The varied field of activity of this company based in Larrabetzu, specialized in air treatment, is focused on creating custom made equipment to satisfy the needs of each client.
In February 2015, four partners with extensive experience in the sector launched to create Air Movement Technologies (AMT), a design and manufacturing company for industrial fans and accessories adapted to different sectors and applications. The Mikro program at Seed Capital Bizkaia has supported these entrepreneurs in their new phase.
“We had a tough beginning, with a small capital that we put in“, recall Santi Méndez and Joseba Cuesta, two of the promoters of the firm based in Larrabetzu. “It was a bit risky because the economic situation in 2015 was not favourable at all,” they reflect, “but we were excited to start and we believed in the viability of a company that, like AMT, focuses its business on the creation of customized machines and elements, according to special requirements. For the time being, this orientation has allowed us to be present in “turnkey” projects in different parts of the world or through engineering companies based here“.
Wide range of sectors
“Our activity, – they point out – is related to non-domestic ventilation elements, what includes everything that has to do with driving and treating air. Sectors such as paper mills, biochemistry, biomass, power generation, cement, etc. are possible applications. Now we are applying fluid-dynamic calculations to naval elements, which is a market that also includes ventilation. The truth is that we do not want to limit ourselves to a specific sector because, in the end, developing customized projects within certain requirements makes the range of possibilities of the company grow”.
Although it produces standard products to supply manufacturers, AMT’s strategic activity focuses on offering customers tailored-made possibilities with greater added value. “There is a wide range of possibilities,” they point out, “for ventilation equipment, which is our basic product, and for control and regulation elements that we also develop; they are developed based on design conditions, material specifications and manufacturing specifications, environmental conditions or finishing touches depending on where the equipment will be installed”. Likewise, AMT not only offers a differentiated product but also agility in its elaboration based on an internal work organization system that facilitates the response in initial stages, as well as the preparation of all the documentation and delivery.
The move, in December 2016, to its current headquarters in Larrabetzu has allowed AMT to increase its capacity at technical department level and at manufacturing level. “Before, – they indicate – we produced everything outside and this limited the feedback information we got from the prototypes”.
More than 200 equipment sold
The managers of AMT are satisfied with the reception that the market is giving to their products. They state that, in its two years of existence, the company has sold around 200 ventilation equipment all over the world, as well as accessories and various services. The AMT products have successfully gone into European countries such as Germany and Estonia, Saudi Arabia in the Far East, or in Chile, Mexico and the Dominican Republic. With the passage of time, they hope to expand their markets because “until now, whoever has bought us a product has bought us back further developments. This indicates that the solutions we provide are good and that customers value them”.
But, they also highlight that during these two years of existence there have been difficult moments that they have managed to overcome thanks to the understanding and support of most of the companies in our environment that have opted for us, sometimes as customers and sometimes as suppliers. “We also prioritize the human relationship in our day-to-day with companies, we try to solve the problems of the people who call us, try to give them an immediate response, rather than just offering mere technical solutions not adapted to their needs”.
