ULMA Architectural Solutions

History

ULMA Architectural Solutions is one of the 8 companies which make up ULMA cooperative group, which dates back to 1957 when six young mechanics set up a small workshop in Oñate (Guipúzcoa) to offer ancillary services to the chocolate industry in the region. In 1961, following several meetings with José María Arizmendiarrieta, the local priest in Mondragón (Guipúzcoa) who was the driving force behind what is today known as Mondragon Corporation, they decided to officially set up the industrial workshops cooperative ULMA S.C.I., the name of which is an acronym of their surnames, following the example of the founders of Fagor Electrodomésticos.

Although their first business was based on chocolate packaging machines (which led to the company now known as ULMA Packaging), in 1963 they patented the first JJEIP prefabricated scaffolding in Spain, which was their introduction to the construction business. As their business grew with products such as construction flanges and forklift trucks, the different businesses adopted a new, unique corporate image which took shape in the 1990s.

In 1990 ULMA Group decided to launch a new business called ULMA Polymer Concrete, dedicated to the manufacture of prefabricated polymer concrete drainage channels and window sills, as part of ULMA Construction. In 1991, the new business set up its premises and began to manufacture the first prefabricated pieces of polymer concrete, a material hitherto unknown in Spain. Indeed, it was so unknown that it was not sure how to translate "polymer concrete" into Spanish, and ended up calling it "cast material".

In 1996, the company left ULMA Construction and set up as a business under the name ULMA Polymer Concrete. In 1997 it consolidated its own sales network and, in 2001, started to manufacture and market ventilated facades, which supplemented its existing products such as architectural prefabricates. Its current site, covering 12,000 sqm. in the Zubillaga district in Oñati, opened in 2001.

Economic magnitudes

ULMA Architectural Solutions currently has 180 employees. It forms part of ULMA Group, is present in 80 countries, has 4500 employees and turns over 700 million euros. The other businesses in the Group are ULMA Greenhouses, ULMA Architectural Solutions, ULMA Forklift Trucks, ULMA Conveyor Components, ULMA Handling Systems, ULMA Construction, ULMA Packaging and ULMA Piping.

Products

ULMA Architectural Solutions manufactures four types of products in more than 20 countries: solutions for Channels and Drainage, architectural precasts, external wall systems and ventilated facades. All these products are made from polymer concrete, a compound material which combines silica and quartz aggregates, bound by stable polyester resins and it’s both lighter and more resistant than traditional concrete.

Certificates and awards

ULMA is a member of the Board of Directors of Eraikune, the Construction Hub. It has been awarded, amongst others, the Premio NAN Architecture and Construction prize for the best materials in 2010 and 2014, and in 2015 it received one of the four Diplomas of the Construmat Awards for Technological Innovation.

Projects

Since 2016 ULMA Architectural Solutions has also offered solutions for indoor coatings with different textures, colours, finishes and formats.

Corporate Social Responsibility

ULMA Architectural Solutions has signed up to the 10 Principles of the Global Compact deriving from declarations of the United Nations with regards to human rights, labour, the environment and anti-corruption. In 2010, ULMA helped to set up the ULMA Foundation, through which it gives 10% of its profits to different projects of public interest related to welfare, sport, society and culture.