The founders of Gurpea met while working in a factory in Urroz-Villa. Shortly after, they were encouraged to create a company that, after starting in the field of maintenance, now employs 240 people, has expanded its business lines, and is preparing to open a delegation in Mexico and a commercial office in Peru.
Antxon Errea and Abel Moreno “are not much for talking,” the former admits. “Pedro is the one who gets us into these things,” Errea points out. By “these things” he means interviews, of course. That’s what we came to do when we entered Gurpea after, indeed, we told Pedro Odériz – the firm’s manager – our desire to get to know its two founders a little better. To overcome that initial barrier of shyness – or perhaps modesty – we chose the easy way. That’s why we start from the beginning.
This is the story of two young people who, after obtaining their Vocational Training degree (in Electricity, in Moreno’s case, and in Automation, in Errea’s) became good friends while working as maintenance technicians in a factory in Urroz-Villa. “We understood each other very well. Do you remember that panel we assembled to practice?”, Moreno recalls, looking at his partner. They spent two years in that plant until they decided to become self-employed. They ended up at the ZF TRW plant in Landaben, although after their workday they did overtime in other companies. There came a time when the workload they were carrying forced them to hire staff on their own. “We couldn’t get to all the work we had,” Errea recalls.
Perhaps that was an indication of everything that would come later. In 2004, Moreno and Errea established Gurpea. They were just 26 and 23 years old, respectively. And as is often the case with young entrepreneurs, at first they did not have their own workspace. That changed when they installed a construction site hut in Mutilva, on which they later placed another one on top. From there they moved to a warehouse in Ipertegui. Then they set up another factory in the same industrial park in Orkoien. “Three years ago we bought another warehouse with the idea of removing the other two, but the space became too small for us,” Moreno points out. This is how they arrived in Barbatáin, where today they have two factories and facilities that total around 3,900 square meters.
That growth in surface area has gone hand in hand with the diversification of the business within Gurpea. What began as a company to offer maintenance services now ranges from industrial maintenance and machinery assembly to automation engineering projects, electrical installations, and the design, manufacture, and placement of metal structures. We sense that those twenty-somethings who worked like ants to carry out this initiative did not know what was coming their way. Or, to put it another way, they did not expect to go so far. “No, that was not the objective,” Abel admits. “Let’s see – his partner adds – realize that we set up the company without knowledge. Ignorance is what makes you set something up, go and try. We didn’t even have any kind of business in the family… It’s trial and error. It has always been like that. And it still is.”
New Projects
Looking ahead to this year, on the other hand, its partners expect to open a delegation in Querétaro (Mexico). “We already have a sales representative who travels frequently to the country – Errea details – but we plan to have a production center there”. What prompted them to opt for Mexico? “Its industrial growth and its proximity to the United States. They have been growing at double digits for almost a decade. Also – he continues – because we have cultural affinity. At the industrial level, in addition, many companies from Navarra have a presence in Mexico, so working with them will be much easier for us. We even have supplier numbers there”. This milestone will be accompanied by the opening of an office in Peru, “mainly focused on commercial actions”.
Abel Moreno: “Medicinal oxygen is a new line that we want to launch strongly. And now we need the Government to support us”
In its facilities in Barbatáin, on the other hand, Gurpea plans to incorporate a department of Artificial Intelligence within the company and enter the green hydrogen sector. Specifically, it will launch to manufacture components used to build hydrogen plants. The company’s main commitment in 2023, however, will focus on the development of hospital medical oxygen solutions and the manufacture of nitrogen plants used for aquaculture (fish farming) and wastewater treatment, as Navarra Capital advanced.
“It is a new line that we want to launch strongly – Moreno remarks -. And now we need the Government of Navarra to help us and bet on this technology in hospitals, because at this moment this type of infrastructure does not exist in the region. We like the land and we want a technology from Navarra, developed by a Navarran company, to be applied here. We are going to other autonomous communities because we are not being supported at home.”
That which he exposes is illustrated by his colleague with an example. “Last week, some Mexican clients came. I went down to Madrid to pick them up, then I took them to Albacete so they could see a medicinal oxygen plant and then we went up to Pamplona. They saw it, they were amazed and they are going to order a plant from us. On Monday I have a meeting in León, where they want us to help them build hydrogen plants. And we will surely reach an agreement,” Errea says. He says it with the optimism of someone who believes in his work. We leave Gurpea wishing Abel Moreno and Antxon Errea good luck in their new projects. Although, deep down, we believe they don’t need it.
Photo: Errea (left) and Moreno (right) finalize the opening of Gurpea’s delegation in Mexico. (Photos: Maite H. Mateo – Navarra Capital)
Source: Navarra Capital.
