The ULMA Group is a business group, made up of nine cooperatives. It group currently has a presence in 81 countries and is one of the largest business groups in northern Spain.
History
The origins of ULMA dates back to 1957. That year, six mechanics set up their first workshop to offer auxiliary services to the region's chocolate industry. When they established their first cooperative, on September 8, 1961, they used the first letter of each of their last names to give the company its name and thus Cooperativa Industrial Talleres ULMA S.C.I. Initially, the cooperative was dedicated to manufacturing wrapping machines for chocolates, today ULMA Packaging, and it entered the construction sector, another of its current pillars. It was in 1963, when those responsible for the cooperative patented the first prefabricated scaffolding made in Spain under the JJEIP brand.
At the same time and in the same region, four workers from the Forjas de Zubillaga company decided to acquire a locksmith and accessories workshop. Their names were Pedro and Enrique Guridi, Sebastian Ayastui, Ramón Irizar, Sabino Tellería and Juan Urcelay and they made balconies, metal doors and other forged and stamped products. In 1962, they too decided to become a cooperative and, as with ULMA, they chose a name based on the letters of their last names. During the first years, the company was called Gaitu S.C.I. In 1967, however, it was renamed as Enara. Its growth and consolidation gave rise to the manufacture of cable ties through the acquisition of a Drop Hammer that would transform the company and be the basis for its subsequent development.
The first rapprochement between ULMA and Enara took place in 1983. In 1987, the Oñalan group, the name with which the ULMA Group began its journey, grew with the integration of Oinakar, another cooperative. In 1989, the Group changed its name to ULMA Group.
At the end of 1989, the Group had 678 workers and a sales volume of 8,323 million pesetas (50 million euros).