international profile. The Basque Government (through its Universities and VT Office and Lanbide) will be involved in the training and will certify the training cycles taught at GTI, by means of instruments and policy programmes in line with current legislation. 

The protocol signed today opens up the way for the Basque Government to back this cutting-edge project for training in advanced technologies to the tune of around 846,000 euros a year for five years.  The project will consolidate the competitiveness of the Basque automotive industry, improve the skill-sets and employability of people, and will help to place the Basque Country as a world benchmark in this sector.  

Specifically, it envisages earmarking up to €90,000 in funds for training with an undertaking to contract the unemployed of the BAC, a total of €60,000 to train the Gestamp workforce in the Basque Country and up to €576,000 for work placements abroad.  It will likewise award grants up to a total €120,000 to the new GTI centre to develop Specific Specialisation Programmes in Gestamp traditional processes and advanced technologies. 

Gestamp is a world leader in the design, development and manufacture of metal automotive components.  It is present in 20 countries, where it has 93 production plants, and employs a workforce of 32,000 people. Innovation is a lynchpin in Gestamp and it therefore has 12 R&D centres worldwide, one of which is in the Basque Country, and employs 1,000 people in this area.

This group plans to continue its geographical expansion in Asia, North America, Europe and South America, which is going to require a strong emphasis on training, both of the current workforce and of the future teams of professionals that join the new Gestamp international projects.