Gaspar Zarrias inaugurates the XXXVI General Assembly of Hispalyt

The Spanish Association of manufacturers of bricks and tiles, Hispalyt, held on 1 June the XXXVI General Assembly in the Hotel Meliá Sancti Petri in Chiclana de la Frontera. The opening ceremony was presided over by Gaspar Zarrías, Councillor of the Presidency of the Junta de Andalucía, and has counted with the presence of the Mayor of Chiclana, José María Román. In his speech, Zarrías highlighted the strong implementation of the structural ceramics industry in Andalusia and his role as source of wealth and job creation. The Minister announced that the will of Hispalyt build a Museum of the brick in Bailén has the support of the Junta de Andalucía and the Ministry of housing. The Museum also formally the headquarters of the Centre of interpretation of the brick that is would explore the present and the future of the material in architectural practices.

Zarrías assured that "Hispalyt and structural ceramic industry are an example of modernization, as they have been able to provide effective responses to new challenges of the construction." "The solutions against the noise and energy saving are two performance show that ceramic materials are increasingly better." The Adviser also added that the Board will launch the economic observatory of the industry ceramic Andalusian which should contribute to the analysis of the industry, designing competitive strategies against future changes in the market.

In his speech at the opening of the General Assembly of Hispalyt, the President of Hispalyt, Miguel Ángel Iturralde, recalled that "the ceramic industry Spanish long which has placed the promotion of sustainability and environmental responsibility as axes of management". In his speech, Iturralde noted that in a lower growth scenario, as that envisaged for the coming years, the ceramic materials should position itself as a guarantee of quality and innovation. "Invest 270 million euros in the last three years in r & d projects demonstrates in a convincing way the commitment of the industry by modernisation, which translates into a sustainable sector an increasingly broad range of products and"
"better for the citizens," said Iturralde.

In the field of new products, he highlighted the launch of the new Silensis system, high performance acoustic brick walls, or structure, of construction of ventilated with face brick facade seen. New systems help "to improve the quality of life of citizens, because they solve needs such as acoustic insulation or energy conservation in housing".

The President of the Association of ceramists of Bailén, José Antonio Alcalá, who stressed "the role of the structural ceramics industry, in Andalusia, employing 2,500 people about in a direct way" also participated in the ceremony of opening of the General Assembly of Hispalyt. Alcalá expressed appreciation for the role of the Junta de Andalucía "which has supported industry in the implementation underway projects as the of Innovarcilla, the technology centre of the pottery of Andalusia, Bailén-based and from which promotes research and the technological progress applied to the production processes of our companies".

As a whole, the structural ceramics sector Spanish manufactured in 2006 a total of 29,93 million tons of bricks and tiles, consolidating itself as the first European producer of these materials. Currently, Spain is a reference at the level of innovation and industrial technology through investment in r & d carried out in recent years, which have led to improvements in energy efficiency and design of materials with more features. In the classification of production by communities, Andalusia occupies the second place, only surpassed by Castilla La Mancha and ahead of the Valencian Community and Catalonia which are, respectively, the third and fourth. The concentration of production in certain geographic areas - as in the province of Jaén Bailén - is due to the quality of the clays that are mined in quarries situated in their vicinity. Andalusia was in total 5 million tons in 2006. 50 Per cent of this figure was produced in the area of Bailén.

Hispalyt is composed more than 300 companies, of more than 400 operating in the sector at the moment. Companies associated with Hispalyt concentrated a 95 per cent of the total production of structural ceramics in Spain. The media in these industries template is 32.5 people and annual average output per worker is situated around 2,200 tonnes per employee. The average business volume is of 3.43 million euros and 95 per cent of the companies is a unique centre of production.

Gaspar Izarrías and Miguel a. Iturralde participated in the General Assembly XXXVI of Hispalyt