Ingenio - Ayesa

I N G E N I O Nº4 4I N G E N I O Nº4 4 1

2nd quarter 2021Nº 44

Engineering the future of the Bernabéu

Another €100,000 for Cáritas

Happy 80th birthday, Chairman!

PHOTO FEATURE

THE AYESA FOUNDATION

TOP TEN

TRIBUTE

Ingenio

Turning technical challenges into solutions

Congrats Ayesa!


ExecutivePage 34

Leadership

The Ayesa Foundation

Page 39

Second donation to Cáritas

Global ConferencePage 36

Sneak peekPage 40

At a glance

Photo FeaturePage 28

Engineering for the refurbishment of the Santiago Bernabéu stadium

Summary

Ayesa’s 55th Anniversary

Congratulations, Chairman!

More than half a century of projects and great professionals have built the company into a multinational today.

Page 4

Page 8

In honour of José Luis Manzanares, Chairman of Ayesa, on his 80th birthday: a life devoted to

engineering and knowledge

End to endPage 12

Stop hackers: factory safe

TribunePage 18

Sustainable mobility

Around the globePage 14

International news

InnovationPage 22

H2020 Custom Art

SustainabilityPage 25

Pperless strategy

TalentPage 17

Develop Your Talent at Ayesa

Covid vaccinePage 24

Ayesa against the pandemic

Top TenPage 26

Highlighted projects

Biannual managers event

Published by: AyesaWritten by: Lidia Velasco Momentum ComunicaciónContact: [email protected]

All content is subject to copyright. It is strictlyprohibited to distribute all or any part of thismagazine without the express permission ofthe author.

I N G E N I O Nº4 4I N G E N I O Nº4 4 5AY E S A4

O n 17 February 55 years ago, a small en-gineering firm called Ayesa was born in Seville. More than half a century of projects

later and thanks to talented employees past and present, today it is a multinational with a perma-nent presence in 17 countries around the world and is involved in projects in 40.

Ayesa celebrates its 55th anniversary

Although it has not always been plain sailing, with various economic crises along the way, what has characterised Ayesa throughout has been its resilience, eagerness to constantly improve, and drive. It is this spirit that has seen it go from a small firm to a top engineering company and then a leading ETC (engineering and technology consultancy) with 5000 members of staff.

AYESA’S 55TH ANNIVERSARY

AY E S A I N G E N I O Nº4 4I N G E N I O Nº4 4 76

José Luis Manzanares Japón, Chairman of Ayesa, remembers how the firm ‘was the idea of hydraulic en-gineer Don José María Rodríguez Gabás, who wanted to keep busy after he retired’. As such, the company was founded in 1966 and the team’s first project was to design a dam and canal. The mathematical model for Madrid’s water supply network created in 1967 was a ‘miracle which has gotten us to where we are today’ he notes, as from that moment onwards Ayesa has always used specific engineering software for all its work.

In 1984, the team was made up of thirty engineers and secured its first international contract involving a series of irrigation systems in Ecuador. Upon their return, it was announced that Seville would host the Universal Exposition of 1992 (Expo ‘92), something that would change the company’s destiny forever.

In 1991, Act was founded to offer services involving emerging technologies and remote control. Despite the economic crisis of 1993, more opportunities came with the new national motorway plan and the company soon became a leading consulting firm for roads, and then high-speed rail systems in 1997.

The first decade of the new millennium saw Ayesa embark upon a process of expansion. New offices were opened in cities across Spain and abroad. In 2003, the first office in Mexico was set up and in 2006 Ayesa acquired MdE, a Catalonian engineering firm specia-lising in processing plants. In 2007, Ayesa began to diversify and started to develop solar parks, in addition to opening offices in Poland, Morocco, Algeria and India. Then, in 2009, the Ayesa Foundation was created.

In 2010, Actica was founded by Ayesa and ICA in order to create a leading ICT company in Mexico. That year, Ayesa was awarded the contract for the Panama Metro and began working in a country which would go on to become one of its most important hubs.

In 2011, Ayesa acquired Sadiel, with the aim of creating an international technology services company. 2011 also saw the creation of Ayesa Air Control, which pro-vides aeronautical engineering services. The following year, Ayesa acquired Unitec, a Brazilian oil and gas engineering company. At the same time, it continued to expand with new offices in the UK, Ecuador, Chile, Peru, Colombia, Italy and Germany, as well as take on more and more challenging projects.

AND THAT BRINGS US TO 2020, A RECORD YEAR IN TERMS OF NEW CONTRACTS.

‘The mathematical model for Madrid’s water supply network was a miracle which has gotten us to where we are today, as from that moment onwards Ayesa has always used engineering software’

AYESA’S 55TH ANNIVERSARY


In honour of José Luis Manzanares, Chairman of Ayesa, on his 80th birthday: a life devoted to engineering and knowledge

J osé Luis Manzanares Japón, Chairman of Ayesa, turned 80 on May 10th.

For the past 55 years he has led Ayesa and devoted his life to ta-king what started out as a small engineering company founded in Seville from strength to strength. And he could not have done a better job thanks to his sound instincts, hard work, technical expertise and intelligence. Ayesa is now an international engineering and technology consulting firm, which even in the midst of the pandemic achieved annual growth of 4.3%, generating 256 million euros in turnover.

One of Spain’s leading engineering firms and amongst the top 5 in Latin America, the technology group is pioneering the future and ready to face a new digital world, something which makes it truly unique.

80 CUMPLEAÑOS DEL PRESIDENTECHAIRMAN’S 80TH ANNIVERSARY

AY E S A8

Congratulations, Chairman!


FAMILY, FRIENDS AND COLLEAGUES MET AT FUNDACIÓN CAJASOL IN SEVILLE TO ACCOMPANY JOSÉ LUIS IN LOOKING BACK OVER HIS CAREER AS AN ENGINEER, PROFESSOR, ENTREPRENEUR AND VISIONARY.

80 CUMPLEAÑOS DEL PRESIDENTECHAIRMAN’S 80TH ANNIVERSARY

AY E S A10

We celebrated with our chairman his birthday

G oing to see the Chairman in his office on the fourth floor of Ayesa’s head office in Seville is always an experience. Maybe you are going

to get his blessing for your project, but as soon as you start talking to him you forget why you are there as the conversation turns philosophical and you find yourself discussing the very nature of being: What are we? Are we merely a collection of atoms or something more? José Luis does not take writing lightly. For his most recent book, in which he looks at how science has failed to explain the profound nature of reality, he spent more than four years carefully reading 50 books for information. The result is ¿Qué somos? (What Are We?), his sixteenth book, which has been publis-hed by Planeta and is now available in bookshops. Perhaps the best adjective to describe Ayesa’s Chair-man is multifaceted. That is why when you go to his office you might find an engineer drawing a new epic bridge, an entrepreneur convincing the world that his Ayesa is the best company there is, a ski-lled communicator creating the script for a new corporate video, or a thinker, prolific writer or pro-fessor passionately working on his next project. Ayesa was created in the image of José Luis. It is the result of the ‘coming together of great minds from different fields with the aim of sharing ideas and dreams’. Nowhere is this more clearly seen than in the slogan the company adopted a de-cade ago – knowledge makes dreams come true. He once said in an interview that one of the most impor-tant lessons he has learnt during his journey as an en-trepreneur is: ‘it is never a good idea to dwell on the ma-terial assets you have amassed as a company. Instead, your focus must be on your work. I have seen many companies go from riches to rags’. For him, ‘overcoming obstacles is one the most gratifying feelings a human can have’. Humility is also something that characterises José Luis and a quality he has firmly embedded in Ayesa. As such, he has always stayed true to his roots in post-war Triana (Seville). Five years ago, he was asked to describe the beauty of springtime. What resulted was probably one of his best speeches of all time. He re-membered the Triana of his childhood, an area of the city he continues to feel very close to, as for him, Isla de la Cartuja, which is home to Ayesa’s head office, conti-

nues to be part of Triana. What’s more, in the heart of Triana is one of his most unique creations, the Cacho-rro Bridge. Hard work, resilience and expertise are words that always come up when asked about the secret to Ayesa’s success. Recently, during a television interview, José Luis talked about Ayesa’s early years: ‘when crea-ting an engineering company in Andalusia’s underdeve-loped business sector, where work was far from abun-dant, if you wanted to stay afloat, you had to sell ideas that nobody else had and be involved with the univer-sity. What is now fashionable used to be a necessity’. Years later, he would have the idea of merging the worlds of engineering and technology, a strategy that the company’s major competitors around the world are now copying . However, Ayesa is always one step ahead thanks to its commitment to growth and diversification. In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, he sent out a message to Ayesa’s 5000 members of staff, calling on them to remain calm, encouraging them to be optimis-tic and asking them to continue to work hard in order to get through this challenging period. In the message, he talked about how ‘the advantage of having been around for so long is that we have already successfully weathe-red three other major global crises’. However, what truly sets Ayesa apart is having a virtuous leader who has remained true to his Andalusian roots and profession, and is an exemplary entrepreneur.


BOTH COMPANIES HAVE CREATED A JOINT PORTFOLIO OF SOLUTIONS TO PROTECT COMPANIES FROM THE EVER-GROWING THREAT OF CYBERATTACKS.

THEY OFFER COMPREHENSIVE COVERAGE THROUGH HIGH VALUE-ADDED SERVICES IN ALL THE COUNTRIES WHERE BOTH GROUPS ARE PRESENT.

Ayesa and Entelgy Innotec Security sign an agreement to lead the sectorJUAN CARLOS CASTRO

CHIEF SECURITY OFFICER

A yesa and Entelgy Innotec Security have signed a collaboration agreement with the aim of jointly offering advanced cybersecurity

services for the industrial sector. This comes at a crucial time for companies, as they are immersed in a process of transformation caused by what is known as Industry 4.0 or the Fourth Industrial Revolution. The objective of this collaboration is to bring together the expertise and experience of both companies and offer comprehensive coverage through high value-added services in all the countries where both groups are present, namely Spain, the USA, Brazil, Chile, Colom-bia, Mexico and Peru.

By doing this, their aim is to become a leader in cybersecurity, specialised in protecting industrial companies and meeting their specific needs as part of the ongoing process of IT-OT convergence. As such, they have created a joint portfolio of solutions to protect companies from the ever-growing threat of cyberattacks, which can result in anything from production being paralysed and mistakes being made at any point in the process (with losses amounting to millions of euros) to critical, confidential information being stolen.

Ayesa, as an international engineering and technology consulting firm, brings to this partnership the experien-ce it has gained over the past 55 years in the industrial and aerospace sectors, and more recently in the field of cybersecurity, where it has provided specialised ser-vices to numerous clients. For its part, Entelgy Innotec Security, which has almost 20 years of experience in the cybersecurity sector and more than 450 highly qua-lified members of staff, brings a comprehensive range of services and advanced solutions. These cover all la-yers of security, with clients including major public and private organisations both in Spain and Latin America (UN, NATO, Spain’s National Cryptologic Centre (part of the National Intelligence Centre), Spain’s National Insti-tute of Cybersecurity (INCIBE), IBEX companies, etc.).

As such, in addition to consulting, security and protec-tion services, both firms have included in their portfolio other high value-added services, such as the creation of threat reports (threat intelligence), penetration testing in OT/hybrid environments; the development of security policy frameworks; support for certification processes and other assistance; the protection of industrial and legacy systems; and resilience and preparation for incidents.

I N G E N I O Nº4 4 13

O ne of the first lessons of cybersecurity is that pro-tection must be proportional to the value of the asset in question, as well as the probability and

consequences of an attack. That’s why, in an industrial setting, where assets and production are at stake, it is essential that the level of protection be particularly high. According to INCIBE (the National Cybersecurity Ins-titute), information leaks, ransomware attacks, phis-hing, identity theft, software vulnerabilities, industrial espionage and physical security are just some of the issues and threats that can affect companies in any industry. Attacks by hackers can result in production being stopped, items going out of stock, errors on ma-chines occurring and valuable information being lost. INCIBE also stresses how industrial companies ‘are cha-racterised in large part by their high dependency on new forms of technology, including computers, local and Wi-Fi networks, and mobile devices, which, in many ca-ses, are used to control their production systems. This means that, in addition to being exposed to physical threats, such as the safety of their people and security of their installations, they are also open to threats resul-ting from the use of technology in production settings’. This is what is formally known as IT-OT (information technology and operational technology) convergence. Juan Carlos Castro, Chief Security Officer at Ayesa, no-tes how one of the biggest mistakes industrial compa-

nies make is having their assets visible on the Internet, thereby making them vulnerable to attacks from ha-ckers. It is essential that all assets with an IP address cannot be easily found. Moreover, default usernames and passwords must be changed, information encryp-ted and vulnerabilities and updates correctly managed. In any case, he explains how ‘each industrial system is unique and no two organisations are the same, meaning solutions must be fully adapted accordingly’. An industrial cybersecurity management system is a co-llection of policies, rules, procedures and technical ins-tructions designed to ensure the confidentiality, integrity and availability of an organisation’s assets, whilst mini-mising associated security risks. ‘In order to minimise risks, a company must have a security policy which mo-nitors and assesses risks, as well as offering appropriate responses when threats are detected’, explains the CSO. At Ayesa, we use a matrix that includes 2,400 controls, based on the very best cybersecurity standards and practices covering various areas, which together create a mature cybersecurity solution in any industrial setting. A company’s rules must include all necessary informa-tion security and industrial cybersecurity considera-tions. To do this, a specific strategy must be devised, based on the needs of each organisation.

Stop hackers: creating secure factories

INDUSTRIAL CYBERSECURITY IS A CRUCIAL ASPECT WHICH MUST BE GIVEN PRIORITY. RISKS ARE INCREASING BY THE DAY AND POTENTIAL LOSSES ARE IN THE MILLIONS

END TO END


ESTONIA

POLAND

INDIA

7.

6.

5.

Global footprint


AROUND THE GLOBE

MEXICO

BRAZIL

PORTUGAL

2.

3.

1.

AY E S A14

Construction work to extend the yellow line of the Porto Metro

Ayesa has begun providing supervision services for the ex-tension of the yellow line of the Porto Metro. With a value of 5.1 million euros, the contract represents the first big project carried out by Ayesa’s Portuguese office.

Growth of the Industrial Engineering Area

During the second quarter of 2021, this business area has reached historic highs in terms of the growth of its portfolio in Mexico, since the subsidiary opened here opened in 2003. The latest contracts secured include flavour and fragrance, agri-food, industrial, bottling and regasification plants, as well as breweries.

The Enel Brazil Award for the Most Innovative IT Provider

Enel Brazil has named Ayesa its most innovative IT provider. This isn’t the first time the multinational has come out on top at Enel’s Suppliers Day. In 2019, it received the Award for the Best Digital Services Consulting Firm.

SAUDI ARABIA4.

Desalination projects give way to water supply contracts

An engineering team specialised in water is currently involved in a megaproject in Saudi Arabia. As such, the firm is supervising the design and construction of a water distribution and pumping station in the city of Hafr al-Batin (less than 100 km from the border with Kuwait) and an 82-kilometre-long pipeline to King Khalid Military City. This project represents another step forward in terms of Ayesa’s efforts to diversify its portfolio in the Middle East, which up until now has mainly included desalination and transport projects.

Tests begin on Line 7 of the Mumbai Metro

On 31 May, the Chief Minister of Maharashtra, Uddhav Thackeray, officially inaugurated the trial runs of Line 7 of the Mumbai Metro, located in India’s financial capital. This is one of Ayesa’s most impressive projects in the country, which has seen it carry out the detailed design for 13 elevated stations and 16 kilometres of elevated lines. Ayesa has also provided technical assistance services since October 2016, something which encompasses everything from project and contract management to safety and quality.

Branching out in the field of renewable energy

Since the beginning of 2021, Ayesa has been significantly expanding the services it offers in the area of re-newable energy in Poland through projects for big clients such as EDP. The country’s promising ‘clean energy’ market is offering many new oppor-tunities, which we are able to seize thanks to the sharing of expertise and resources from other divisions within the group. This is a major step forward in terms of our efforts to diversify our project portfolio in Poland, which up until now has mainly involved trans-port infrastructure.

Ayesa lands in Estonia to begin a railway electrification project

Ayesa is currently working on the design to electrify Estonia’s rail network. This will involve more than 500 km of tracks at 25 kVac. The contract includes the overhead catenary systems, traction substations and supply lines. Currently, Estonia’s electrified rail network (at 3 kVdc) spans just 225 kilometres across Harju County, to the west of Tallinn.


Ayesa takes part in a project based on 5G and BIM technology at Málaga’s main train station JAVIER CHOZA

PROJECT MANAGER DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION AREA

T he company is currently developing apps designed to offer new mobile services based on the building’s BIM model, something made

possible by 5G. This project is part of the initiative ‘Piloto 5G Andalu-cía’, launched by the Spanish Ministry of Economic Affairs and Digital Transformation through Red.es, and led by Vodafone and Huawei. Presented in Seville in November 2019, it involves 35 different settings where the benefits of 5G technology will be leveraged, covering the following areas: energy, industry, smart cities, tourism, agriculture, healthcare and high dependency care, security, emergencies and defence, society and the digital economy. This is one of the projects funded by the Spanish Government through its first call for proposals for 5G pilot projects, the results of which were announced in Spring 2019. The initiative has a budget of 25.4 million euros, 6.3 million of which have been provided by Red.es

A yesa has made talent management one of its core priorities for this year. As part of this, earlier this year it launched Develop Your

Talent, a programme which provides staff with career plans, and is accompanied by an annual performance evaluation. The aim of this new system is to identify our stren-gths and areas for improvement, something which will undoubtedly contribute to our happiness inside and outside of work. The HR Department began by establishing a system of roles for the entire company, and then developed an app designed to serve as an international platform for ensuring the evaluation process is the same in all the countries where Ayesa is present. As such, using E-volve, managers were able to give members of staff a score for each of the ten skills established, which included teamwork, client focus and technical knowledge. Individual feedback sessions were then organised, during which the performance of each employee as well as expectations were discussed. In terms of this initiative, José Luis Manzanares Abásolo, CEO of Ayesa, explains how it is a ‘platform where employees are heard, where they’re able to tell us what they want us to improve’, and notes how the ‘big challenge for the company is then to turn this evaluation, as well as these needs and aspirations, into real action’. He also stresses how ‘Ayesa is nothing more than the sum of its people .So, our job is to ensure that each

through the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF). Vodafone is also set to add 1.8 million euros to this. One of the locations where this technology will be tested is Málaga’s high-speed station María Zambra-no. Here, Ayesa is responsible for developing apps for accessing the station’s BIM model on mobile devices using 5G. Specifically, it is developing a mobile app for passen-gers, which, by way of augmented reality, will help them find their way around the station, and another for maintenance personnel. The latter, which is linked to different systems, will allow those responsible for running the building to monitor a wide range of services (water, electricity, lifts, etc.), and access the building’s 3D BIM model in real time, as well as useful documents (maps, manuals, etc.). For the project, Unity, which includes an augmented reality engine, and BIM 360 by Autodesk are being used.

and every member of staff has no absolutely reason to hesitate when asking themselves if Ayesa is truly where they want to work.’ The company is also focusing on providing ongoing corporate, technical, skills and language training for staff. Although COVID-19 led to many in-person sessions being cancelled last year, online training was provided by way of webinars, during which experts from Ayesa shared their knowledge with colleagues. Since July 2020, 48 sessions have been run, which have covered 28 different topics. ‘Our challenge is to now continue to provide and enhance training opportunities in Spain, as well as offer more for our colleagues in other countries. And, of course, the tra-ining given has to be of a high standard and we must maintain the average rating awarded to our courses (8.5/10) as a bare minimum’, explains Domingo Orte-ga, Director of Human Resources. Ayesa has two other programmes in place, one to attract external talent and another to help internal talent thrive. The first, known as Talent, was launched in 2011 and currently has 140 participants, of which 24 are interns. The aim is now to introduce it in all the countries where Ayesa is present. The second is the Ayesa Management Programme, which provides members of staff who perform excep-tionally well with a personalised professional develop-ment plan and mentor.

ETC PROJECT TALENT

THE COMPANY HAS LAUNCHED AN INTERNATIONAL PROGRAMME TO ENHANCE THE DEVELOPMENT OF ITS PROFESSIONALS.

Develop Your Talent: Ayesa’s new talent management programme


A yesa is continuing to consolidate its position as a leader in the field of renewa-ble energy and electricity, two booming

sectors. During a year in which clean energy hit a record high, representing 43.6% of all electrici-ty generated in Spain, new projects just kept on coming for Ayesa. It was within this context that the firm managed to consolidate its status as a go-to partner for multinational energy giants and electric utilities.

Ayesa is now involved in the entire life-cycle of engineering projects involving renewable energy infrastructure, from their initial phases, including due diligence and preliminary engineering/plan-ning, right through to owner engineering, design review and construction supervision.

Over 2020, Ayesa participated in 190 projects involving renewable energy infrastructure and high-voltage substations, which have a combined capacity of 11,000 megawatts (MW). Although the projects mainly involved solar power plants, some also saw Ayesa work on wind energy, solar thermal energy, hydropower and biomass energy infrastructure.

José Antonio García Bermudo, Head of Energy at Ayesa, notes how last year was extremely busy in terms of number of projects, not surprising consi-dering the company’s success over recent years. ‘The company has been awarded numerous major projects and framework contracts from industry leaders. The firm’s outstanding and comprehen-sive civil and industrial engineering services are the reason our clients place their trust in us, safe in the knowledge that their projects will be com-pleted to the highest of standards, on time and as efficiently as possible. We offer proven expertise in generation, transmission, storage and con-sumption management as a single company’.

Ayesa is currently involved in some of the country’s biggest projects: the Repsol’s first solar power plant, which has a capacity of 126 me-gawatts (MW) in Ciudad Real and San Serván solar power plants-FRW-, which sum a capacity of 138 MW and is located in Badajoz.

THE FIRM CONSOLIDATE ITS STATUS AS A GO-TO PARTNER FOR MULTINATIONAL ENERGY GIANTS AND ELECTRIC UTILITIES, WITH WHICH IT IS INVOLVED IN THE ENTIRE LIFE-CYCLE OF ENGINEERING PROJECTS.

Ayesa steps up its game in the energy industry with 190 renewable energy and substation projects over 2020

JOSÉ ANTONIO GARCÍA BERMUDOENERGY DIRECTOR ENGINEERING AREA

ENERGY

A BOOM IN SUSTAINABLE

TRANSPORT

T he Government of Spain plans to invest 13,200 million euros in ‘sustaina-

ble, connected and safe’ electric transport, 18.9% of the 70,000 million euros set to be spent on reforming the country’s economy over the period 2021-2023. The funds, provided under the NextGenerationEU programme, approved by the European Coun-cil on 21 June 2020 in response to the economic crisis caused by the pandemic, is the largest stimulus package ever financed through the European Union. The programme includes two financial instruments. The first is the European Recovery and Re-silience Facility (RRF), which will provide 672,500 million euros, of which Spain will receive 140,000 million euros between 2021 and 2026 (including 70,000 million in grants). The second is Recovery Assistance for Cohesion and the Territories of Europe (REACT-EU), with a budget of 47,500 million euros. The 13,200 million euros set aside for transport include 400 million euros, which may be increased to 800 million euros, for the Moves III Plan. This will provide grants for purchasing electric vehicles and bonuses for scrapping cars that are more than 10 years old.

As a firm that is committed to electric transport and as a leader in electric

vehicle charging management systems, fleet management and carsharing, Ayesa is focusing on innovative connected and autonomous vehicle projects in Spain.

As such, Ayesa is leading a nationwide MaaS (mobility-as-a-service) project involving sharing electric vehicles. The initiative aims to promote the sharing of two- and four-wheeled vehicles based on a free-floating model in towns and cities with a population of more than 50,000, and is in line with the objectives relating to the creation of low-emission zones (LEZs) laid out in Spanish Law 7/2021 of 20 May on Climate Change and Energy Transition.Amongst the initiatives Ayesa is currently participating in, #eCitySevilla, on Isla de la Cartuja in Seville, particularly stands out. This is a demons-tration project centred around sustainability-related initiatives involving buildings, energy and transport. Led by Enel, Ayesa has taken on an active role in

13,200 MILLION EUROS TO BE INVESTED IN SUSTAINABLE, CONNECTED AND

SAFE ELECTRIC TRANSPORT

ELENA SÁNCHEZDIRECTOR OF TRANSPORT

DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION AREA

TRIBUNE

AY E S A18

all areas of the project. Also noteworthy is the project led by Ayesa to create a working group made up of members from the Spanish business associations Tecniberia (engineering) and Ametic (technology), with the aim of proposing projects to the public sector.By offering high value-added technology solutions, the-se projects aim to revitalise sectors which are in need of urgent change in order to opti-mise aspects relating to their operations, security and energy efficiency.


Ayesa’s projects involving commercial systems for utilities companies and HR systems for public administrations achieve CMMI Level 3

Ayesa to implement its time and attendance sys-tem at the University of the Basque Country

Ayesa has been awarded CMMI Level 3 for all its development and maintenance projects involving commercial systems for utilities companies and HR systems for public administrations, as well as its software factory.

The firm has extensive experien-ce in these fields, in which it has undertaken numerous projects for major energy companies and public administrations in Spain and around the world.

Ayesa will soon begin a new pro-ject which will see it implement Rodas, its own time and attendan-ce system, at the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU).

This will see the company supply and install all the necessary soft-ware and hardware for the solu-tion. The contract covers the time and attendance modules to be used by staff at the university, in-cluding its teaching and research staff. In total, the platform will have 6000 users.

Staff will be able to clock in and out using biometric equipment to be installed on site, as well as onli-ne when working remotely.

Ayesa installs a hyperconverged platform for the Regional Government of Andalusia’s asset management enterpriseAyesa has recently implemented a hyperconverged infrastructure for Epga-sa, a state-owned asset management enterprise belonging to the Regional Government of Andalusia.

As such, they have designed a solution for the new platform based on advanced products by manufacturers such as Lenovo, Microsoft and Commvault.

Specifically, the solution offered by Ayesa focuses on the integration of Mi-crosoft Azure hyperconvergence technology, which, together with Lenovo ThinkAgile MX Certified Nodes, allows Epgasa to opt for a hybrid model for modernising its infrastructure.

Ibn Firnás Bridge in Córdoba is 10 years old

This year celebrated a decade of the Ibn Firnás Bridge, one of the most emblematic projects designed by the Chairman of Ayesa, José Luis Manzanares Japón, celebrated its 10th anni-versary. To mark the occasion, Spanish newspaper ABC publis-hed an extensive article on the structure, which, for its creator, was ‘an opportunity to revisit the past and the beginning of his career in Córdoba’.


1+1

Ayesa is set to upgrade the HR IT system used to manage 15,000 public-sector workers in Extremadura

THE PLATFORM, KNOWN AS SIRHUS, IS CURRENTLY USED IN ANDALUSIA, EXTREMADURA AND THE CANARY ISLANDS.

Over the next three years, Ayesa will modernise and make improvements to the Sirhus system, used in Extremadura. This HR management solution, which was specifically designed by Ayesa for managing public-sector workers more than two decades ago, is now a powerful platform with wide-ranging fea-tures, currently used in Andalusia, Extremadura and the Canary Islands.

It is within this context that the Department of Finance and Public Administration of the Regional Govern-ment of Extremadura has recently awarded Ayesa a 1.5-million-euro contract to provide strategy, ongoing

improvement, development and operating services for the system.

The purpose of the contract is to improve the functio-nality of the software, which is used to manage 15,000 public-sector workers in Extremadura.

Sirhus is a human resources information system which provides information on aspects such as roles, training, recruitment and staffing. It is also an e-go-vernment system which allows public-sector workers to access their payslips, income tax certificates and information on training courses they have completed.

ACC has design organisation approvals to certify design changes on civil and military aircraft

Ayesa Air Control has recently been granted a design organisation ap-proval (DOA) by Spain’s National Institute for Aerospace Technology (INTA). This means that the com-pany can now certify design chan-ges on aircraft on behalf of Spain’s highest authority for the certifica-tion of military aircraft.

This comes on the back of the DOA already held by Ayesa Air Control from the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA 21J), which allows it to certify design changes involving civil aircraft. Ayesa is now part of an elite group of six Spanish companies to hold both DOAs.

Ayesa to bring artificial intelligence to the Port of Algeciras with the aim of optimising operationsThe Port of Algeciras Bay Authority (APBA) has awarded the joint venture made up of Oritia & Boreas SL, Ayesa Advanced Technologies SA and the Polytechnic University of Madrid, a 1.7-million-euro contract to develop an ‘Advanced Vessel-Infrastructure Operability Prediction System’, known as PROAS.


A yesa continues to show its commitment to innovation in the

field of energy. The company is currently participating in the H2020 project Custom-Art, which is building on the progress made under Starcell. This project involved new cells made from kesterite (a mineral which is abundant on Earth) being tested, as well as smart systems to monitor them. This is an area in which Ayesa has outstanding tools and extensi-ve expertise. Custom-Art has a budget of 8 million euros and 16 partici-pants, namely European com-panies and research centres. Its aim is to develop the next generation of building-inte-grated photovoltaic modules (BIPV) and product-integrated photovoltaic modules (PIPV).

THIS IS PART OF THE H2020 PROJECT CUSTOM-ART, WHICH AIMS TO DEVELOP THE NEXT GENERATION OF PHOTOVOLTAIC MODULES TO BE INSTALLED ON BUILDINGS AND THUS MAKE THEM ‘NEAR ZERO ENERGY’.

AYESA IS PARTICIPATING IN THE PROJECT ALONGSIDE 15 OTHER INTERNATIONAL COMPANIES AND RESEARCH CENTRES. IT WILL BE RESPONSIBLE FOR DATA MINING,THE MARKET RESEARCH FOR THE PROJECT, AND THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE PILOT PROJECT AT ITS HEAD OFFICE IN SEVILLE.

Ayesa’s task is to create solutions based on artificial intelligence in order to increase the efficiency of energy production. One of the company’s research strands focuses on platforms based on algo-rithms and predictive models, which can be used across all fields. However, the area where it has made the most progress has been in energy and smart grids.

As such, Ayesa will be responsible for the pilot project, which will see the technology developed as part of the project, i.e., the new cells, installed at its head office in Seville. Specifically, it will use the proto-type manufactured by CRYS, a curved solar façade, and the prototype manufactured by SUN, a curved solar tile, which will be fitted on the front and on the roof of the building.

Over six months, production time and measurements will be cons-tantly monitored (irradiance, temperature and humidity) and other parameters such as efficiency calculated. Algorithms will also be used to provide smart maintenance. The system will create compa-rative graphs and the target values will be compared to theoretical ones. All this will be done using Grid Pilot, Ayesa’s very own monito-ring and prediction platform.

BIPV and PIPV

BIPV (building-integrated photovoltaics) and PIPV (product-inte-grated photovoltaics) are two of the technologies identified to make ‘near-zero energy buildings’ and ‘net-zero energy districts’ a reality, through the installation of a new generation of photovoltaic modules capable of replacing passive elements on buildings, street furniture and vehicles.

Unfortunately, the most developed materials currently available on the market contain Cu (In, Ga) and Se2 or CdTe, which are scarce and expensive (In, Ga and Te) or toxic (Cd). It is within this context that Custom-Art is developing advanced products based on Earth-abundant materials (kesterite), as part of an approach based on the circular economy.

The project will take this technology from TRL4-5 to TRL7, and demonstrate the very competitive rate of efficiency and durability it offers, as well as its reduced production cost..

ALICIA ARCECHIEF INNOVATION OFFICER

Ayesa to use AI to run and monitor a pilot project involving photovoltaic modules on buildings

INNOVATION


Ayesa gets behind the paperless movement in a bid

to practically eliminate the use of paper at its offices

THIS INITIATIVE IS PART OF THE COMPANY’S SUSTAINABILITY STRATEGY, WHICH FOCUSES ON THE EFFICIENT USE OF RESOURCES AT ITS SITES AND HAS BEEN ACCELERATED AS A RESULT OF INVESTMENT IN IN-HOUSE DIGITALISATION WITHIN THE CONTEXT OF THE PANDEMIC.

M ore technology and less paper’ is the guiding principle behind the paperless concept, which Ayesa is going to great efforts to implement

at its offices in order to minimise the use of paper. This initiative is part of the company’s sustai-nability strategy, which focuses on the efficient use of resources at its sites and has been acce-lerated as a result of investment in in-house di-gitalisation within the context of the pandemic. The company had previously taken steps to go paper-less, something which has now allowed it to set a se-ries of more ambitious short-term objectives, such as storing documents digitally on Alejandría, Ayesa’s do-cument management system. What’s more, the intro-duction of other forms of technology for contract and project management are also helping the company make progress in this area.

The paperless project is now a reality and the steps taken since the beginning of this year have focu-sed on a reduction in the number of printers, which have gone from 83 to 54, the launch of a printing re-source management and individual control system, and the introduction of a scanning and OCR (optical character recognition) system, something which is helping Ayesa lay the foundations for further auto-mation of document-related processes in the future. According to figures provided by the Systems De-partment, over 2020 printing costs decreased by 38% compared to 2019. The department stresses that this trend, which is due in part to the fact that there were less staff at the offices because of COVID-19, is one we must continue to follow by working with digital documents. If Ayesa had not used any paper at all last year, we could have avoided some 300 trees from being cut down, which required 467,610 litres of water and would have absorbed 2 tonnes of CO2 from the atmosphere.

SUSTAINABILITY


Ayesa shows its commitment to the COVID-19 vaccine drive

Ayesa has made its medical services and premises avai-lable to the authorities in order for vaccination sessions to be held at its offices, thereby helping accelerate the path to immunity.

Wherever possible, the company is entering into agree-ments with healthcare authorities, such as in India, whe-re a large number of its staff are already vaccinated, and Seville, where more than 600 individuals had the vaccine.

Ayesa has signed up to the Plan Sumamos Salud + Economía [Health + Economy Together Plan], which has been organised by the Seville Business Owners Associa-tion, alongside Andalusia’s local Department of Health and Families, and local Department of Employment, Training and Self-Employment, as well as the Andalusian Business Owners Association (CEA).

The company is also helping accelerate the COVID-19 vaccination drive in India. Following approval by the Go-vernment, Ayesa recently set up improvised vaccination centres at its sites. Specifically, vaccines were offered at two offices in the National Capital Territory of Delhi, namely the office responsible for providing technical assistance to the NCRTC for the first semi-high-speed train between Delhi and Meerut, and the company’s corporate head office in Noida.

CORPORATE SERVICES


A new data processing centre for ParcBit ParcBit is a technology park in Palma de Mallorca. Here, Ayesa has been awar-ded a contract to create a data processing centre, something which includes supplying, installing and commissioning the necessary critical infrastructure, as well as obtaining all the necessary authorisations. The facilities will span more than a thousand square metres, be designed to Uptime Institute’s Tier III stan-dards and comply with the standard EN 1047-2.

RVxG: Residential and Vehicle to Grid The RVxG (Residential and Vehicle to Grid) project involves a technology platform which will provide a wide range of BTM (behind the meter) ser-vices designed to offer tariff optimisation, limit demand in order to flatten peak electricity demand, increase energy efficiency and minimise GHG emissions by encouraging consumers to generate and use their own electricity. It will also provide services relating to the grid itself, such as demand response. In order to achieve this, the system will make full use of the generation capacity (solar panels) and storage capacity (batteries, including those of electric vehicles) of customers. As part of this project, Ayesa is designing the architecture and developing microservices, i.e., the core of the application. It is also helping Enel’s Data Science Department create algorithms.

A400M Multitask As part of the Multitask project, Ayesa will provide engineering support to Airbus Defence and Space for the assembly station of the A400M FAL. It is here that role items (pods and HDUs for air-to-air refuelling, armour kits, etc.) for the A400M are installed and subjected to functional testing, and aircraft are maintained.

María Zambrano: leading the way in connected stations The aim of the 25.4-million-euro project ‘Piloto 5G Andalucía, led by Vodafone and Huawei, is to test 5G technology in different settings. One of these is Málaga’s high-speed station María Zambrano. Here, Ayesa is responsible for developing apps for accessing the station’s BIM model on mobile devices using 5G. Specifically, it is developing a mobile app for passengers, which, by way of augmented reality, will help them find their way around the station, and another for maintenance personnel. The latter, which is linked to different systems, will allow those responsible for running the building to monitor a wide range of services (water, electricity, lifts, etc.), and access the building’s 3D BIM model in real time, as well as useful documents (maps, manuals, etc.).

A new B2B solution for Endesa Ayesa has played a key role in implementing a new B2B solution developed on the Salesforce platform, which is now used by Endesa in its capacity as an energy supplier. It covers customer service, sales and new connections, in addition to all needs relating to energy (electricity and gas) and other value-added services (VAS). In terms of new connections, the system provi-des not only the main supplier, Endesa Energía, with services, but also its two subsidiaries, Endesa XXI and Endesa Portugal.

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TOP TEN

A preliminary design for the section of the SE-40 set to cross the Guadalquivir River The Spanish Ministry of Transport has awarded Ayesa the services contract to produce the preliminary design of the section of the SE-40 motorway between Dos Hermanas and Coria Del Río (which crosses the Guadalquivir River), as well as undertake an environmental assessment. The objective of the contract is to create the very best solution and produ-ce a preliminary design with the appropriate level of detail.

Designing the extension of Line 5 of the Madrid Underground The extension of Line 5 of the Madrid Underground, which Ayesa is responsible for designing, will connect the stations Alameda de Osuna (Line 5) and Aeropuerto T1-T2-T3 (Line 8). Line 5 is the underground’s fourth most used line and the contract, with an esti-mated budget of 75 million euros, involves adding 1.5 kilometres to the line, as well as building a new station.

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3 5Two new yeast plants in Morocco and India Ayesa is the world’s leading engineering firm in the design of yeast plants. The company has been involved with more than 30 of these kinds of sites to date, designing plants all over the world, including in China, Mexico, Russia, Morocco, Argentina and South Africa. As part of these projects, the firm has carried out related studies, as well as providing basic and detailed engineering, construction supervision and commissioning services. It is currently working on two plants located in Morocco and India.

A new regional revenue system for La Rioja The main aim of this project is to implement a system desig-ned to modernise and simplify the administrative procedures involved in assigned taxes, local taxes and rates, as well as all other streams of revenue the autonomous community has. As such, all the systems currently used for this purpose will be joined using SUR, a plat-form developed by the Regio-nal Government of Andalusia. This is an open-source system for managing, paying, checking and collecting taxes, as well as carrying out tasks relating to inspections.

Madrid Digital Ayesa is working alongside Madrid Digital to help it in its process of digital transformation. This public agency is developing next-genera-tion architecture and technology designed to improve and moderni-se the region’s public services, as well as change the way informa-tion is collected, processed and used by way of artificial intelligence and data analytics. This will make life easier for both public-sector workers and citizens. As part of this process, Ayesa is providing main-tenance and upgrade ser-vices, as well as speciali-sed technical support.

Turning technical challenges into solutions

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FAÇADETHE DESIGN INCLUDES A PERMEABLE FAÇADE MADE UP OF 14,000 PIECES OF STAINLESS STEEL IN THE SHAPE OF A WING AND WITH A DOUBLE CURVATURE, WHICH TOGETHER FORM A LARGE ‘BOX’. THE ROOF FOLLOWS THE SAME DESIGN AND HAS A CENTRAL SECTION WHICH CAN BE RETRACTED SO THAT MATCHES, OR ANY OTHER SPORTS OR BUSINESS EVENT, OR SHOW, CAN BE HELD IN THE OPEN AIR. BETWEEN THE FAÇADE AND THE ROOF IS A REAL FEAT OF ARCHITECTURE— A SKYWALK WHICH RUNS AROUND THE EDGE OF THE STADIUM AND PROVIDES VISITORS WITH SWEEPING VIEWS OF THE CITY AND THE INSIDE OF THE STADIUM.

AUTOMATIONWHAT’S MORE, AN AUTOMATED PITCH CHANGEOVER SYSTEM IS BEING INSTALLED. THIS WILL ALLOW THE LAWN TO BE RETRACTED AND STORED IN AN UNDERGROUND AREA WITH THE IDEAL CONDITIONS OF HUMIDITY AND LIGHT UNDER THE WEST STAND, LEAVING 10,000 M2 FOR EVENTS AND UP TO 80,000 SPECTATORS.


PHOTO FEATURE

A yesa is currently providing design supervi-sion, in addition to construction and project (implementation) management services, as

part of the project to remodel the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium, home to Real Madrid. To do this, a team of more than 20 engineers from various fields are working at the site. Construction work is expected to take 43 months to complete and be finished by December 2022. 475 million euros have initially been invested to transform the old infrastructure, which dates back to 1947, into a fully covered, modern stadium featuring the latest sports and audio-visual technology. The project is truly enormous in scope, even more so when the 150,000 square metres of commercial space included in the design, as well as the stadium’s location in the heart of Madrid’s business district, are taken into account.

Top-rate engineering to turn the Bernabéu into a temple to football


A SEPARATE ENCLOSURE THE STADIUM’S NEW ENCLOSURE HAS BEEN DESIGNED TO BE TOTALLY SEPARATE FROM THE ORIGINAL STRUCTURE, WHICH DATES BACK TO 1947, AND WAS EXTENDED IN 1992 TO INCLUDE A THIRD AND FOURTH TIER.

TECHNICAL CHALLENGESTHE REQUIREMENT FOR WORK ON THE ORIGINAL STRUCTURE TO BE KEPT TO A MINIMUM HAS MEANT USING S690-GRADE STRUCTURAL STEEL AND REINFORCED METAL PROFILE SHEETS WITH A THICKNESS OF UP TO 120 MM, IN ORDER TO ALLOW THE TRUSSES TO REACH A HEIGHT OF UP TO 170 M.

ANCILLARY EQUIPMENTTHE CONSTRUCTION WORK REQUIRES AN EXTREMELY WIDE RANGE OF ANCILLARY EQUIPMENT. THIS HAS INCLUDED UP TO FOUR LATTICE BOOM CRANES ON CRAWLERS, ASSISTED BY TEN 500-TONNE TRUCK CRANES AND VARIOUS SMALLER ONES, IN ADDITION TO SIX LARGE FIXED CRANES. THE LACK OF SPACE AROUND THE STADIUM HAS BEEN A REAL PROBLEM, AS THE CRANES HAVE TO CONSTANTLY CROSS EACH OTHER.


PHOTO FEATURE

A FUNCTIONING STADIUMTHE MOST IMPORTANT REQUIREMENT WHILST WORK IS BEING CARRIED OUT ON THE STADIUM IS THAT IT BE ABLE TO CONTINUE TO FUNCTION AS NORMAL. AS SUCH, MATCHES ARE CONTINUING TO BE HELD, ITS MUSEUM AND RESTAURANTS REMAIN OPEN, AND IT CONTINUES TO HOST EVENTS.

SETTINGANOTHER BIG CHALLENGE IS THE FACT THAT THE STADIUM IS LOCATED IN THE HEART OF PASEO DE LA CASTELLANA, IS ABOVE THE LINE OF THE UNDERGROUND THAT CONNECTS NUEVOS MINISTERIOS TO CHAMARTÍN, AND IS RIGHT BY AN UNDERGROUND CAR PARK AND A HIGH-VOLTAGE TRANSMISSION LINE.


The Andalusian Technology Observatory is created by a team from Ayesa’s Public Sector Division

A team from Ayesa’s Public Sector Division has de-veloped the Digital Economy Observatory, one of the most important initiatives of the new platform Anda-lucía Conectada, a website designed to help the Re-gional Government of Andalusia implement its stra-tegy of driving forward the digital transformation of local companies.

Ayesa BIM experts contribute to an introductory guide to ISO certification

On 27 May, Luis Madruga participated as a panellist in a webinar on the implementation of ISO 19650 for BIM projects and the new version of the introductory guide to this certification, a text developed over re-cent months by buildingSMART Spain in collabora-tion with Ayesa.

Work continues on the MARTA museum in Panama that Ayesa is helping to restore

Is Panama’s main museum of anthropology and is housed in a former railway station. After being closed for decades, work has now begun to restore the building. The project, which involves around 15 million dollars in investmenT, is led by Ayesa in collaboration with the Panamanian architect Ariel Espino as the lead designer.

Ayesa attends a conference on sustainability and digitalisation to mark the 35th anniversary of Expansión

Germán del Real, deputy CEO of Ayesa, recently spoke on sustainability and digitalisation at an event in Sevi-lle. He talked about how Ayesa is preparing (alongside other companies) and submitting projects as part of Next Generation EU, an initiative ‘involving unprece-dented levels of investment’, meaning funds ‘must be spent wisely and be subject to controls’.

SNIPPETS

Ayesa participates in NextGene-rationEU proposals seeking more than 300 million euros in funding

The company has submitted various expressions of interest (EOI) in conjunction with companies and public administrations, in which it offers technology solutions which focus on the modernisation of public administration, sustainable transport, smart energy and the circular economy. As such, it has formed various groups which have submitted initiatives see-king 300 million euros in investment.

New technology consulting contract in Colombia by the company Empresa de Acueducto

Knowledge Technology area continues to grow in Latin America. As such, it has recently secured a consulting contract with Empresa de Acueducto y Alcantarillado de Bogotá. Ayesa will be responsible for creating the best technological solution for up-grading its current SAP-ERP platform and associated systems.

Ayesa’s office in Poland continues to grow with new highway engineering projects

The firm’s engineering team in Poland is pushing full steam ahead thanks to new contracts as part of the National Road Construction Programme. The first contract involves the road traffic management system on the S5 expressway, worth nearly 1 million euros.

Ayesa lands at airports in the North-West of Spain to draft projects and supervise construction

The company has been awarded a new contract by airport operator Aena to draft projects and over-see construction work that various airports in the North-West of Spain are set to put out to tender. The contract, worth 1.3 million euros, covers the following airports: A Coruña, Asturias, Bilbao, Burgos, Huesca, León, Logroño or Madrid-Cuatro Vientos.


A yesa is one of the world’s most specia-lised engineering companies when it comes to water projects, with expertise in

everything from dams and desalination plants to supply networks and treatment plants. As part of its aim to further expand this line of business, it has strengthened its team with the addition of two new directors. One of these is Jacobo Pereira, who has been appointed Director of the Water and Environment Division for Europe, Asia and Africa. Jacobo is a civil engineer and has a master’s degree in project management, as well as an MBA. He has spent most of his career at the Bas-que firm IDOM, and has more than 17 years of experience in engineering pro-jects for the water industry. During this time, he has held posi-tions such as technical director and director of business develop-ment.

A ndrés combines his role as Service Manager responsible for the L2 contract for Enel Distri-bución in Spain with that of Head of the AMS

(Application Maintenance) Section, which is made up of around 500 professionals. He is also in charge of recruiting JAVA, Angular, big data and e-government experts. His job involves the industrialisation of pro-duction and creating standard and reliable software development effort estimation models, as well as increasing the internal mobility and promotion of staff, amongst other things. He notes how ‘since beginning the process of change, we’ve focused on creating cross-functional teams, thereby making the most of synergy and expertise’.

ANDRÉS COSTA

HEAD OF THE AMS SECTION

JACOBO PEREIRA FERNANDO DEL CAMPO

F ernando del Campo has been appointed Director of the Water and Environment Division for Latin America. He has 25

years of experience in international infrastructu-re. He has overseen more than 25 PPP bidding processes and has led more than 50 SPVs as managing director, CEO and board member. He is a civil engineer, has an MBA, is Project Management Professional (PMP) certified, and has worked for companies such as Dragados, Capgemini, FCC and Sacyr. He explains that ‘we are in the perfect position to expand into new markets such as Chile, as well as continue growing through major projects in Colombia, Mexico and Ecuador. What’s more, we’re going to work on strengthening our collabora-tion with multilateral organisations in Latin America and diversifying in areas such as the environment, the circular economy and sustainability’.

DIRECTOR OF THE WATER AND ENVIRONMENT DIVISION FOR EUROPE, ASIA AND AFRICA

DIRECTOR OF THE WATER AND ENVIRONMENT DIVISION FOR LATIN AMERICA

A yesa is in the process of implementing a new procurement procedure with the aim of increasing the efficiency with which

goods and services are purchased throughout the company. Jorge Gómez-Haro has been the Director of the Procurement and Service Opti-misation department, part of the Corporate Servi-ces area, for a year now. His team is responsible for everything related to the purchasing of goods and services from external suppliers, amongst other things. Jorge is an industrial engineer and has an MBA from the Universidad de las Américas (Puebla, Mexico), where he specialised in international business administration. He is from Mexico, where he was Director of Finance for six years. During his time at Ayesa, he has strengthened the foundations on which the new procedure is built. Over the past months, he has been working in order to finish the new procurement model.

T he company’s process of digital transformation has accelerated during the pandemic, and in order to drive new technology projects, Ayesa

has appointed Pablo Sánchez CIO (Chief Information Officer). Before joining the company, Pablo worked at Indra, where his most recent position was IT Director. In the short term, he will oversee the launch of two projects which will represent milestones in terms of the digital transformation of Ayesa. The first is SAP NEXT, which will introduce the ERP system SAP S/4HANA and allow SAP’s accounting and HR modules to be used in all the countries where Ayesa is present, and the second is Miracle, a cloud-based change management plan.

PABLO SÁNCHEZ

CIO

JORGE GÓMEZ-HARO MAITE SÁINZ

M aite Sáinz has recently been appoin-ted the new Director of Talent and Corporate Culture. Maite has an

undergraduate degree in political science and sociology, as well as a master’s degree in sales management and marketing. In the last 20 years he has focused his career in HR consulting in companies such as Sapiens and Indra. For her, this field ‘is a way of transforming companies, allowing them to attract and retain individuals who are skilled, committed and aligned with their company’s strategy, as well as provide them with opportunities for profes-sional development’. She also believes that ‘in a global, agile and flexible environment like the one we currently work in, where what makes a company stand out is its people, having poli-cies in place which make the firm a good place to work and ensure it has a solid reputation is crucial’.

EXECUTIVE

DIRECTOR OF THE PROCUREMENT AND SERVICE OPTIMISATION DEPARTMENT

DIRECTOR OF TALENT AND CORPORATE CULTURE


Market view Investment committee HR StrategyGermán del Real y Rosalío Alonso, directores generales de Tecnología del Conocimiento e Ingeniería respectivamente, así como Isidoro Carrillo, de Inter-nacional, dieron su visión de los mercados. Germán explained cu-rrent trends in technology (people centricity, location independence and resilient delivery) before noting how digital transformation ‘is now a priority for management committees at all companies’.

Throughout its history, Ayesa has acquired three companies, MdE, in order to expand into industrial en-gineering; Unitec in Brazil, in order to grow in oil & gas; and Sadiel in 2011. This year may well end in a fourth acquisition. Within this con-text, Rafael Fernández Cantillana, Senior Chief Investment Officer, announced the creation of an investment committee, whose job is to analyse transactions from in-dustrial and financial perspective.

Ayesa is expecting exponential growth. Given its expansion and the fact that it is a professional services company, the focus ne-eds to be on HR management. As such, Nicolás Costábile, Managing Director of Corporate Services, spoke about how the presence of different generations is a challenge across the company. He explained how ‘new generations are bringing with them other ways of working and seeing life in general’.

Chairman remarks

The Chairmanof Ayesa, José Luis Manzanares Japón, spoke about Ayesa’s early days and expressed how proud he is to be part of the company.

Manzanares Abásolo: ‘Is Ayesa’s time to shine, we will double in size over the next five years’

Last June Ayesa held its bianannual Global Conferen-ce, which was attended by 400 members of senior and middle management from the company’s various offices around the world. At the event, José Luis Man-zanares Abásolo, CEO of Ayesa, noted how the firm is at an ‘extremely important’ crossroads.

He explained how the objective is to become a large strongish digital services group through a process of consolidation, something that will involve acquiring other companies.

‘In Spain, there is space for a leading Spanish-owned technology company, and we believe we can step up to the challenge and become the go-to company for

GLOBAL CONFERENCE 2021

major clients looking for a partner to help them with their process of digital transformation’.

In terms of how the company is performing, the CEO stated that in the first half of 2021, it experienced double-digit growth, overtaking its competitors, which have seen much more modest figures, ‘something that is testimony to the ability of all our teams to adapt to the new circumstances brought about by COVID-19’.

To demonstrate this trend, he highlighted how 700 new jobs have been created in a single year, Ayesa’s entire workforce barely fifteen years ago. In terms of strategic messages, he talked about how Ayesa is the sum of all the hard work of its 5,500 employees, and how the firm faces organisational challenges ‘in order to have in place efficient processes based on results and teamwork, as well as an efficient communication strategy that reaches everyone’.

As far as finances go, he spoke about how each project must have ‘a survival guide, based on positive cash flow, contract monitoring and a close relationship with the client involving in-person contact’.

THE CEO STATES AT THE BIANNUAL DIRECTORS’ MEETING THAT THE BUSINESS IS GROWING AT DOUBLE-DIGIT GROWTH AND THAT ACQUISITIONS ARE BEING CONSIDERED


The Ayesa FoundationCOVID-19: a second donation of 100,000 euros to Cáritas

A new temporary employment system for FAISEM

The continuation of the pandemic is increasing the hardship faced by the most vulnerable families, meaning more and more assistance is needed. That’s why the Ayesa Foundation has made a donation of 100,000 euros to the Seville branch of Cáritas for the second year running. The President of the foundation, Ana Manzanares, stresses just how important it is, ‘now more than ever’, that Ayesa help these kinds of organisations. According to the latest data published by the Social Reality Observatory of Cáritas Spain, 55% of the families it currently works with are living in severe poverty.

Emprendis Awards 2020

The Andalusian Public Foundation for the Social Inte-gration of Persons with Mental Illness (FAISEM), part of the Local Department of Health and Families, has entrusted the Ayesa Foundation with the development and implementation of its new temporary job bank. This is a public-sector recruitment system aimed at professionals and designed to cover temporary staffing needs.

The initiative, led by the HR and IT Department, is a clear indication of the organisation’s commitment to transparency, as well as the principles of equality, me-rit and ability, in terms of its recruitment processes.

The web application has a clear, simple and concise interface which allows both candidates and the orga-nisation to easily upload and manage all the neces-sary information and documents.


Diversification-GrowthDiversification is another tool for bringing about growth which we must make full use of this year in or-der to achieve rapid results. Each division has its own strategy for dealing with new clients, new markets and niches such as technology for industry.

The following individuals participated in this panel discussion: Antonio Monzón (Director of Business Strategy, Utilities, Knowledge Technology Area), Fran

Fernández Olmedo Director of Business Strategy and Expansion, Public Sector, Knowledge Technology Area), Adam Tilling (Director for Anglo Markets, Engi-neering Area), Elena Sánchez (Director of Transport, Digital Transformation Area), Antonio Galán (Director of Industry and Public Sector, Digital Transformation Area) y Luis María Ruiz (Director of the Knowledge Technology Area in Latin America).

What’s New Production-Operations Global footprintChanges in our environment, particularly our clients, continue to accelerate following the pande-mic, and this is something that requires us to continue to reinvent ourselves at the same pace or even faster than before. Alicia Arce, Chief Innovation Offi-cer, Chief Innovation Officer, ex-plained how she is in the process of analysing a series of strategic areas, such as offshore renewable energy. Also participating in this panel were Pablo Sánchez, CIO; Juan Carlos Castro, chief security officer; y Edward Camacho, SAP Director for Latin America.

To talk about matrix structures within the context of companies is to talk about productivity, efficiency, synergy, specialisation, innovation, etc. Provided the structure is well understood by those at a company and the roles are well defined, an organisational structure with a matrix design allows firms to adapt to changing environments and complex situations. Luis Garrido, Xavier Güell, Javier Alfaro, Carmen Cla-vijo and Emilio Martínez shared their experiences in implementing vertical and horizontal parts of the structure in their departments.

As part of this panel discussion, country managers from around the world explained the opportu-nities identified in their markets in order to ensure Ayesa continues to grow. In the photo: Mariano Ál-varez (India), Jesús María García Pro (Saudi Arabia), Artur Mackjac (Poland), Alberto Bonet (Pana-ma), Manuel González Villalobos (Mexico), Francisco Javier García Martín (Ecuador), Víctor Giménez (Brazil) and Javier Rodríguez (Co-lombia and Peru). Xavier Mingui-llón and Joseba Inchaurraga also took part and spoke about the strongish market.

AY E S A38

CSR

Apadis Bahía de Algeciras Asansull

Niños con AmorFejidif

Molinos del Guadaira

Autismo CádizApannedis

TASUpacesur EducaAbriendo Puertas

256 million euros in

turnover

513- million-euro

portfolio

4850

Did you know that Ayesa...

... designed the Ibn Firnás Bridge in Córdoba ten years ago?

… is part of a 5G project based on BIM models at Málaga’s high-speed train station María Zambrano?

… has extensive experience in implementing Salesforce platforms for B2B processes at utilities?

employees

Sneak peekWhat our people are saying...

‘In Spain, there is space for a leading Spanish-owned technology company, and we believe we can step up to the challenge and become the go-to company for major clients looking for a part-ner to help them with their process of digital transfor-mation’.

‘In a global, agile and flexibleenvironment like the one we currently work in, where what makes a company stand out is its people, having policies in place which make the firm agood place to work and ensure it has a solid reputation iscrucial’.

‘The company has been awarded numerous major projects and framework con-tracts from industry leaders. The firm’s outstanding and comprehensive civil and industrial engineering servi-ces are the reason our clients place their trust in us, safe in the knowledge that their pro-jects will be completed to the highest of standards, on time and as efficiently as possible’.

JOSÉ LUIS MANZANARES ABÁSOLOCEO OF AYESA

MAITE SÁINZDIRECTOR OF TALENT AND CORPORATE CULTURE

JOSÉ ANTONIO GARCÍA BERMUDODIRECTOR DE ENERGÍAÁREA DE INGENIERÍA

Key Figures

*Data for 2020.

Ingenio - Ayesa

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