“T”stands for Transport - Grupo Antolin

PuneThe New Engineering

Design Centre

Trends and Colours

“T”standsfor Transport

Automn/Fall 2006 · nº 47Automn/Fall 2006 · nº 47

news grupo antolin ·Autumn 20062

Summary

NEWS Published by Grupo Antolin

Grupo Antolin is an international company at the cutting edge of design and production ofcomponents for car interiors for theautomobile industry.Present in 21 countries, it has aworkforce of more than 10, 400employees.

Legal Deposit: M-18594-2006

EDITORIAL BOARDGrupo AntolinHuman Resources DepartmentCarretera Madrid Irún, km. 244,8E 09007 BURGOS - SPAINTel. 34 947 47 77 00Fax: 34 947 47 79 48www.grupoantolin.com

EDITORIAL OFFICEDepartment of Human Resources Leticia Fernández· [email protected]

DESIGNGermán Delgado· [email protected]

PHOTOGRAPHYRafa Sáiz

PRINTED BYCOIMANC/ Marqués de Portugalete, 16E 28027 MADRID - ESPAÑATel. 34 91 742 12 03Fax: 34 91 742 67 81

page 3 in first person

page 4 cover Engineering Design Centre in GA Pune

page 8 designing the future Trends and Colours

page 10 report e-financing: I+D+i

page 13 the major figures “T” stands for Transport

page 16 the history corner Ford, the dream becomes a business

page 18 the photo B:58

page 20 in brief News in brief

page 32 health My head hurts

page 34 on the way Lower Saxony

fall 2006 · news grupo antolin 3

...in

firs

t per

son

Enthusiasm and drive to be best in class

The epigraph of this editorial is one of Grupo Antolin’s VALUES, included in our Policy andStrategy. This value spurs us on to be the best in product, process and management. We oftenfocus only on product and process excellence, but what also distinguishes the best companies inthe world is their MANAGEMENT excellence.

What do we understand by Management Excellence?

Organisations, which stand out as an Example, base their success on two basic pillars: theircapacity to improve and standardisation.

Organisations such as Toyota have demonstrated that their learning capacity is what has madethem a worldwide reference in results, growth and management. The important thing is to learnfrom mistakes and to provide our systems with feedback so these mistakes do not happen again.This attitude maintains the equilibrium between apparently conflicting values: rigour in compli-ance with the rules compared with agility and efficiency to continuously improve them.

Standardisation, correctly understood, is not “to everyone’s liking”. The key to success lies inmaintaining equilibrium, in being flexible and respecting standards. These turn into bureaucracyif they do not evolve based on the users’ experience. All of this will lead us to share knowledge,to speak a common language and understand what others do.

The Managers guide this standardisation and learning process heading the implementation ofsystems and going in depth not only into “what” but also into “how”. The IntermediateManagers get involved in solving daily problems trying to share their “know-how” and finallythe Technicians and Workers enter improvement dynamics that will lead them to increase theircompetences and move towards Excellence.

In such a competitive sector as ours, the reason to fight, innovate and wish to be the best is nota whim, it is not an ambition, either; it is a need to SURVIVE.

This is the decisive and critical time. The turning point of the market, where the best will triumphand the mediocre will fail.

Each and every one of the areas and activities of our Group must become immersed in thisprocess. Design, Development and Industrialisation must adopt these dynamics.

We have potential, knowledge and opportunities within GA to be a leading company on a world-wide level. In January this year we launched SP (Grupo Antolin Production System) in our com-pany as a Strategic Improvement Initiative that reinforces both learning and standardisation ineach and every one of our companies and managements. We are all going to have to give ourtime and efforts to implement it. It is also going to require an important management commit-ment. We must not fall into the normal trap whereby solving daily complications does not allowus to work properly. We must spend time on initiatives such as the one proposed, which are goingto prevent the existence of the day’s, week’s, month’s and next year’s problem.

The Grupo top management is going pay special attention to how the implementation of theSPGA advances. I am sure that with the support and commitment of the whole executive teammaximum we will obtain maximum yield from this important initiative.

Ernesto Antolín Vice President

COVER


Last July, Maria Helena Antolin as the DEOM Director, Pablo Baroja as DOAPPDirector and Ismael Del Moral, as Graph-ic Engineering representative graced thisoccasion and opened the new facilitiesof Grupo Antolin Pune in India: the PuneEngineering Design Centre.

Although the old centre was located inthe heart of the city, last year’s growthin the company begged a move to biggerfacilities.

Near to the city airport , the new facilityis located in a technologically upbeat Gi-

ga Space Information Technology Parklocated in Viman Nagar, the newly de-veloped suburb of Pune. A lot of effort hasbeen put in to making this facility a veryfunctional and comfortable place to workbearing in mind the aesthetic sense anda pleasing colour scheme.

The opening ceremony for the new facility of the Grupo Antolin Pune Engineering DesignCentre on 4th. July by some members of the Board of Directors and local executives. TheCentre houses the corporate wing in this country apart from giving service to all companiesworldwide.

Design Centre of Grupo AntolinInauguration of NEW

in PUNE


The new centre is spread over 6500sq.feet. The facility boasts various func-tional spaces, which also include a cafe-teria and well appointed conferencerooms. The Design Centre will also housethe corporate wing of Grupo AntolinPune. The design centre has also set upa CAE department to boost the allied de-sign services and has started offeringmeshing, static and dynamic simulationservices.

A piece of history

Grupo Antolin started its India operationsin 1996 with its strategy of accompany-ing its customers in various geographieswith its manufacturing plant in Ranjan-gaon. The think tank at Grupo Antolinheadquarters soon realised the growthpotential exhibited by the Asian automo-tive market and by the Indian Auto-motive market in particular. They also feltthat there is a vast pool of qualified en-gineers available in this region that canwork in the design and developmentarea if trained adequately. Thus a verybig decision was made to create a Glob-al Resource for Design and Engineer-ing for all the Grupo Antolin facilities.

The design facility had a very modestbeginning with an office of 1200 sq feetand 3 workstations. The designers whostarted with low priority 2D to 3D conver-sion jobs are currently integral parts of im-portant project teams. The design cen-tre operates in two shifts there by offer-ing the customers a faster turn aroundtime. Even though the set up was small,the investment was made rightfully increating a very robust IT infrastructure.All the designers were trained initiallyin Spain by the Graphics Engineeringteam. Today the training plan for newsemployees includes a three-month train-ing period at the Headquarters in Burgos.Right from the beginning the design cen-tre was benefited by great support fromGraphic Engineering heads in Spain, theDepartment of Asia Pacific and top management of GA Pune.

Near to thecity airport,the newfacility islocated in atechnologically upbeat GigaSpaceInformation TechnologyPark located inViman Nagar,the newlydevelopedsuburb ofPune.


From the internal tothe externalcustomer

The design centre has always consolidat-ed before taking on the new customerswithin the group. Grupo Antolin Ingene-ria at Burgos was the first customer in2002 followed by GA North America in2003. The first co-ordinator SatishAthavale was placed at the customerlocation in 2003 at GA North America.The centre has subsequently providedservices to other Group Companies likeGrupo Antolin France in Grupo AntolinLoire, Grupo Antolin Deutschland orGrupo Antolin Japan. This year the design centre has made further inroadsinto Grupo Antolin companies with initiating services to Grupo Antolin Trans-port, Grupo Antolin Vosges in France,and Grupo Antolin Bohemia in the CzechRepublic. Since this time, our designershave worked onsite in various Grupo Antolin facilities at Burgos, Auburn Hills,Elsendorf, Colon, Velizy, Vosges, Loireand Hiroshima. It can be noted that de-signers from GA Pune have representedGrupo Antolin as the first line to the cus-tomer at Ford Cologne and also at Mazda, Hiroshima.

Thus it can be seen that the GA Designcentre is providing key design resourcesto almost all the important GA Design Lo-cations worldwide. Our engineers havealso benefited hugely on account ofthese onsite stints. They have used theseopportunities to learn various designguidelines, procedures and standards.The same have been imparted to theteam back home. The designers havenow worked on almost all the productlines of Grupo Antolin including the newones like sunroof mechanisms and mag-nesium parts.

After proving its capabilities in the GrupoAntolin engineering centres the Designcentre has been providing design services to Indian Automobile majorslike Tata Motors, Mahindra And Mahin-dra and Maruti Udyog since 2005. WithIndia being poised as one of the emerg-ing automobile markets, the design cen-tre plans to target more external cus-tomers in the years to come.

* The President of the Spanish Government,

Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero was supposed to

have attended the inauguration ceremony but

it was cancelled on account of the sad train ac-

cident in Valencia. GA Pune Team expresses

solidarity for the victims of this train tragedy.

Vilas Unavane - CEO India

Pablo Baroja - DOAAP Director

Mª Helena Antolin - DEOM Director

Ayay ApteGA Pune Design&Engineering Centre General Manager

I feel really proud to be associated with Engineering DesignCentre right from its inception in 2002 and honoured to be heading it currently. I was really lucky to join in the first batchof 4 designers. The current strength of the design centre is54 designers and 6 support staff and is one of the largest de-sign and engineering resources for the entire group. The fu-ture plans for the design centre include ISO/CMM certifi-cation, participation in concurrent engineering programs forautomotive companies and capacity expansion. It really is agreat feeling that we are able to be the central resource forall the Grupo Antolin Companies located all across the world.It is a difficult task to be able to adjust to the various strin-gent requirements of these internal customers but our desig-ners have exhibited a lot of skill and efforts to achieve a de-gree of customer satisfaction with all our customers. It was noteasy but we could pull it off with constant guidance andsupport from Burgos Design Centre. For me it has beensuch a satisfying and challenging journey, which I cherish a lot.


Ajay ApteGA Pune Design&Engineering

Centre General Manager

DESIGNING THE FUTURE

Colour

Sophistication and experimentation with re-spect to colour are increasing day by day. Bythis, we are not merely referring to its im-plantation but also to the analysis of its re-lationship with space and its psychologicaleffects.

Warmth and coldness concern thermal sen-sations. Colours somehow manage to con-vey the following feelings to us:

Warm colours in light shades, creams andpinks, suggest gentleness, femininity, kind-ness and hospitality; and darker tones witha predominance of red: vitality, power,wealth and stability.

Cold colours in light shades express gentle-ness, coolness, expansion, relaxation, soli-tude and hope; and darker tones with a pre-dominance of blue: melancholy, discre-tion, mystery and depression. We can also“warm up” or “cool down” a colour bymixing it with one from the other type.

Apart from an object’s shape, the infinitenumber of ways a colour can be blendedis an extremely versatile resource for theeffective transmission of all sorts of sensa-tions.

&ColoursTRENDS

Colour is a powerful communicationtool that can be used to create andstrengthen the image of a product.

CHARACTERA combination of tradition and rebelliousness on a palette with dark colours

FRESHThe sun, the sea...

are the main topics. A carefree and easy-going attitude.


DEPARTMENT OF INDUSTRIAL DESIGN

The need for peace and quiet, and also justthe opposite: the desire for excitement andadventure.

We want tradition and authenticity but atthe same time we are enthralled by thehigh technology of tomorrow.

Designers are aware of the significance ofcontrasting colours, using such confronta-tion to highlight and give importance tosmall details. Apart from this technique,they also use contrasting finishes and ma-terials, such as, for instance, the combi-nation of matt and satin finishes, or warmmaterials such as wool and technologicalmaterials such as steel.

In response to these demands, which area contradiction in terms, designers proposemeeting the two halfway, by creating fu-turistic relics that achieve a perfect balancebetween an ethnic/handcrafted work anda modern/industrialised product.

Change is in the air

This change will mean saying goodbye to theextravagant colours used in previous sea-sons. Simple motifs will emerge during thespring/summer of 2007 and there will be anabundance of subtle themes, refined neu-tral colours and different shades of black.

Many of us will welcome the arrival of har-monies of colour with a simple, normal andnatural appearance. Colours we are alreadyfamiliar with and which fit in perfectly withour environment but which have been re-invented through the use of new combina-tions and treatments. Sweet colours will stillcontinue, but with a strange, disconcertingappearance.

This is a reflection of the time in whichwe live, in which most of us would ratherpass through the city unnoticed, instead ofstanding out in the crowd.

According to the guide on mixing trends, FUTURE INTERIORS,2007 will be noticeably influenced by the following themes: WHIMSY,

FRESH, COTERIE and CHARACTER, represented by those imagesreflecting some of the materials, motifs and objects that are characteristic

of each one, along with the colours that represent them.2007

COTERIERed colour,

fresh graphics,energy and strength

WHIMSYA very feminine tendency that combines fragility with strength.Slovenly but elegant

otoño 2006 · noticias grupo antolin 9

The latest technologies in process design andimplementation can also be applied in the fi-nancial area. Following the Design for SixSigma (DFSS) system, the Financial Plan-ning and Treasury and IT Systems Depart-ments, both of which form part of the Eco-nomic-Financial Departament have devel-oped the following processes:

· Centralised Liquidity Management· Electronic Auto-billing· Financing to Suppliers

CentralisedLiquidityManagement

Access to financial resources is limited forall economies; likewise, all resources havea price that we must reduce to a minimum.We, therefore, have to efficiently optimisethese financial resources.

How do we accomplish this? There aredifferent ways, one of them being liquidi-ty centralisation.

What does this centralisation consist of?The creation of an in-house bank, that is,Grupo Antolin Irausa becomes the Bank forthe Group’s companies.

What is required for optimum operation?A financial entity that is present in the ma-jority of countries where the Group is alsopresent. In our case, ABN AMRO. A com-mon ERP* for all companies, In the Caseof Grupo Antolin, this is SAP R3.

REPORT

Tools such as QFD (Quality Function Deployment), FMEA, Benchmarking or statisticalprocess analysis, which have been used until now almost exclusively to develop products andprocess in industrial areas, have been used to design across the board processes of a financialnature, providing a customer-orientated approach and resulting in robust and error-proofprocesses.

in the Financial Management of Grupo Antolínefinancing: I+D+i

GRUPO ANTOLIN ECONOMIC & FINANCIAL DEPARTMENT


Grupo Antolin is oneof the first Spanish

companies toimplement the

centralised liquiditymanagement systemin so many countries

ABN-AMRO. A financial entity that ispresent in the majority of countries

where the Grupo Antolin is also present.

* ERP- Enterprise Resource Planning systems (ERPs)

How does it operate? We are going tosee it step by step in a simple and very sum-marised manner:

Each company opens an account for everycurrency it works with, with the chosen fi-nancial entity, receiving all the collectionsdirectly in the account and making all thepayments from this same account.

Every day the balance resulting from eachaccount of each company, either debtoror creditor, is automatically transferredto a Grupo Antolin Irausa account in eachcountry. Later and automatically, too, thebalances of these accounts are transferredto a main account of Grupo Antolin Irausa.This whole process is known as Cross Bor-der Cash Pooling.

Finally a process known as National Pool-ing is applied to the balances of each ac-count. This consists of applying a mean ofthe creditor and debtor interest rates of allthe accounts in foreign currencies.

What do we accomplish with thisprocess?· Eliminate inactive balances in the

companies.· Reduce financial costs.· Reduce administrative tasks.· Increase the Group’s financial capacity.· Speed up the Group’s liquidity

management.

This system is applied by the majority ofthe multinationals and our Group is one ofthe first Spanish companies to implementthis system in so many countries.

The process started with the Europeancompanies and has continued throughoutthis year with the American companies.

Electronic Autobilling

The traditional invoicing or billing thatwe all know consists of the supplier, whosupplies a material or renders a service,sending an invoice to his customer for himto give his conformity and if appropriateproceed with payment on the date es-tablished.

In Autobilling the relationship is the oppo-site way round, that is, it is the customerwho sends the invoice to the supplier, cor-responding to the material delivered orservice rendered.

This system, which is used by the majori-ty of companies in the car industry, hasbeen used as the basis to develop a to-tally new system: The E-Autobill.

How does this process work? The sup-plier needs to have access to Grupo Antolin

the customer’s supplier portal.

Both supplier and customer sign an agree-ment that governs the operation.

Every fortnight the customer automati-cally generates the autobills in SAP, taking:on the one hand, the prices from the filemanaged by the Supplier Administration Management and on the other, the entriesregistered in the customer’s warehouse.

The system automatically detects possibleerrors in prices and quantities.

The representatives digitally sign the auto-bills to send them to the suppliers’ portal.

The supplier accesses the portal and down-loads the autobill:

· On pdf format for printing and filing. · On xml format, which, with a valid

certificate, will enable it to be filed onelectronic support, so it is not neces-sary to file it on paper.

If the supplier has an incident with the au-tobill he informs the customer of thisthrough the portal.

What are the advantages of thisprocess?· The administrative work is reduced, the

invoices or bills no longer “travel”


G.A.

ERP ExtranetCustomer’s

supplier portal

Supllier

Notification issent to the

Supplier

It is signed digitally

The signed invoice is stored

Visualization ofinvoices

The supplier accedes to visualize

An invoice isgenerated

File

InvoiceOrder

Invoice

Esquema explicativo de laAutofacturación electrónica

· Administrative costs are reduced.· Invoices do not get lost.· The state of the account receivable or

payable is known.· The collection and payment date is

guaranteed.· Claims for incidents are speeded up.

This new process has already been imple-mented in the Spanish companies of theGroup and it will gradually be implement-ed in the rest of the Group companies.

Financing to Suppliers

Confirming is a financial product where-by a financial entity and a customer sign anagreement to offer financing to the suppli-ers of this customer.

This product works as follows:· The customer sends the financial entity

the list of payments to be made on acertain date.

· The Financial Entity sends a notificationto the suppliers offering them the earlycollection of their invoices at a specificprice and without remedy.

· If the supplier accepts the conditions,the financial entity will transfer therelative funds to him.

What are the advantages of this product?· The supplier receives payment for his

invoices in advance and withoutremedy.

· The supplier achieves financing for hisworking capital without having toprovide corporate guarantees.

· The supplier can use these guaranteesto finance his investments.

· As there is no remedy they improve hisbalance ratios and therefore hisfinancial image.

The main problem with this product is thetime that elapses from the transmission ofthe supplier’s invoice to the customer andthe receipt of the financing order from thefinancial entity, which, on average, usual-ly takes around forty-five days

What does the Grupo Antolin projectconsist of? To solve this problem we haveeliminated the communication to the fi-nancial entity and therefore the commu-nication from this entity to the supplier, re-ducing the time from forty-five days toone day.

How have we managed this? Using thesuppliers’ portal as an “on line” commu-nication channel between customer, sup-plier and financial entity with the collabo-ration of Caja de Burgos bank.

How does the process work?· The supplier signs a contract with the

financial entity.· Once our group companies have

generated our suppliers’ autobills, their representatives sign them electronically.

· The relative settlements go automati-cally to the suppliers’ portal.

· Through the portal the supplier selectsthe Group company and the bills hewishes to receive payment for in ad-vance.

· Once the selection has been made, ourServer establishes contact with the Ca-ja de Burgos Server.

· Caja de Burgos returns the financial cal-culations.

· If the supplier agrees to the operation, heaccepts it and the information is sentto Caja de Burgos through the portals ofboth entities and under a secure connec-tion.

· Finally, the portal of Caja de Burgos con-firms the operation and the supplier candispose of his funds immediately.

What do we accomplish with this project?Offer our suppliers a service.

Let’s imagine that the financial managerof one of our group’s suppliers is awayfrom his office and they inform him thathe has to make an unforeseen paymentand therefore does not have the relativeallowance.

We help him; he only needs a computerwith Internet access, to connect to our por-tal and follow the process described. Hisproblem has been solved.



THE MAJOR FIGURES

Grupo Antolin Transport (previouslyGrupo Antolin FFI), is located in theairport of Andrézieux Bouthéon

(La Plaine industrial estate), 15 Km from St.Etienne and about 30 Km from the oldfacilities in Roche La Moliere.

Becoming that worldwide referent andsatisfying that mission are based mainlyon a strategy of growth supported by fourbasic pillars-Customer, Product, Leadershipand Globalisation- and of course, sustainedand guaranteed by QUALITY.

The year 2006 has been, and is still being,a hard and crucial year for the future of Gru-po Antolin Transport.

On the one hand, the transfer of the faci-lities to more modern and appropriate faci-lities for the type of product we manufac-ture and will manufacture in the near fu-ture, has represented a considerable effortin all aspects (technical, human, organisa-tion, economic, etc.). On the other hand,and in the second half of the year, thefoam integration and start-up of the main

railway projects, which will act as a basis forgrowth for the coming years, have repre-sented a clear wager on integration, di-versification and customer service as ma-xims for our daily work.

The presence of Grupo Antolin Transportin the railway sector is consolidated. Itspresence in the most important projects ofthe international panorama also increases,sharing in the growth of rail transport(both in Europe and outside). The rail-way market is clearly growing all over the

The mission of Grupo Antolin Transport is to “be a worldwide referent in the railway interiordesign sector, in the aeronautical sector and in other transport sectors, being able to satisfycustomers' needs (related to innovation, development, service, time, quality and cost), withinan environment of competitiveness and profitability for the shareholders.”

Grupo Antolin Transport

“T” stands forTransport


world, and these are markets where weare present both directly and indirectly andtherefore we can clearly satisfy our cus-tomers' needs.

Grupo Antolin Transport wagers in a de-cisive way on part of this growth being sup-ported by greater diversification, which willenable us to offer the customer an integra-tion of all their systems that make up andwill make up the interior design of trainsin the future.

Grupo Antolin Transport is also present inthe aeronautical sector, manufacturingfoam and seats, as well as in the coach andbus market, with a great perspective forgrowth in the medium and long term.

Our current CUSTOMER panorama willchange considerably over the coming years(short and medium term) and new custo-mers will appear, who will consolidate theinternational presence of Grupo AntolinTransport.

Related to PRODUCT; in the railway sec-tor, we wager on the consolidation of thecurrent ranges, increasing them, com-pleting them and developing them with respect to design (more modern and inte-grated), with respect to modularity and theapplication of new materials (magnesium,fabrics, etc.) as well as related to ergonom-ic studies, which will enable us to offerour end customers greater comfort and en-joyment, incorporating new ideas thatwill permit a clear weight reduction. Al-ways, of course, satisfying the most de-manding crash, fire and smoke standardsand requirements, and not forgetting theneed to do all of this within an environmentof economic competitiveness.

The railway seats are configured, for themoment, in three ranges (Asiano Range, Al-cea Range and Apremia Range), with all thepossible variants in each configuration.

With regards to the aeronautical sector,this is based on the development of a com-

Main clients to date of today

GA Transport facilities

INTEGRA is agroup ofcompanies with a commoninterest:railway interiordesign. It ishere whereGrupo AntolinTransport is the leader infunctionintegration andinterior designprojects


plete range of seats, applying the same ba-sic concepts as in the railway sector, but de-veloping them beyond the traditional con-cept of plane seats that exists on the mar-ket today.

The coach and bus seats (each one in theirrange) will seek to revolutionise the marketwith a clear wager on the introduction ofnew materials that will considerably helpreduce their weight, favouring the integra-tion of three-point seatbelts, without en-cumbering vehicle structures, permittinglighter and safer designs than those thatexist today.

The product strategy also includes diversi-fication towards systems or subsystemsthat may or may not be integrated with theseats, miscellaneous accessories and/or ser-vices, which configure a complete range ofcustomer support and service. Differentstrategies have been developed to achievethis, highlighting INTEGRA ... among them.INTEGRA is a group of companies with acommon interest: railway interior design. It is here where Grupo Antolin Transportis the leader in function integration andinterior design projects.

Our third pillar for development andgrowth is LEADERSHIP, either with previousinitiatives such as INTEGRA or other futureinitiatives that are currently in a develop-ment and implementation phase, and in in-novation, a fundamental piece to attainand to remain in a position of clear leader-ship of the sector.

And finally, we reach our fourth pillar: GLO-BALISATION. Nowadays we cannot hopeto give our international customers a ser-vice just from France. We must, either di-rectly or indirectly, and with the supportfrom the Grupo Antolin companies on aworldwide level, give total coverage thatwill enable us to clearly stand out fromour competitors, taking advantage of mar-kets, prices, organisation and structure.

This strategy supported by these four pillarswill enable Grupo Antolin Transport tobecome a leader of the sector, giving thatadded value that is demanded so muchby the sector or the sectors.

Year 2010 is the key materialisation date forall the expectations placed in the strate-gic plan.

railway sector seats manufacture

aeronautical sector seats manufacture

Aeronautics foam

Intercity BusProduct Development.Significant lightening. 3-point seat-belt.

Urban busesExtension of Asianorange

coach and bussector seats manufacture

THE HISTORY CORNER


A s with most great enterprises, FordMotor Company's beginningswere modest. The company had

anxious moments in its infancy. The ear-liest record of a shipment is July 20th,1903, approximately one month afterincorporation, to a Detroit physician. Withthe company's first sale came hope ayoung Ford Motor Company had taken itsfirst steps.

Perhaps Ford Motor Company's greatestcontribution to automotive manufactur-ing was the moving assembly line. First im-plemented at the Highland Park plant (in

Michigan, US) in 1913, the new techniqueallowed individual workers to stay in oneplace and perform the same task repeat-edly on multiple vehicles that passed bythem. The line proved tremendously ef-ficient, helping the company far surpassthe production levels of their competitors-and making the vehicles more affordable.

The First Vehicles

Henry Ford insisted that the company's fu-ture lay in the production of affordablecars for a mass market. Beginning in

1903, the company began using the first19 letters of the alphabet to name newcars. In 1908, the Model T was born. 19years and 15 million Model T's later - in“any colour you want so long as it’sblack!” - Ford Motor Company was a gi-ant industrial complex that spanned theglobe. In 1925, Ford Motor Companyacquired the Lincoln Motor Company,thus branching out into luxury cars, andin the 1930's, the Mercury division wascreated to establish a division centredon mid-priced cars. Ford Motor Companywas growing.

Ford Motor Company enteredthe business world on June16th, 1903, when Henry Fordand 11 business associateswith $28,000 in cash gavebirth to what was to becomeone of the world's largestcorporations.

Few companiesare as closely identified withthe history and developmentof industry and societythroughout the 20th centuryas Ford Motor Company.

The Dreambecomes a business

“Whether you think you can or whether youthink you cannot, it is true”

Henry Ford

Becoming a GlobalCompany

In the 50's came the Thunderbird and thechance to own a part of Ford Motor Com-pany. The company went public and, onFeb. 24, 1956, had about 350,000 newstockholders. Henry Ford II's keen percep-tion of political and economic trends inthe 50's led to the global expansion ofFMC in the 60's, and the establishment ofFord of Europe in 1967, 20 years ahead ofthe European Economic Community's ar-rival. The company established its NorthAmerican Automotive Operations in1971, consolidating U.S., Canadian, andMexican operations more than two

decades ahead of the North AmericanFree Trade Agreement.

But, who is The FordMotor Companytoday?

Nowadays The Ford Motor Company em-braces a number of very well knownbrands: nd Rover, Jaguar, Volvo, Mazda,Mercury, Lincoln and Ford itself. Over thepast few years we have seen closer co-operation between these brands from En-gineering, Purchasing and Manufacturing

strategic point of view.

The Future

The Ford Motor Company is forever chang-ing, for the future we need to understandthese changes and put ourselves in a posi-tion to present advantages to our customeras a result of these changes. The future? Thesupplier base is being reduced and for thefuture the customer is looking for compa-nies that can offer world-class levels of en-gineering capability, global presence, com-mitment to Total Quality and competitivepricing across the whole spectrum of inte-rior commodities; in short they are lookingfor suppliers like Grupo Antolin.

The history of Grupo Antolin is linked to the recentgrowth of The Ford Motor Company;our expansion overthe past twenty years reflects the changes that Ford Mo-tor Company has undergone.

These changes include many aspects of our business:

Globalisation: if you overlay the manufacturingpresence of Grupo Antolin with that of Ford you cansee the evidence of this “follow Ford” philosophy.

Modularisation: in 1996 we supplied the first modular headliner to Ford Valencia for the Ka.

Nowadays we supply modules to many of our customersaround the world and in particular around 1.2 millionmodules per year to The Ford Motor Company in Europe.

Pan-Brand expansion: as Ford has acquired ad-ditional brands so our opportunity to develop thesebrands as customers as also expanded.

Multi product supply: Ford wants suppliers to beable to supply a variety of products within the car.Today we supply headliners, hard trim, parcel shelvesand seat mechanisms as well as providing JIT logisticsservices.

Ford and Grupo Antolin


a car interior meantto be shared

B58:

THE PHOTO


Grupo Antolin ARDASA, Grupo AntolinVIGO and Grupo PSA have, for the firsttime, accepted the challenge ofturning the interior of this peoplecarrier into a place that providescomfort, encourages sharing andmakes life a whole lot easier for theoccupants.

Thanks to the ingenious functioning ofits seats, the fast and easy modularity ofthe Xsara Picasso substitute permits upto seven people to travel comfortablyinside. Attention is drawn, in thisrespect, to the specific recliningmechanism, which is the only one of itskind on the market, and developed

entirely by Grupo Antolin. With itsoriginal arrangement of seat kinematics,it enables movement of the cushion andbackrest to be combined using a singleremote control, leaving a continuous,flat, lightweight, and open-plan floor inthe vehicle, made possible by the use ofa novel magnesium seat frame.

The unveiling of the new Citroen C4 Picasso at the 2006 Paris MotorShow marks the beginning of a new adventure for the B58 project.


IN BRIEF

News in Brief

In 2006, we are hoping to as-sess the opinion of all theGrupo Antolin employees onceagain, in order to get to knowfirst hand the “opinion and feel-ings” of the employees thatform part of the company allover the globe.

The aim of this work climatestudy, within the framework ofthe Values of our Group, is tooffer employees the chanceto objectively and sincerely ex-press their perceptions aboutdifferent processes, projects, re-sults, decisions, procedures,etc. as well as their desires in or-der to achieve an even betterwork environment.

From DRH we intend to en-courage everyone to take partin the survey as this time it willenable us to channel the em-ployees’ opinions through anofficial tool, making themknown and taking them intoaccount to manage to optimiseour “Climate” even more.

“Expressyourfeelings”:2006 WorkClimateSurvey

Real-lifeexperienceof theGrupoAntolinVALUESMany of you will enjoy thisoriginal Outdoor training whichthe Human Resources Depart-ment has prepared for you inorder to: raise the participants’awareness in Grupo AntolinValues and show, trial after tri-al, the critical factors that inter-vene in each one of them. It is aquestion of exchanging the of-fice for the countryside for a dayand a half and through the com-mon theme of an “Expeditionto the Tibet of Values” getthough activities posed as chal-lenges until the team success isattained. Do you fancy it? Thechallenge has been launched.

At the monastery of SantaMaría de Bujedo, on 7th and 8th

September, the team of pro-fessionals forming part of theDEOM (Department of Strate-gic Operations for Improve-ment) were the first in takingpart in this iniciative.

Sometimes there is nothinglike an example to clarify theprecise meaning of a conceptand that is exactly what wehave achieved with these

work sessions. By means ofvarious different tests, ofgreater or lesser complexity,we have endeavoured to clar-ify the values represented bywords such as: Pro-activity, In-genuity and Creativity, or De-termination to be the best,and thus all of these ideashave taken on a new andmore realistic meaning.

We have also discovered newpersonal skills that we mightnever have had the opportu-nity to test, but, above all, wehave seen our colleagues aspeople who are willing to of-fer us help whenever neces-sary. We were all surprised byour capacity for reflection andself-criticism and realised thatwhen working as a team, 1+1adds up to much more than 2.

In these two days workingoutside our normal environ-ment, the opportunity to getto know ourselves a little bet-ter and, above all, the expe-rience of working side by sidewith our colleagues has madeus feel proud to belong to thisGroup.

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· Focus on the customer

· Ingenuity andcreativity

· Agility and flexibility

· Enthusiasm and driveto be best in class

· Team Spirit

· Respect for individualsand theirindividualism

· To be proactive

· Job well done

· Tenacity to achievegoals (Purpose)

· Availability andinclimation to takeover responsabilitieseverywhere

· Integrity and ethicalbehavior



Grupo Antolin becomes consolidated as one of the keysuppliers in the interior module area, with a logisticscentre for Volkswagen Sach-sen in Crimmitschau.

Logistics centres represent animportant pillar in the produc-tion of Volkswagen vehicles inthe region. Grupo Antolin, animportant supplier of interi-or parts for VW since 1999,has joined forces with themto create one of these logis-tics centres for VolkswagenSachsen in Crimmitschau.Why Crimmitschau? Apartfrom it being close to the cus-tomer, it has good commu-nications and excellent infra-structures. It also has thecity’s support.

In the beginning, only the production of modular head-liners was the object of con-tract relations with Volkswa-gen Sachsen. However, thereliability together with theconstant improvement in allthe processes formed the ba-sis for a continuous increaseof the production volume. It

started off with a turnover ofapproximately 14 million eu-ros and now, the turnover for2006 is scheduled to bemore than 50 million euros.

This has logically had a posi-tive effect on employment.The staff started out with 20employees and now there aremore than 130. This figure al-so includes a considerablenumber of women employ-ees from Crimmitschau andits surrounding area.

Apart from continuing towork as a reliable partner ofthe car industry, the companyconcentrates its activities onsearching for new opportuni-ties through different collab-orations in the area. Anotherimportant challenge, in thisregard, is the future participa-tion in the initiative developedby Volkswagen Sachsen tocreate a “Automobilregional-cluster Suedwestsachsen”.Here the company sees thepossibility of sharing its expe-riences and ideas to con-tribute to improving the loca-tion of Sachsen.

Grupo Antolin LOGISTIKDEUTSCHLAND GmbH:Reliable partner of thecar industry

New AUDIQ7 comesfromBRATISLAVAThanks to our results in termsof external and internal ppm orlogistics services handling thou-sands of variants which wereconfirmed by the A-suppliercertificate, Grupo Antolin haswon the tender for next VW-Group-SUV AUDI Q7 (atthat time named Pikes Peak).

The Audi brand stands for atop technology car makerwith a typical slogan “Vor-sprung durch Technik“, whichcould be translated in Englishas “Audi technology“. GrupoAntolin could follow this cul-ture. Our Ingolstadt team hasdeveloped a new headlinermodule in a very short time.During this year we had achance to optimise our inter-nal processes and met clientrequirements following our in-ternal lean manufacturing.

Whilst robots and automaticmachines are important, ourmoney is on our people. Weare working with our col-leagues, building UET teamsand raising the knowledgeand skill level of all our humanresources. We invest time totrain our teams methodically

and organise safe and appro-priate working conditions.

Grupo Antolin Bratislava hasbeen delivering headlinermodules for VolkswagenTouareg and Porsche Cayennesince 2001. This higher andluxurious car segment com-bined with high qualitative de-mands from our client Volks-wagen AG proved our capa-bilities. GA-Bratislava as aJust-in-Time plant provides fullservice to our client and elim-inates potential logistics orqualitative problems from thewhole supply chain.

When the Q7 is positioned atall markets over the world, weare lucky to have the opportu-nity to supply headliner mod-ules working non-stop overthe week. We are also waitingand preparing also for thenew facelift of the Volkswa-gen Touareg and PorscheCayenne at the end of thisyear and to gain a new projectfor PSA Slovakia.

TRIMTEC

1st customer: FORD

New customer: VOLKSWAGEN

QS9000 Certification

Quality award - VW

Start of injected technology- GOL G3

New customer: PSAISO/TS16949certification -First GA

New customers: TOYOTA,GM,HONDA, FIAT

VOLKSWAGENDevelopment award

TOYOTA awardStart of operation of Curitiba site ISO/TS16949:2002 Certification

New customer: RENAULTISO 14001: 2004 certification

Q1 award - FORD

INTERTRIM

First customers:VOLKSWAGEN, FORD, GM

Start of manufacture of modular roofs (Ford Ka)

New customer:RENAULT QS9000 Certification

Development in USA with Ford –Amazon Project

Start of operation of theCuritiba site and the Camaçarisite (JIT operations)New customer: Nissan)New customer - VWISO/TS16949 certification First GA

New customers: AUDI y FIATStart of sunshade manufactureNew customer: TOYOTA

New customer: HONDA

ISO/TS16949:2002 Certification

ISO 14001: 2004 Certification

Q1 award - FORD

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IRAMEC

Incorporation of companybetween G. Antolin y Kuster

First customer: VOLKSWAGEN

New customers: RENAULT, FORDQS9000 certification

New customer: AUDIStart of operations at Curitiba site

Start of product developmentactivities such as codesign VWISO/TS16949 certification –First GA

New customer: PEUGEOT

New customer: CITROEN

Best GA Company awardISO/TS16949:2002 certification

New customer: VW -Camiones

Inauguration of new plant – TaubatéISO 14001:2004 Audit


UITENHAGEJIT:we aremoving toNMBlogisticsparkA solid project timing plan,dedicated and committed teammembers plus passion and exe-cution made possible a success-ful move of Uitenhage JIT toNMB LOGISTICS PARKlast July.

In May of this year, we madethe decision to move the facil-ity which assembles the Golf& Jetta (Bora) Modular Headlin-ers, to the NMB Logistics Park.Six weeks later, we were readyto supply the first sequencedunit to VWSA with no problemswhatsoever.

The fact that the timing (fromthe point of decision to the re-location date) was only sixweeks, and that we moved allthe equipment in the space ofa day and a half, is a phenome-nal achievement. What waseven more phenomenal, wasthat on Saturday 1st July 2006,we were assembling units fordelivery to VWSA until 14:30that afternoon, and only thenmoved all the equipment to thenew facility, to be ready at06:00 on 3rd July 2006. Just oneday and a half!

Here, in chronological order, is a summary of the most significant events thathave marked and still mark our existence in this country.

BRAZIL, awager onsuccessthat is nowten yearsoldFor many, ten years simplymean the passage of time, butfor others, ten years give rise toa story.

For Grupo Antolin BRASIL, tenyears have created a successstory. And success storiesmust be full of conquests; andfor TRIMTEC, INTERTRIM andIRAMEC there have beenquite a few. Here, in chrono-logical order, is a summary ofthe most significant events

that have marked and stillmark our existence in thiscountry.

One important conquest to behighlighted, which has beenaccomplished in this decade bythe Brazilian companies of theGroup, is the consolidation ofthe companies’ financial situ-ation. We owe this, to a greatextent, to José Maria Astobieta,who, with a firm pulse andstrategic vision, has taken thethree companies to satisfacto-ry financial profitability levels.

Finally, the management of ourcompanies in Brazil wishes touse these lines to express itsthanks to all the workers. Italso counts on their custom-ary collaboration to consolidateour present and future con-quests even more in the com-ing decade.

Trimtec

Intertrim

Iramec

Q1Award for SOLIHULLAlthough we have been officially recognised as a Q1 supplier since15th December 2005, the presentation ceremony for this awardtook place recently, in Grupo Antolin’s installations in Solihull (United Kingdom) on 12th September 2005.

LUSITANIAopens itsdoorsagain

As is our custom, the 9th

“Open Day” was held atGrupo Antolin Lusitania, andhonoured by the presence of theVIPs: our families and friends.

The event was very popularand, as the visitors arrived,they were divided into groupsand accompanied by their cor-responding guide on a visitround the company groundsalong pre-set routes.

After the usual welcome byour director, Ramón Ilarri,there was a presentation ofour products as well as someof the company’s own curiosi-ties. The visit continued with atour round the various work-stations, accompanied bydemonstrations of some ofour processes.

Local dealers provided uswith various different vehi-cles, which remained onshow all over the factory.However, the Micra Cabriowas unquestionably the fo-

cus of attention for everyonepresent.

The day’s event was roundedoff by the traditional serving ofa Spanish wine, during whicha small parting gift was offeredby the company as a souvenir.

It is worth mentioning thepositive comments made bythe visitors, in particular thoseof people that had attendedon previous occasions and al-ways find something that haschanged ‘for the better’. Wetake advantage of these com-mentaries to thank the groupin charge of organising thisevent for all their effort, andalso those who volunteered toact as guides, photographers,assistants during the prize-giv-ing ceremony, and possiblythe most important duty ofall: working on the productionlines. We would not like tooverlook the presence of col-leagues from other compa-nies belonging to the group,like G. A. PGA, G.A. Plasburand G. A. Vigo, as well as sup-pliers and local entities, suchas the Escuela Superior deCiencias Empresariales (High-er School of Business Studies),City Council, etc. And last butnot least, our families andfriends.


The JIT for headliners at GrupoAntolin Kent in Solihull has re-cently been awarded the “Q1Award” by the Ford MotorCorp., which means it hasreached the highest level ofquality in the automobile in-dustry for TIER1 suppliers.

Pedro Santesteban, as themain representative of the UKterritory and Belén de Pedro,Quality Manager for theGroup in the Headliners de-partment, attended the awardceremony, thereby accompa-nying all the members of theSolihull team at such a spe-cial time.

On behalf of the Ford group,

the ceremony was attendedby the team of STAs, MarkRichardson (STA engineer), Pa-co Taronger (STA manager)and Bjorn Sallen (Senior STAManager) as well as JackieEvans, and Alan Edwards onbehalf of the Sales Depart-ment for Jaguar and LandRover, who presented theaward to the company direc-tor, Salvador Peris, and histeam.

The Q1 Award offers an im-portant foundation for the fu-ture, with the award winnerbeing duty-bound to provideirrefutable proof of their per-formance at such standard ona daily basis.


News fromGA PLASBUR

Projects, whether accompaniedby the term assignment, launchor entry into mass production,are what mark our present andfuture activities.

Thanks to the entry into massproduction of the X61 (Re-nault Kangoo) in 2007, Plas-bur now has a new project in-cluding 5 items for the pow-er window mechanism for thismodel: casing, drum, backand forward slides with andwithout clip, and the clip itself.In the next few months, weshall commence industriali-sation of the moulds in collab-oration with our colleaguesfrom Grupo Antolin-France.

We have also been allocatedthe manufacture of pillar A,pocket and Roof+Rack part forthe F91, a light truck made byNissan, as well as the catchesand locking pawls for the rearseats in the P14 -Volvo S30.

We would also like to draw at-tention this year to anotherassignation, which is the resultof launching another impor-tant project, in this case, withPSA. Ever since PSA con-firmed last year that the Cit-roen factory in Vigo would bethe sole production plant forEurope for the new C4 Picas-

so, replacing the current XsaraPicasso, Grupo Antolin was al-located the supply of part ofthe seats for the future peoplecarrier. In particular, the sec-ond and third row, with Plas-bur being assigned produc-tion of most of the plastic trimon the seats. We are goingto receive a total of 7 mouldsfor this project, with a totalweight of machinery rangingfrom 250 to 800 Tn. Theseparts are mounted on the sec-ond row with 3 seats, which isthe same in both the 5 and7-seaters,with many of thesebeing fitted to more than oneseat, and the daily recurrencerate of each one in theoryreaching as many as 4500mating pairs.

Furthermore, we are goingto produce 3 new parts forFord, which were previouslybeing outsourced to anothersupplier: Pillar Brace B C214;Pillar Brace B 3-door C307and Pillar brace B 5-doorC307. These concern partsthat are not visible, mountedunderneath plastic pillars typeB in models C214 and C307.The object of this part is tomake the whole item stifferand thus avoid any distortionwhen the rubber lining the pil-lar is added.

Putting theory into practice.Students from the High-levelPlastics and Rubber Specialisa-tion Course offered by the In-stituto de Ciencia y Tecnologíade los Polímeros (Institute ofPolymer Science and Technol-ogy) at CSIC (Consejo Su-perior de Investigaciones Cien-tíficas) visited the Group’s fa-cilities in June, to gainfirst-hand knowledge of whatthe company is really about.

The visit organised for these stu-dents in the company of thecourse coordinator, Dr. Fernan-do Catalina, commenced at12.30 midday on 22nd Juneat Grupo Antolin Plasbur, wherethey were given the opportu-nity to see how a factory worksalong with the various differentprocesses that are available. Af-ter the visit, they went to theGroup’s Head Office to acquaintthemselves with the world ofR+D+i, and were shown roundthe various different laborato-ries, workshops, etc.

The long-standing High-levelPlastics and Rubber Specialisa-

tion Course commenced activ-ity in 1958, although it was notuntil 1961 that the Ministry ofEducation and Science recog-nised it as an Official Degree.With such studies it is hoped topromote a high level of special-isation in plastics and rubber in-cluding knowledge of the sci-ence and technology of poly-mer materials. The main aimis to perfect the training ofgraduates, engineers and doc-tors that wish to develop theircareer in the industrial sectorfor plastics and rubber, takean academic degree at thehighest level in any universitydepartment, or else carry outresearch in the field of MaterialSciences. There are now over1,500 students that have takenpart in these courses.

It should be noted that theCSIC Institute of Polymer Sci-ence and Technology is one ofthe World Centres that leadsthe way in researching poly-mer materials and their ap-plications, in collaborationwith various companies andinstitutions.

CSIC students visitGrupo Antolin

The end of the summer broughtto the Grupo Head Office theKey Account Managers for ourvarious clients along with thecompany Managers for firmsbelonging to the European andSouth American territories withjust one objective in mind: tocome to an agreement regard-ing the scale of productivity weshall consider in our budgets for2007.

Attention should be drawn tothe fact that at this type ofmeeting, which is organised ac-cording to projects, both thesales representative and also theplants involved may exchangeinformation and reach anagreement. It is also an ideal op-portunity to encourage directcommunication about the cur-rent and future concerns ofeach member with regard tothe market.

In short, it is possible to say thatin spite of the relative stagnationof the European market and thefact that our “star models” suchas Megane and Polo havereached the end of their life-time, the arrival of new projectsmeans that sustainability of thegrowth in our annual turnoveris guaranteed.

DOESSales Planfor 2007For the purposes of launching thedrafting procedure for the SalesPlan for 2007, a meeting washeld on 31st August in Burgos at-tended by the KAMs and Headsof Department at DOES.


Grupo Antolin Silesia

Antolin Tanger

Iramec Taubaté

GA Magnesio

Constructingfuture:NEWCHALLENGES,NEW SPACES

From Morocco to Poland, passing through Brazil,Spain and India, all these countries have a com-mon denominator: Grupo Antolin. As an ex-ample of the Group’s expansion policy, from theGeneral Services Management we have playedour part in the last works that have finalised as wellas works in progress or in tender phase.

At the end of the first four-month period of thisyear the construction of the Grupo AntolinMAGNESIO factory came to an end. This facto-ry is located in Burgos, in the “Montenuevo”Industrial Estate of Valdorros, next to the N-Iroad. The production building covers an area of10,206 m2, with another 1,333 m2 occupied bythe offices and auxiliary area used for facilityroom, changing room, etc.

In July last, the construction of the ANTOLINTÁNGER S.A.R.L. factory also came to an end.This factory is located on a 26,000 m2 plot of landin the Duty-free zone of Tangiers and covers anarea of 7,563 m2. It is currently engaged in themanufacture of covers for the NCV2 seat projectand at the end of the year its activity will increasewith the production of sunshades.

We cross the ocean and we reach Brazil wherethe IRAMEC Taubate facilities have just been de-livered. We will inform you about their inaugu-ration in coming magazines. With just over 7,000m2, 5,403 m2 are used for the production build-ing and 1,766 m2 for offices and auxiliary area.

Changing continents once again we return toPoland. Grupo Antolin SILESIA is located inStrzelin on a plot of land covering 50,000 m2.With the production building already finished, thefacilities where the offices will be housed are cur-rently being built and the area is being developed.

The construction of a new plant will soon startin the south of India, which will initially baseits activity on the manufacture and assembly ofheadliners for Hyundai, Ford and Mitsubishi. Lo-cated in Chennai, within the Hyundai suppliers’park, the building is planned to be finished bythe end of the first quarter of 2007.


CertificationISO/TS16949:2002in GATURNOVAfter the ISO 14001 certifi-cate we received in October2005, GA Turnov can nowalso boast the ISO/TS 16949certificate successfully obtai-ned in June 2006.

After certain administrativeproblems with the Czech cer-tification company we asked forthe certification from the Span-ish association for certificationand standardisation – AENOR incooperation with GA central of-fice. The certificate was issuedto Grupo Antolin Turnov afteran audit smoothly without anyespecial problem.

By gaining the certificate a newphase started for GAT. Wejoined the group of the highlydeveloped suppliers in the au-tomotive industry who make aneffort to get Q1 status at cus-tomer FORD and “A” evalua-tion at VW.

By gaining the certificate a newphase started for GAT. We joi-ned the group of the highly de-veloped suppliers in the auto-motive industry who make aneffort to get Q1 status at cus-tomer FORD and “A” evalua-tion at VW.

With the Q1 award, IntertrimCaçapava and Camaçari andTrimtec, are acknowledged asglobal Ford suppliers, beingable to carry out business withany Ford unit in the world.

The fact that the Grupo An-tolin Brazilian companies haveobtained this award meansthat our companies havereached excellence in cus-tomer satisfaction accordingto the worldwide guidelinesof Ford Motor Company.

To be worthy of this distinc-tion, the suppliers must sat-isfy a series of requirementssuch as:

· ISO/TS 16949:2002certification;

· ISO 14001:2004 certification;

· MS9000 favourable self-assessment (Logistic System) –Approved by Ford:

· Q1 Site Assessmentfavourable self-assessment(Quality System) approvedby Ford;

· PPM within the objectivesestablished by Ford overthe last 6 months;

· Supply competence withan average score of 85points over the last 6months.

Once these requirements havebeen satisfied, the compensa-tion for all the effort and enthu-siasm of every person whoforms part of this great humanteam was rewarded on differ-ent dates with the presentationof this long-awaited distinctionby Ford representatives..

INTERTRIM CAMAÇARi wasthe first to receive it in theNorth-east Ford complex inMay last, when Mauro Juriki,after receiving the Q1 plaqueand the flag from Ford’s MiguelBarril, expressed his satisfactionand pride in having been dis-tinguished with such an impor-tant award.

They were just as proud andsatisfied at the TRIMTECCAÇAPAVA LTDA. offices on5 August last when the presen-tation started following theprogramme set with the cus-tomer and with the participa-tion of all the employees. Afterthe opening ceremony by PeterHermanar, who highlighted theimportance of the role playedby everyone for this conquest,Mr. Santiago and Cuirillo pre-sented the Q1diploma and

plaque to Peter Hermanar andPaulo de Nardo, respectively, onbehalf of Ford Motor Compa-ny. The Q1 flag was given tothe Ford UET Leader, Julio Ce-sar, by the STA. Renata Fortes.The day was brought to a closeby the South America Territo-ry Director, Francisco Alcala,who highlighted the impor-tance of this award and the factthat our customer, Ford, has be-come a pioneer in acknowledg-ing its suppliers.

The next Brazilian company toenjoy a similar event will be IN-TERTRIM CAÇAPAVA followedby IRAMEC – TAUBATE. We willinform you about this presenta-tion in coming magazines.

Ford Q1awardtravels toGrupoAntolinSOUTHAMERICA

Peter Kermanar receivingthe Q1 Certificate

Mauro Juriki receiving the Q1 prize Q1 flag given to Intertrim Camaçari

Ceremonia de entrega en Trimtec

The day was brought to a closeby the South America TerritoryDirector, Francisco Alcala, whohighlighted the importance ofthis award and the fact that ourcustomer, Ford, has become apioneer in acknowledging itssuppliers.

Paulo de Nardi receiving the Q1 plaque

MS 150BIKE TOURand GANA:a successfulprojectWhether the weekend lookedhard , on July 15th and 16th

Grupo Antolin North Amer-ica (GANA) participated ina cycling event to raise mon-ey for research to fight MultipleSclerosis

Kevin Degan works full time atPlante & Moran. Kevin onlyhas the use of the left side ofhis body. Still, he succeeds inhis chosen profession, and atthe same time bikes thou-sands of miles each year toraise money for various char-ities. He is an inspiration to hisco-workers because he has al-so found the time to be a coreteam member of WorldT.E.A.M. Sports, an inducteeof the Athletes with Disabili-ties Hall of Fame, and OlympicTorch Bearer for the 1996 At-lanta Games.

Stories like this challenged ourteam to rigorously train inpreparation for the ride. We al-so challenged ourselves to getfinancial support raising $4,600.

One of the extraordinary pro-grams organized by the Na-tional MS Society is the yearlyMS 150 Bike Tour. Since 1981,hundreds of thousands of rid-

ers have logged more than 10million miles to help those liv-ing with the devastating effectsof MS. This year 700 ridersjoined together to ride in theMichigan event, includingteams from companies such asGM, Ford, Visteon and ACHand, of course ourselves.

GANA participants includedGlenn Gruner, Mike Biro, Ma-riana Nakashima, John Ander-son, Ted Pruss and other family members and friends.Keith Learman also participatedin the event, but had previouslycommitted to another team.

Cyclists could ride either 75or 100 miles each day. Werode from Davisburg to EastLansing, home of MichiganState University where wespent the night. The weekendof the ride, weathermen in-formed listeners to “stay in-doors, do outdoor activities on-ly if necessary, and if you dowork outside avoid strenuousactivity.” The forecast was for95-98 degrees Fahrenheit. Saturday and Sunday lived upto the forecast; it was hot inthe morning, hotter at noon,

and for those still on the roadafter 1 pm it was rather un-pleasant. However, throughdiligence and the motivation ofone rider’s story below, our en-tire team completed the 150mile ride with two of our riderscompleting 200 miles.

Since participating in thisevent, Grupo Antolin has re-ceived compliments from cus-tomers who saw our teamparticipate in this event andappreciated Grupo Antolin forsupporting in event of this na-ture. The GANA team planson participating in this ridenext year as well. Our objec-tives for next year are to dou-ble the donation dollars andto double the participationwhich is open to all.

We want to thank everyonewho contributed in one way oranother to the success of theGANA team in the MS 150bike tour. We would especial-ly like to thank the team mem-bers, Miguel A. Vicente, whosupported the effort by provid-ing jerseys and shorts for theteam to wear and Ted Pruss forbeing our team captain.

Grupo Antolin South Africain Durban, were awardedsupplier status after conduct-ing mass production trials todemonstrate our capability interms of quality and produc-tivity in the presence of To-yota personnel.

The years of planning andlaunching of the Durbanplant started bearing fruit inDecember 2005. This was thebeginning of the secondphase of receiving and clear-ing the shipments of new ma-chinery. We started the in-dustrialization phase in January.

After overcoming many hur-dles, the last major stumblingblock was the installation ofan upgraded transformerwhich was finally installed bythe end of April.

Production trials and stafftraining were conducted inthe following month alongwith programming of the wa-ter jet cutter to cut all the To-yota IMV models.

Simultaneously staff selectionand appointments where final-ized in June and further train-ing for the second shift wascompleted in September.

DURBANvalidationas Toyotasupplier


From Left to Right: Keith Learman, John Anderson, ClaudiaAnderson, Cliff Fleener, Robert Hutchinson, Mariana Nakashima,Ted Pruss, and Glenn Gruner.


VIIIGOLFTROPHY Avelino AntolinMemorial 2006

Once again this year, and surpassing par-ticipation expectations, the AVELINOAntolin Memorial 2006 took place on 8July, offering an excellent lesson of fairplay at the Lerma Golf Club course inBurgos.

This year was the eighth trophy organisedby the Grupo Antolin with the collabo-ration of the Lerma Club and it was thewitness of the professionalism shown byall the players over the 18 holes that com-prise the course. The prizes, awarded tothe pairs classified in first, second and thirdplace as well as to the winning pair ofScratch and to the pair classified in firstplace in the children’s category, were pre-sented in the same enclave in the midst ofnature.

All the participants received a gift fortheir participation and a draw took placewith different prizes for those attend-ing the function. The day ended with ana vino español (aperitif).

Third ClassifiedDoubles

Javier Corsini and Francisco Garmendia

(prize awarded by Mª Helena Antolin)

First ClassifiedDoubles

Rafael Junco and Álvaro Velasco

(prize awarded byJosé Antolin)

Second ClassifiedDoublesMariano Herrero andVicente Corral(prize awarded byErnesto Antolin)

Scratch DoublesChampionEduardo Castillo andBasilio Martín(prize awarded byPilar Arribas)

Achieving greater involvementand motivation, aimed at ma-king the worker identify with theorganisation and improving in-ternal communication in all itsaspects, is the objective set by theCommunication Committeefrom the G.A.-AUTOTRIMManagement.

It was decided, with this mission, to give the Internal Communication Committee another push forward, acquir-ing a new, more professional,innovative and efficient com-plexion, to date.

Comprised of a team of peoplefrom different departments,the Committee has an InternalCommunication Plan that isespecially designed for thecompany, whose mission is toguarantee appropriate internalcommunication within G.A.AUTOTRIM, ensuring:

· Information objectiveness.· The satisfaction of the inter-nal customer's communica-tion needs, adding value(through, for example, the

sporadic participation of de-partment heads in the UETmeetings).

· Optimisation of communi-cation channels.

· And, in short, collaborating inthe adhesion of people

Our method

Always with Managementsupport and based on a prioridentification of improvementareas, the Committee estab-lishes some strategic lines,which are broken down intooperative objectives aimed atreaching the planned vision.All of this is expressed in amanagement table with its rel-ative follow-up and guided byour values: Professionalism,empathy, important social im-pact and objectiveness, infor-mation clarity and quality.

Our functions

· Calibrate the company's con-tinuous and punctual com-munication needs.

· Design the communicationstrategy.

· Advise the different companydepartments on channels,supports, etc.

· Create, implement, assessand optimise the communi-cation tools (e.g: improve thequality of the company ma-gazine).

· Favour interpersonal relationsinside and outside the workenvironment.

An example of this is the collab-oration in the creation andmonitoring of sports groups bycompany workers, as is thecase of the Autotrim CyclingClub. Comprised of a consider-able group of employees whohave a passion for cycling, itcarries out different activitiesand outings throughout theyear, inviting, from Almus-safes, all group employees toaccompany them on their ad-ventures.

From left to right: YolandaRamón, Pau Varo, GraciaEscoms, Inmaculada Robles,Carmen Puig, Federico Taroncherand Merche Sanz (Absent in thephoto: Javier Pérez)

CHINA:New ISO/TS16949certification

Thanks to the effort of all thepeople working at AntolinShanghai Auto-Parts Co.,Ltd. in China, we were ableto obtain the TS ISO 16.949certificate last June, awardedby TUV. Congratulations toeveryone!

Grupo Antolin- AUTOTRIMwagers on communication

Autotrim Cycling Club



Taking advantage of the localbank holiday, Lorena de Bus-tos, winner of the 2005 paint-ing competition in the eldest cat-egory, enjoyed her well-de-served prize: a weekend atDisneyland Paris.

Hello, my name is Lorena. I am12 years old and I am going to

tell you about how excitingmy trip was to Disneyland. Igot up very early to go toBarajas Airport (Madrid) andafter a flight of almost 2hours, we landed at Orly(Paris). A bus was waiting totake us to the hotelCheyenne. It was very differ-ent from the ones I had beento before, a town full of cow-boys and Indians just like theones you see in the Westerns.

Every day we caught a busthat would take us to the Parkwhere we had breakfast.

The Park was divided into dif-ferent areas: Fantasyland, Dis-coveryland, Frontierland, Ad-ventureland and Main StreetU.S.A. The part I liked mostwas Adventureland becausethis was where my favouriteattraction, “Pirates of theCaribbean”, was, althoughthey were all really good. I al-so really liked the Hauntedhouse, Alice in Wonderland’sLabyrinth and “Star Tours”.

Before our return to Spain, onthe last day we went to DisneyStudios and boarded a trainon which we seemed to beshooting a film with special ef-fects.

We really enjoyed ourselvesand had a fantastic time that Iwill never forget.

My trip toDisneylandParis

2005 Art competition

The phrase that says “behind aball there is always a child” is fa-mous, and in this case it is trueand it has been so for no lessthan ten years. An idea accom-panied by enthusiasm, the wishto have fun, effort and sports-manship, has been sufficient forCD GRUPO ANTOLIN togive its first kicks and continuescoring goals today.

It was way back in 1996 whenour chairmanship, had the ideaof forming a football club wit-hin the group for young peo-ple who could and wished toplay this sport. With a call to allthe children of employees ofour companies in Burgos, thefirst step forward was taken toformalise Club Deportivo Gru-po Antolin.

Beginnings are always difficult,but after an often uphill strug-gle and a lot of hard work theefforts soon began to showtheir fruit. It was Jorge Heredia,helped by his brother Tito andJose Luis Llorente, all of themworking in the group compa-

nies, who assumed the respon-sibility, together with the Boardof Directors, for making thisenterprise a success.

Blue and yellow were chosenas colours for the strip and itdid not take long for thesecolours to be recognised andrespected by fans and otherteams from Burgos.

The training sessions were dif-ficult to start with, especiallythe first year, because, likemany other teams, we did nothave a training field so we allgot together at the back of themunicipal football ground. For-tunately, this situation did notlast very long, as, in recordtime, the Villalonquejar groundwas constructed at the GrupoAntolin ARA facilities, wherewe began to train and play of-ficial matches. This ground isstill being used, today, for phys-ical and tactical preparation.However, thanks to the Provin-cial Football Delegation, the of-ficial matches are played at thePallafria ground.

A decade of footballwith CLUB DEPORTIVOGrupo Antolin

Division Coach

Junior 6 & 7 years 2nd division Tito Heredia

Junior 8 & 9 years 1st division Pedro De la Cal

Junior 10 & 11 years 2nd division José Luis Llorente

Junior 12 & 13 years 1st division Tito Heredia

Youth 14 & 15 years 1st division Antonio Hidalgo

Youth 16, 17 & 18 years 1st division Félix Campo


Rachel Wang Antolin Shangai Autoparts. Tito Heredia GA Ara. Luz Bezares GA Ardasa. Communication Comittee GA Autotrim,Josef Banas GA Bratislava. Gill Beltrams and Thomas Stoerh GA Deutschland. Enrique Dr. Fernández, Equipo de Diseño Industrial,Ismael del Moral, Julian de Bustos and Raúl Martín Para GA Ingenieria. Amador Diez, Ana Irene Solas, Carolina Melgosa, Ernesto Antolin,Estela Díaz, Javier Blanco, Luis Vega, Menchu Santamaría, Merche Rodríguez, Natalia Blanco, Oliver Maljean, Paquita Herreros, Pedro F.Antón, Raquel García, Ramiro Orcajo, Rosalía Arribas and Servicio Médico GA Irausa. Salvador Peris GA Kent. Nazareh Cunha GALusitania. John Anderson GA North America. Raúl Moya GA Plasbur. Ajay Apte GA Pune. Miguel Cámara, Paul Van Der Merwe,Riaan Goosen and Wayne Norte GA South Africa. Katerina Semíková GA Turnov. Lee Rutter GA UK. Teresa Villot GA Vigo. FranciscoAlcalá and Raúl Pedro Neto Trimtec.

Acknowledgements

The latestnews fromthe LondonMotorShow

Despite the arrival of summer,the car industry does not grind toa halt. The main car manufac-turers presented their latest waresat the Excel Centre in the Lon-don docklands until 30th July.

Until now only Detroit,Geneva, Frankfurt, Paris and

Tokyo seemed to be shap-ing up as top car show ven-ues. However, in the pastfew years, other fairs havehad increasingly importantrepercussions, including theshows held in Madrid,Barcelona, New York or evenLondon. And it is the latter,the British International Mo-tor Show, that provided astage from 18th to 30th Julyfor a large number of worlddebuts by makes that, eitherbecause they are manufac-tured in Great Britain, or be-cause they have been suc-cessful in that market, or elsemerely because they havesomething for immediate of-

fer, were reluctant to missthe invitation.

Standing out as beingamongst the most outstand-ing innovations were the OpelCorsa, Seat Leon Cupra,BMW M6 Cabrio, Chrysler Se-bring, Jaguar XKR, Land RoverFreelander 2 and Maxda MX-5 with a hard top roof.

London has recovered its Mo-tor Show, but still needs timesince the fact that it hasopened its doors merely her-alds the dawning of a newera. The presentation of these8 world premieres bodes wellfor the future.

Little by little, the dream be-came true. The first successesbegan to arrive, obtainingpromotions, titles and trainingplayers who were and are de-manded by the leading clubsin the city. The number ofplayers is increasing all thetime, which enables us to reg-ister more teams each year.Ten years ago we started withthree teams: one under-12junior team, one under-14junior team and one under-16youth team; and today wehave seven. (See table below)

From here we wish to thankeveryone for their effort – di-rectors, parents, players andcoaches, past and present –without whose priceless de-termination and willingness itwould have been impossibleto make such a challenge a re-ality. We believe that keep-ing this ship afloat is a reallyworthwhile task and we hopethat with the help of everyoneinvolved we will continuegrowing for at least another10 years. Thanks!

HEALTH


My head

HURTS“Doctor, my head hurts”. Behind this well-worn phrase, which refers to

something from which we occasionally suffer in our lives, there is anailment that brings up an endless number of questions. There are millionsof people in the world who, like you, suffer from headaches. If this is thecase, then don’t worry, because you are not alone. Fortunately, you can

control it.

What is a migraine?

Migraina o recurring headache are iden-tical terms that define a type of headachethat is characterised by a pain crisis (gener-ally in one or both temples) lasting between4 and 72 hours, and in generally it is in-capacitating, meaning that the person isforced to stop their normal activity, or atleast limit it, while the pain lasts. It is usual-ly accompanied by nausea, vomiting andhypersensitivity to or distress (irritation ordiscomfort) from light and sound.

Most migraine sufferers recall or know of rel-atives in their genealogical tree (grandpar-ents, parents, siblings, uncles, etc.) who suf-fer or have suffered from migraines. In gen-eral, migraines begin before 30 years of ageand constitute a characteristic of the person,

due to the fact they will have to live withthem for most of their lives. This indicatesthat as of today, there is no treatment thatmakes it disappear, meaning that there is notreatment that cures it, although there istreatment for controlling it satisfactorily.

What are thecauses?

The exact cause of a migraine is unknown,although in recent years research has ad-vanced considerably in this respect, and ithas been possible to locate the part ofthe brain where the changes occur thatlead to a recurring headache crisis. In brief,we can say that these changes result in theinflammation and dilation of certain cere-

bral arteries which cause the pain. Manytimes, the process begins with the presenceof certain stimuli to which a person is sen-sitive. In this regard, you could say thatthere are a wide variety of situations thatare capable of triggering a migraine crisisin many people, which situations includethe following:

Affective area: stress, anxiety, conflicts orother circumstances that cause distress.

Stimuli: intense smells, smoke, tobacco,bright light, temperature changes.

Gynaecological area: menstruation, con-traceptives, oestrogen therapy.

Sleep: too much, insufficient or inter-rupted.

HUMAN RESOURCES DEPARTMENT-GRUPO ANTOLIN MEDICAL SERVICE


Foods: cured cheese, milk derivatives,citric juices, chocolate, sausages, smokedfoods, Chinese food, sweeteners, nuts,crisps.

Beverages: alcoholic (wine, hard liquorsprincipally) and caffeinated.

How do you preventa migraine crisis?

To prevent episodes of recurringheadaches, try the following recommen-dations:

· Identify the factor or factors that causethe migraine attacks (the episodes) orthat aggravate them. You will thus al-ways be able to manage this illness bet-ter.

· Try to avoid situations that cause stress,as much as possible.

· Don’t sleep more or less on the week-ends.

· Have meals at the same time and in sim-ilar quantities.

· Avoid food and beverages that at onetime may have triggered a migraine at-tack and avoid noisy places or penetrat-ing smells.

What is thetreatment?

Although all migraines are associatedwith pain, the severity and frequency dif-fer. It is therefore necessary to create acustom treatment that considers theindividual needs of each patient. Thereare two types of treatments currentlyavailable for taking care of migraines:The symptomatic treatment (meaning,for when the headache appears) andpreventive treatment, which is indicat-ed in complicated migraine cases orwhen there are more than 3 crises permonth.

Symptomatic

Simple analgesics or sedatives (acetyl-salicylic acid or paracetamol): althoughthey are scarcely effective if used often,alone or in the different combinations thatexist on the market. These types of med-icines should not be used because, apartfrom their low effectiveness, they cancause an important migraine complica-tion: the chronic daily headache, a clinicalcondition consisting of the transformationof the migraine (an episodic phenome-non) into a headache with daily or almostdaily presence.

Anti-inflammatories (such as diclofenacor naproxen): They are used in slightlyintense crises. They have the problem ofundesired effects, especially regarding thestomach (for example, gastritis or ulcers).

Ergotics: Highly used in association withsimple analgesics. The people who usethis medication should be warned to con-sult their physician in the event thatnumbness, tingling, coldness, weaknessor persistent muscle cramps in the lowerextremities appear. Moreover, as with sim-ple analgesics, they can trigger the trans-formation of the migraine into a chronicdaily headache.

Triptans: They are specific drugs for treat-ing migraines that have very recently ap-peared, and they constitute the first op-tion in most migraine episodes with in-tense pain.

Preventive

Preventive therapies are used daily to pre-vent attacks or reduce their frequency orseverity. They include both pharmacolog-ical and non-pharmacological therapies.

Dietrecommendations

Diet is an important factor. Foods such asmeats and fresh fish, eggs, soups, vegeta-bles, fruits, fresh milk, legumes and starch-es, cookies and desserts are foods with lowamounts of tyramine, meaning that they arefoods that reduce the risk of suffering fromrecurring headaches.

Some foods and beverages can unleash mi-graine attacks. Check to see if any of the fol-lowing foods trigger a headache crisis foryou, in which case you should avoid them:

Foods with a high content of tyramine, his-tamine, phenalalanine or phenolic fla-vanoids:

· Chocolates (histamine, tyramine). · Hard and fermented cheeses (histamine,

tyramine). · Citric fruits. · Bananas (tyramine). · Red meats and processed meats that con-

tain sodium nitrate, such as deli meats,sausages, bacon and ham (tyramine).

· Shellfish. · Red wine (histamine, tyramine). · Beer (histamine, tyramine). · Peanuts, walnuts. · Alcohol. · Food additives (preservatives, artificial col-

orants and flavouring agents, aspartameand monosodium glutamate, which areused to bring out the flavour of foods:olives, dehydrated broths and soups, fishpreserves and semi-preserves, sauces andproducts for confectioneries, pastries,bakery items, desserts and cookies).

· Caffeine.

Conclusions

It is advisable, for any doubt about your ill-ness or about medicines, to consult yourphysician in order to thus decide on themost appropriate treatment for your case.

Likewise, it is very important to take onlythe medicines prescribed by your physi-cian, as indicated, and not to take any ot-her drug for treating migraine crises.

ON THE WAY

Lower Saxony


T he federal state of Lower Saxonyis located in the north-west ofGermany. To the west it borders

the Netherlands, and it also shares a fron-tier with other German states: NorthRhine-Westphalia to the south-west,Hesse and Thuringia to the south, Sax-ony-Anhalt to the east, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern to the north-east, andHamburg and Schleswig-Holstein to thenorth. The Free Hanseatic City of Bremenand the town of Bremerhaven, which to-gether form the federal state of Bremen,

are enclosed within Lower Saxony'sboundaries.

Located in Wolfsburg, Volkswagen AG is Eu-rope's second largest automaker, havingproduced well over 50 million VW cars. Low-er Saxony has twice as many automobile-re-lated jobs as the national average for Ger-many's federal states. Agriculture plays asimilarly important role. But to pigeon-holeLower Saxony as an agrarian region is tofail to do it justice. The Hannover Fair and theCeBit computer show have made the Han-

nover area into the world's most impor-tant location for trade fairs.

The universities of Brunswick (Braun-schweig) and Göttingen with their longand distinguished history, Hannover Med-ical School and numerous non-universityresearch institutes attest to the close inter-dependence between science and indus-try.Many people will have pleasant mem-ories of Lower Saxony as host of the EXPO2000 World Exposition.

The state - comparatively unspoiled by de-velopment - offers appealing countrysidebetween the Ems and Elbe rivers, betweenthe mountain summits of the Harz regionand the maritime climate of the North Sea.Lower Saxony is committed to nature con-servation: more than 20 per cent of thestate's area has been designated as pro-tected, with the mudflats of the Watten-meer National Park taking in the entireNorth Sea coast, and the Harz NationalPark extending over the state border intoSachsen-Anhalt. The Elbtalaue river land-scape enjoys protected status as a bios-phere reserve. In between lie countlesspeat bogs, secluded areas of heathlandand extensive tracts of mixed woodland.

Lower Saxony is a region of contrasts that deserves avisit. Not only does Germany's second-largest state havecultural, scenic and traditional appeal, it has proven itselfas a successful location for industry and commerce.Think lateral and act straight is the motto ofLower Saxony

a special mixture of hightechnology and nature

verano 2006 · noticias grupo antolin 35

From North to South:a brief armchair tourwith German accent

Perhaps you're already familiar with ourpoint of departure: the seven East Frisianislands of Borkum, Juist, Norderney, Bal-trum, Langeoog, Spiekeroog andWangerooge. Broad white beaches, theebb and flow of the tides, sand dunes, andmore hours of sunshine than anywhereelse in the state.

Across from the islands lies East Frisia,known as "the land beyond the dyke",whose independence outlasted that ofevery other region in Lower Saxony. Thisis seafaring country and the hiding place ofthe notorious pirate Störtebaker (my grand-pa told me he was our ancestor…); a regionwhose towns have a Dutch feel to them

and where tea consumption is the high-est in Germany.

To the south, the Emsland region extendsdown to the Dutch border, much of whichwas inaccessible only 100 years ago: thevast Bourtanger Moor was not draineduntil the mid-twentieth century.

The adjoining region, the OldenburgerMünsterland, has developed from impov-erished farming country into a leading Eu-ropean stock-breeding centre - not far fromOsnabrück, the city near Teutoburg Forestassociated with the Treaty of Westphalia.

From the old principality of Schaumburg-Lippe, via Hamelin of Pied Piper fame, the hillycountry of the Weserbergland extends asfar as the town of Hannoversch Münden. Thelegends and stories surrounding the Weser,this fairy-tale German river, were recorded bythe Brothers Grimm in Göttingen.

The stories in the Harz - Lower Saxony'smountain range whose silver mines former-ly bestowed abundant wealth - are, how-ever, about witches. Where German emper-ors once built an imperial palace, it is nowhalf-timbered towns and enchantingwoods that attract the tourists.

Today Lower Saxony's economic power isconcentrated to the north of the Harz re-gion, where five sizeable cities lie in closeproximity: Hildesheim, whose churches fea-ture on the World Cultural Heritage list; thestill-young steel centre of Salzgitter; Han-nover, which plays host to the largest tradefairs in the world; Wolfsburg, with Volkswa-gen's new "Autostadt" automotive themepark; and, right in the middle, Brunswick,the city with a high-tech tradition stretch-ing back 250 years.

Still further north we find the LüneburgHeath, named after the city of Lüneburgwhich owed its prosperity in the MiddleAges to salt. Discovered as a recreation areaonly 100 years ago, for a long time thisheathland region lay off the beaten tracknear the border to the former East Ger-many; it has to this day remained sandy,idyllic and a haven of solitude.

In spring, apple trees in blossom attracthordes of visitors beyond the dyke of the

Altes Land area just outside Hamburg. Herethe so-called "Wet Triangle" begins: flatcountry between the estuaries of the Elbeand Weser, criss-crossed by peat bogs,home to the fishing town of Cuxhaven andthe artists' colony of Worpswede.

The journey takes us via Bremen, a feder-al state in its own right (although enclosedby Lower Saxony), along the Weser andback to the university town of Oldenburg.The region of the same name extends fromthe Münsterland area to Wilhelmshaven,the state's largest port. Or, to be more pre-cise: up to Wangerooge, the seventh of the"East Frisian" islands (although it has nev-er actually belonged to East Frisia).

At first, the people are not very talkative.But if you make contact with us, you willfind us open-minded, friendly and humor-ous. We describe ourselves as storm-re-sistant and home-bounded. And the areaof Hannover and southern Lower Saxony isthe only region in Germany where pureHigh Germany is spoken – without thesometimes funny accents you can find es-pecially in the eastern and southern partsof Germany. But many people still speakLow German, which is a relic of the originof our language and in many words closeto the English language.

Weyhausen and the city of Henry the Lion

The nearest big town to the Head Officeof Grupo Antolin Deutschland in Wey-hausen is Brunswick: the city of Henry theLion is the biggest city in the south-east-ern part of Lower Saxony with a populationof around 240,000. It is characterised by anappealing and exciting blend of the pastand the present, tradition and the future.

The city has been given its distinctive profileby the steady development of its cultural,research and technological scenes. The sur-rounding areas are just as varied as the city,with their cultural, historical and econom-ic richness: a fertile symbiosis, that is unpar-alleled in Germany.

Country Germany.Área It is the second-largest federalstate in Germany with 47.618 km2.29570.8 sq. miles of land.Population 8.002.916 inhabitants.Weather Very oceanic and the rainfalls the whole year round; thewinters are relatively mild and thesummers comparatively cool.Language german.Currency euro.Useful links · www.international.niedersachsen.de· www.germany-tourism.de

SPAINGrupo Antolin (Headquarters)Grupo Antolin - Alava Grupo Antolin - AraGrupo Antolin - AragusaGrupo Antolin - ArdasaGrupo Antolin - AutotrimGrupo Antolin - DapsaGrupo Antolin - EuroepsilonGrupo Antolin - EurotrimGrupo Antolin - IngenieriaGrupo Antolin - Linara Grupo Antolin - Martorell Grupo Antolin - NavarraGrupo Antolin - Palencia Grupo Antolin - PGA Grupo Antolin - PlasburGrupo Antolin - RyAGrupo Antolin - Vigo

ARGENTINAIRAUTO

GERMANYGrupo Antolin - AutoformGrupo Antolin - Deutschland Grupo Antolin - Logistik Deutschland

BRAZILIntertrimIramec Trimtec

SLOVAKIAGrupo Antolin - Bratislava Slovakian Door Company

FRANCEGrupo Antolin - FranceGrupo Antolin - HFRGrupo Antolin - IGA Grupo Antolin - Ingenierie SiegesGrupo Antolin - Logistique Douai Grupo Antolin - LoireGrupo Antolin - TransportGrupo Antolin - VosgesTANIS

PORTUGALGrupo Antolin - Lusitania

UNITED KINGDOMGrupo Antolin - Kent Grupo Antolin - U.K.

CZECH REPUBLICGrupo Antolin - BohemiaGrupo Antolin - Turnov

USAGrupo Antolin - Illinois Grupo Antolin - Kentucky Grupo Antolin - LouisianaGrupo Antolin - MichiganGrupo Antolin - North AmericaGrupo Antolin - Wayne

MEXICOGrupo Antolin - SilaoInternational Door SystemsMexican Door Company

CHINA Office of Representation in Shanghai Antolin Shanghai Autoparts Chongqing Antolin Tuopu Overhead Systems (JV)

INDIAKrishna GrupoAntolin Grupo Antolin - Pune (Desing Centre) Grupo Antolin - Pune

IRAN (Technology License)

JAPANGrupo Antolin - Japan

MOROCCOAntolin - Tanger

SOUTH AFRICAGrupo Antolin - South Africa

THAILAND (Technology License)

TURKEYOtotrim

Documents

“T”stands for Transport - Grupo Antolin