“Good tree, good shadow”
2026 marks the 40th anniversary of AZTERLAN’s establishment as a Metallurgy Research Center. To commemorate this important milestone, we will share part of our journey each month through key figures from the AZTERLAN community.
The proverb we have chosen to commemorate this significant moment is a tribute to the support we have received along our journey, as well as a reminder of the importance of sustained growth, built on a solid foundation.
A committed staff to fulfill our mision as a Technology Centre
High technical capabilities and scientific rigor
Metalurgy and advanced transformation technologies
Iconic elements and spaces linked to our activity
Participation in internationational work networks
Disruptive developments shared directly with the industry
Collaboration with strategic partners to address future challenges
Adding value to our society
“The arrival of the Marist community in Durangaldea fostered an ecosystem that integrated local manufacturing traditions with technical knowledge. This context proved key to the industrial, economic, and social development of the region. The creation of the AZTERLAN Metallurgical Research Center is one of the fruits of this legacy.”
School of Arts and Crafts of the Marist Brothers of Durango
AZTERLAN originated in the Marist Brothers’ School of Arts and Crafts in Durango, a pioneering institution in technical and industrial training in the Durangalea region since the early 20th century. In a context of industrial transformation and a growing need for applied knowledge, the School became a meeting point between education, knowledge, and the local production sector.
During the 1960s and 70s, the boom in metallurgy and foundry work in Durangaldea raised awareness that training should be accompanied by scientific and experimental work, capable of supporting and responding to the technological challenges of industry.
From this concern arose the seed of what years later would become AZTERLAN: an organization dedicated not only to training, but also to the advanced testing and characterization of metallic materials, applied research, and technological innovation. Hence the organization’s name, of Basque etymology: “AZTERLAN” meaning “research work”.
Special recognition and acknowledgment are due to the Marist Institution and to those Brothers who, through their commitment, made the creation of AZTERLAN possible, with a clear vision of service and adding value to the local industrial sector and society:
- Pedro Huidobro
- Brother Zacarías Aguirre
- Brother Alberto Oribe
Laying the foundations of an Industrially-Oriented Research Center
AZTERLAN emerged naturally within the Marist Brothers’ School of Durango, in a context marked, in the early 1970s, by the close relationship the institution maintained with the surrounding industrial ecosystem. This was a period of profound transformation in the metallurgical sector, which was beginning to demand higher levels of technical knowledge, analytical rigor, and control of materials and processes.
At this key moment, the School obtained a grant to create a laboratory as support infrastructure for the training of its technical students. Initially conceived as a teaching resource for vocational training practices, the laboratory gradually took on an additional role: providing technical services to industrial companies that were part of the School’s board of trustees. The first assignments consisted of simple tests, such as hardness testing, basic metallographic analyses, carbon measurements, or identification of structures in cast iron.
These tasks were carried out with limited equipment and under modest conditions, but with an attitude that would ultimately define AZTERLAN’s DNA: responding to the real needs of industry, learning through practice, and progressing steadily and consistently. The laboratory, then known as the Marist Laboratory, began to receive growing demand for services; not as a result of structured commercial action, but due to recognition among companies through word of mouth.
Continuous contact with the industrial environment marked a turning point. By the mid-1970s, companies were already turning to the Laboratory in search of answers, and it began to operate as a service unit of the School. Members of the team at that time, Alberto Oribe as Laboratory Director, Julián Izaga as Technical Director, Maite Zaldibar as Administrative Officer, and Izaskun Gorostiza and Ricardo Gezala as Laboratory Technicians, together with Jesús García (who belong to the AZTERLAN team until 1997), recall a period of “low turnover, but very close relationships with client-company personnel.” Every small increase in activity was experienced as a shared achievement. Celebrating these advances became a natural part of the growth process and reinforced a climate of enthusiasm and continuous learning that went far beyond the logic of a school laboratory.
The development of the laboratory was clearly organic. It did not respond to formal strategic plans, but rather to a simple and effective dynamic: industry raised needs, and the laboratory evolved to meet them, often requiring additional learning efforts with each new challenge. This process relied decisively on the knowledge of the School’s teaching staff, collaboration with company technicians, and a very close relationship with clients and their real problems.
One milestone fondly remembered by the team from this period was the acquisition of the first spectrometer, “brought from Belgium for five million pesetas at the time,” which represented a genuine transformation in technical capacity. This investment enabled a significant qualitative leap in speed, reliability, and analytical scope. It was a major commitment for the time and set a pattern that would be maintained over the years: investing in capabilities to better accompany industrial evolution and respond to its needs.
By the mid-1980s, this sustained growth revealed a reality that was hard to ignore. The laboratory no longer fully fit within the organizational structure and rhythms of an educational center. The demands of industrial service, working hours, labor agreements, and operational dynamics required an entity with its own legal and operational identity.
In 1986, a key decision was made: the establishment of AZTERLAN as an independent entity. Until then, the Laboratory had been part of the Marist School, but from that point onward, a new phase began, without breaking with the past, but within a more suitable framework for development. The name AZTERLAN, chosen for its Basque roots and its faithful reflection of the nature of its activity (analysis and research), helped consolidate a clear and recognizable identity. In this initial phase, AZTERLAN continued its activity in the same facilities, within the School grounds, in the center of Durango municipality. This process took place in a demanding competitive environment, where AZTERLAN coexisted with larger and more established entities. The team recalls those years as a period of intense but rewarding work, marked by a high degree of personal involvement and strong human bonds.
In hindsight, those involved in these first steps agree that “AZTERLAN was not built from an explicit ambition for growth, but from daily commitment, shared effort, and a strong culture of collaboration.” At the time, it was difficult, if not impossible, to imagine the scope the project would eventually reach, driven by that first core of young professionals, supported by a broad network of committed people who contributed knowledge, time, and trust.
Later milestones would follow, such as obtaining ENAC accreditation (1994), the progressive incorporation of R&D activities, or the move to new facilities on the outskirts of Durango (2006), along with constant investment in infrastructure and capabilities and significant staff growth, which would represent a qualitative leap both technically and organizationally.
Today, AZTERLAN is an internationally recognized Technology Center. However, its identity remains deeply linked to those early years: closeness to industry, continuous learning, human commitment, and a shared way of understanding work as a driver of technological and social development.
One Project, Four Perspectives
Alberto Oribe, Maite Zaldibar, Izaskun Gorostiza , and Ricardo Gezala formed, together with Julián Izaga and Jesús García, the first AZTERLAN team.
Alberto Oribe
Former teacher and Laboratory Director, and current President of Casa Maristas Azterlan
In 1976, Brother Alberto Oribe joined the teaching staff of the Marist Brothers’ School of Durango and soon assumed two new responsibilities: Head of Studies and Director of the School Laboratory, which was beginning to develop activities beyond teaching. Together with Julián Izaga (then a teacher at the School), they formed a team with an entrepreneurial mindset and a clear vision of the future. Their enthusiasm and ability to motivate the laboratory team at this crucial moment, as well as to involve people from the School’s environment, were key to the birth and consolidation of AZTERLAN.
Alberto attributes AZTERLAN’s success to two fundamental factors: the strong support of the Marist Institution, which has always backed the AZTERLAN project and “allowed us to dream and make bold decisions,” and the involvement and commitment of the team that has been part of the organization and “has lived the AZTERLAN project as their own.” He highlights the gradual growth that made it possible to consolidate each stage and reach new milestones in an orderly way. Since its beginnings, Alberto has remained linked to AZTERLAN and is currently part of its management team.
Maite Zaldibar
Administrative Officer
With training in Administration and still studying Informatics, Maite was part of the Secretariat of the Marist Brothers’ School of Durango when she received one of her first assignments related to the School Laboratory: supporting participation in the Machine Tool Biennial Fair with a dedicated stand.
From there, her involvement with the Laboratory grew: “coordination of orders, invoices, reports, generation of software programs and databases, customer service, … I remember those early days as a time when all of us had to do a bit of everything (in my case, except analyzing samples). We even had a photo development laboratory, because at that time the photographs taken of technical aspects of the analytic works were developed in-house to be included (glued) in the reports sent to clients.”
Maite recalls the beginnings of AZTERLAN as a time of intense activity and workload, but one carried out with the enthusiasm of developing a new personal and life project. The extraordinary relationship among team members, improvised birthday celebrations in the Laboratory, sharing special dates… “For those of us who were part of the birth of AZTERLAN, it has been our second home and our second family.”
Izaskun Gorostiza
Laboratory Technician, specialized in chemical testing
From AZTERLAN’s early steps, Izaskun highlights the direct and close relationship with companies’ technical staff as the basis for AZTERLAN’s progressive and almost unconscious growth. “We worked and learned as we searched for ways to respond to the problems companies presented to us. It is important to bear in mind that quality requirements in the metal sector were increasing, and companies were facing new analytical and technical needs, which they sought to resolve through our collaboration. We always accepted the challenges posed to us, even starting from complete unfamiliarity, which required significant analytical effort and a clear need to advance in knowledge.”
For her, this close relationship with client company technicians, along with adaptability to the industrial environment of those years and the trust placed in AZTERLAN by companies, were the greatest assets of those early years. Looking back, she acknowledges that only with time does one truly become aware of how much progress has been made over these 40 years and of the right decisions taken in those early stages.
Ricardo Gezala
Laboratory Technician, specialized in mechanical testing
Ricardo recalls the origins of AZTERLAN with a very clear logic: “our philosophy at the time was to keep improving day by day and respond to the challenges that arose.” In a context where work set the pace and decisions and investments were made in response to customer needs, it was not yet foreseeable that AZTERLAN would become what it is today.
Ricardo also highlights the strong personal bond that developed among those who formed the project’s initial core. The friendships, shared activities and sense of belonging have endured over time and, for Ricardo, represent the team spirit that was key to shaping the AZTERLAN we know today.
From its beginnings, AZTERLAN has undergone constant evolution, one of the clearest reflections being the development of its facilities, infrastructure, and technological capabilities, while simultaneously consolidating its positioning within a demanding and highly competitive market.
Those who have experienced AZTERLAN’s growth and transformation most closely agree that each expansion has represented a crucial moment for the organization and, at the same time, has provided a small boost and renewed enthusiasm.
In its early days, AZTERLAN was located within the facilities of the Marist Vocational Training School in Durango, where in 1995 the first major transformation took place: the construction of a new laboratory in what had previously been the School’s fronton court. “Closely following the construction works of what was going to become the New AZTERLAN was the way we dreamed and projected the progress of what we felt was Our own Project.”
However, what seemed destined to be the definitive facilities soon became too small again, “much sooner than expected”, and the Center once again experienced further growth: in 1998 part of its activity was relocated to the outskirts of Iurreta, with the construction of new facilities that would house the machining workshop and the innovation activity that was gradually beginning to take root. This would not be the definitive leap either.
After an important period of reflection, at a crucial moment when AZTERLAN was working to position itself within the local and international scientific and technological landscape, and with the reaffirmation that Durango (Biscay) was the place where it wanted to continue growing, in 2006 AZTERLAN moved to its current location. A green-field building in the Aliendalde Industrial Park, where it has continued to evolve in capabilities and infrastructure. These facilities were complemented in 2020 by a new annex pavilion, providing new semi-industrial-scale capabilities.
The Challenge of Moving Forward
Julián Izaga, Pedro Intxausti, José Mª Murua and Ramón Suárez have been the main leaders who, from their respective areas of activity, have guided AZTERLAN’s steady progress.
The development of new services and capabilities, the opening of new markets and horizons, translating dreams and projects into tangible realities. These steps that have been taken, as they agree, pursuing a constant objective: to provide knowledge and value to industry and society.
Julián Izaga
Director of Technology
Julián defines AZTERLAN as a development grounded in values which, together with the constant drive to permanently contribute scientific-technological and human value, shape the pillars upon which the Centre’s growth and consolidation are founded. “The continuous and sustained support of the Marist Institution, which believed in the Project, which was constantly reinventing itself, while endorsing our growth proposals, has undoubtedly been one of the main driving forces behind AZTERLAN’s progress and positioning.”
Dr. Pedro Intxausti
General Manager (1990-2013)
Working on positioning AZTERLAN within a highly competitive environment, at a time when the foundations of the current scientific-technological ecosystem was being forged, was one of Centre’s management’s main missions. With his “calm, yet persistent” character, through his management Pedro never ceased in his effort to highlight AZTERLAN’s technological capabilities and knowledge, as well as the important work of technology transfer to companies.
Julián's story
Prior to the establishment of AZTERLAN in 1986, the Marists’ Laboratory had already been operating for 10 years, although in its early stages its raison d’être was closely linked to the Vocational Training Centre. Activities and daily work revolved around teaching and the commissioning of the Laboratory. From the very beginning, the importance of people must be acknowledged and, for this reason, special mention is made of the core group formed by the Marist Brothers Pedro Huidobro and Zacarías Aguirre, who together with Daniel Charterina shaped the Laboratory’s initial proposal, a seed that gradually developed in an orderly manner. In the 1976–77 academic year, Alberto Oribe and Julián Izaga entered the scene; the former as Head of Studies and Laboratory Manager, and the latter as a teacher and technological support.
The industry in our surroundings was part of the metal-mechanical sector, whose most notable priorities were related to the demand for specific knowledge, access to projects of a technological nature, and compliance with quality specifications. The equipment available in the Laboratory was very basic, although it made it possible to lay the foundations for technological services, gain momentum, and establish growth strategies.
Julián highlights that, “from the outset, competition already existed with other laboratories in our environment that had more advanced infrastructures and capabilities. In this context, we were able to define and set the strategies upon which our development should be based in order to secure our own spaces or market niches“. Specialisation in metallurgical knowledge and manufacturing technologies was complemented by a vocation for service, support for our industry, and the necessary rootedness in the immediate environment; however, it must be emphasised that international-scope activities have never been renounced. Throughout its evolution process, AZTERLAN’s team prioritised its capacity to add value and to act as a vector of support and commitment to the industry as a whole.
Although growth in people, capabilities, market presence, and knowledge has marked the pace of AZTERLAN’s evolution, Julián underscores the importance of the Marist Institution’s commitment and value-based development as characteristic tools of the Centre’s identity. Commitment to the environment, rootedness, a sense of shared project, pride of belonging, and satisfaction in work well done are, in his opinion, the pillars that give value to AZTERLAN’s past and future.
Casting, forging, and stamping as manufacturing technologies, and wind energy as an example of the market/product binomial, have strengthened the technological spaces in which AZTERLAN has grown especially significantly. In this context, other client sectors have gained particular relevance. Automotive and machine tool on the one hand, and aeronautics on the other, have compelled us to redefine and strengthen our areas of knowledge and specialisation.
Looking to the future, Julián highlights the importance of technological surveillance, ensuring that the Centre’s entire team is aware of the changes taking place in the different markets and of the need to advance in knowledge, acting as technological drivers for the industry as a whole.
Pedro's story
As a doctoral candidate, Pedro Intxausti joined the AZTERLAN team in 1987, with the objective of completing his thesis on the manufacturing of new grades of cast iron with potential applications beyond the alloys that, until then, were being worked by the foundries in the surrounding area. Upon completing his doctorate, he began serving as Director of AZTERLAN.
With the area dedicated to analysis and certification services established and their natural demand activated within the Center’s immediate environment, AZTERLAN faced an important qualitative leap: accompanying companies in solving problems related to manufacturing and improving their competitiveness. Thus, at the beginning of the 1990s, the idea was born to develop what at that time they called the “engineering team” (later named after “innovation” or R&D” team).
With this new approach, and aware that “AZTERLAN’s progress had to be linked to the development of new knowledge in those corners of metallurgy that were still to be explored, and to the transfer of that knowledge to companies,” at a time when different technological agents were beginning to emerge, by the end of the 1990s AZTERLAN’s Management board had a clear horizon: to position AZTERLAN within the scientific-technological ecosystem that was beginning to take shape.
To achieve this, “it was necessary to present to local, regional, and national institutions the work of AZTERLAN in the field of R&D and technology transfer.”
In this journey, which would take more than a decade, Pedro recalls “countless visits to the Ministry of Science and Innovation (Madrid), presenting AZTERLAN’s capabilities and the contribution we made through our work to companies’ competitiveness.” He also recalls that this was a moment of fierce competition, where “the different Centers tried to secure as much space as possible.” Nevertheless, the relationships that were forged, also at the institutional level, allowed AZTERLAN’s work to begin to be recognized.
The first achievement consisted of the recognition of AZTERLAN’s innovation activity in the format of a “Project” by the Ministry; soon after, in 1997, the Basque Government presented the Basque Country Science and Technology Plan and established support measures for R&D activity, which AZTERLAN also accessed, becoming part of the newly created Basque Science, Technology and Innovation Network. These boosts, together with the support granted by the Provincial Council of Bizkaia, made it possible for AZTERLAN to gain a place within the European Technology Transfer Network (ETTN) promoted by the Commission (1998).
Pedro highlights the importance of this latter milestone: “ETTN’s purpose is to transform knowledge and technological advances into industrial and commercial successes through the integration and collaboration of research institutes, innovation centers, and technology centers. For AZTERLAN, it meant gaining visibility and recognition as a technological agent focused on metallurgy and transformation processes, which opened important avenues of collaboration for us, both with companies and with other scientific-technological agents at the international level.”
After several years working to demonstrate the contribution of knowledge and technology transfer activity to industry, in 2011 AZTERLAN was recognized as a Multisectoral Technology Center by the Ministry of Innovation of the Government of Spain.
Meanwhile, the Center’s research activity continued to grow steadily, and research work gradually expanded into new materials and new lines of research. Nevertheless, throughout its trajectory, AZTERLAN has remained faithful to its metallurgical specialization and to its constant commitment to providing value to the industrial fabric.
José Mª Murua
Director of Technological Services
With a clear customer orientation and an inherent commercial drive in his character, for José Mª the keys to AZTERLAN’s success have been “knowing how to listen to companies’ needs at each moment and knowing how to find the right keys to help them with their problems.” José Mª also emphasizes the support of the Marist Institution, “which trusted the AZTERLAN project when we saw opportunities to grow and make significant commitments.”.
Ramón Suárez
Director of R&D&I
Those who have worked with Ramón agree that his vision of innovation has always been oriented toward industrial application. For him, “(new) knowledge only makes sense when it translates into real improvements.” Remaining at the forefront of knowledge and technology and responding to companies’ real challenges are, in his opinion, the keys to continuing to provide value and are indeed the foundation upon which AZTERLAN has developed.
José Mª's story
José Mª Murua has been one of the main figures responsible for AZTERLAN’s commercial and customer development. After a career in private industry, specifically in the machining sector, he joined AZTERLAN in 1993. From his area of industrial specialization, he succeeded in introducing into AZTERLAN an element that would prove to be key for the Center’s commercial development: incorporating the machining of materials and test specimens into the service of the characterization and certification work offered by the Laboratory.
This new line of work, together with the capabilities AZTERLAN had at that time in the field of welding and, later on, the rise of the wind energy sector, were, in José Mª’s opinion, “the main spearhead that at that time marked AZTERLAN’s growth.”
The beginnings of this “turnkey package”, that is, analysis services that included testing specimen preparation, were not without hard work and willingness. The first projects were carried out using the School’s own equipment (shared lathes and milling machines) which were gradually reinforced with new in-house equipment. José Mª recalls that “on weekends I would go down to the workshop to move forward with sample preparation and leave processes running, so that during the week the final machining and analysis work could be carried out.” Like other aspects that motivated the creation and development of AZTERLAN, “the evolution arose in response to a customer’s need who guaranteed us a certain volume of work weekly, and we needed to gain agility in order to live up to it.” With this new working system, customers only had to bring their parts to AZTERLAN, which would took care of interpreting the reference standards, extracting the specimens, and testing those samples for subsequent evaluation of the results. This innovative approach offered agility, trust, and loyalty.
Obtaining ENAC accreditation in 1994 under the UNE-EN ISO 17025 standard (an international standard that defines the general requirements for technical and management competence in testing and calibration laboratories) further reinforced this commitment and strengthened the need to improve AZTERLAN’s capabilities and infrastructure. The first reflection of this expansion was, first, the enlargement of the facilities within the School premises (1995) and, soon after, the move to second facilities on the outskirts of Iurreta (1998), where it was possible to consolidate and expand the machining workshop infrastructure.
Throughout this process, José Mª’s role evolved into that of a technical-commercial director: presenting and developing capabilities, negotiating with clients and suppliers… always combining technical knowledge, leadership capacity, and, at that time, “a bit of intuition”; this was the process of consolidating a key role within the organization, that of Director of Technological Services, with a strong customer orientation and responsible for organizing internal processes.
As could not be otherwise, the expansion of capabilities and facilities was closely linked to the growth of AZTERLAN’s workforce, its technical and analytical capacities, and its expert knowledge. Mechanical, chemical, and metallographic testing services were soon accompanied by non-destructive testing services, “largely driven by the wind energy industry, which around the year 2000 had great importance in our market.” Later on, the corrosion and materials protection area would be created as a key analysis field for industries working with metallic materials and components in more aggressive environments.
When envisioning AZTERLAN’s trajectory toward the future, José Mª emphasizes the need to “keep the ability to listen to the customer’s needs active and to continue developing robust processes which, nevertheless, must be based on a shared vision of an AZTERLAN Project that people feel as their own.”
Ramón's story
Ramón Suárez was director of a French foundry company when Julián Izaga and Pedro Intxausti presented him the AZTERLAN project. With a notable background in the industrial world and a personal tendency toward opening new horizons, he saw in “the team of what was at that time (1994) a small laboratory” (with a staff of 8 people) contagious enthusiasm and energy, as well as an ambition he wanted to be part of: “to develop knowledge in metallurgy and foundry to serve and accompany the development of an industrial environment that wished to improve and grow.”
His incorporation into the team responded to a clear need: to shape a team with the capacity to advise companies in solving problems related to metallurgy and to improve their competitiveness through optimization projects, always from a metallurgical and practical approach. The team, led by Julián, Pedro, and Ramón, would lay the foundations of what in a few years would become AZTERLAN’s R&D team.
Like the previous steps in AZTERLAN’s evolution, Ramón recalls that the development of the innovation area (at that time named after “Engineering”) took place progressively and always with a very strong link to the reality of production plants. The team formed a tandem that allowed the scope of action to expand beyond Durango, initiating collaborations in other parts of the Basque Country and Spain, and later in France and other European countries. With that expansion also came a change in mindset: “even though internationalization was not our main objective, at that time we already had the conviction that it was possible to compete confidently at the international level.” Thus, around the year 2000, Europe also opened up as a horizon.
For Ramón, in AZTERLAN’s growth (which had its reflection in knowledge, team, and infrastructure) two key aspects played an important role: surrounding themselves with a support team made up of international experts, leading figures in different fields of materials science and technology, and, above all, the continuous development of internal projects. “From the beginning, our efforts were focused on developing knowledge that would be embodied in methodologies and tools, including software and control systems, directly applicable to metal transformation companies.”
In addition to the milestones of AZTERLAN’s growth reflected in figures in terms of personnel, revenue, and infrastructure, Ramón also recalls a point of inflection the participation in the year 2000 in an international congress in Paris, which, although was not the team’s first participation of this kind, provided a boost to scientific activity. Little by little, scientific dissemination was strengthened as a means of developing and sharing expert metallurgical knowledge with the academic, scientific, and industrial world. Increasing participation in international networks led to joining the WFO in 2004 (an environment that to this day has been of great importance for AZTERLAN) and, subsequently, in 2011, certification as a multisectoral technology center.
Always opening new fields of knowledge, “having maintained our area of specialization in metallurgy and metal transformation processes has been one of the main factors in our consolidation and success as a Technology Center.” Within this field, first from iron casting and forging, and gradually extending to new materials and manufacturing processes, the activity of the R&D team has continued to adapt to the evolution and needs of the metal-mechanical industry.
Marta González
Metallographic analist and expert in Failure Analysis and Diagnosis
Learning, evolving and growing at the pace of industry
Since joining AZTERLAN in 1990, Marta’s professional career has been marked by continuous learning, technological adaptation and direct contact with industry. Holding a degree in Chemical Sciences, she found at AZTERLAN the balance between scientific rigor and the practical application of knowledge.
More than three decades later, her path also reflects the evolution of a sector that has changed both technologically and socially, and she is one of those “role models” who make visible the important space women occupy in the scientific and technical fields.
Marta's journey
After completing her degree in Chemical Sciences, specializing in Physical Chemistry, Marta imagined her near future linked to the university. She completed doctoral courses and obtained grants that guaranteed continuity in the academic field. However, in 1990 the opportunity arose to join AZTERLAN. “The job offer came to me through the INEM and, although I had not been actively looking for it, I decided to commit to an environment that seemed to offer me something different and more aligned with my personal concerns: applying scientific knowledge to reality, in this case, in an activity closely linked to the metal industry.”
At that time, her incorporation into AZTERLAN responded to the need to strengthen the mechanical characterization area, commissioning a new tensile testing machine with extensometry. From there, an intense learning process began in different aspects related to metallurgy. “Progressively, I began to support the metallography area, which allowed me to develop new knowledge.” In line with the growth in capabilities and people experienced by the Centre itself, Marta gradually focused on this latter area, which “at AZTERLAN has the characteristic of integrating the entire analytical process carried out by the different areas; that is, it is where we perform the joint interpretation of the various characterization works carried out on a sample, material or component.” Likewise, her field of specialization was defined in the area of steels. In addition, “new layers are added to this same analytical task,” such as service failure cause analysis or advanced defect characterization, and even R&D. “I have been fortunate to participate in all of them at certain times, and that is very enriching and provides a very broad perspective.”
Marta recalls that from the very beginning she saw the potential that AZTERLAN had for her. “I felt that they believed in me, that they were committed to me and that I was given opportunities to grow.” However, she remembers that this was not the general reality for women in the industrial environment, especially in the context of the economic crisis at that time. Although there were women training in technical fields, the presence of women in production companies was low (as it is shown in the group photographs that accompany this text).
Throughout these years of close relationship with industry, Marta is aware of the transformation that has taken place in the market in this respect and recalls that 30 years ago technical and managerial positions were almost exclusively occupied by men. “Today, the presence of women is much more common, especially in quality and technical office roles. Naturally, it has not been a sudden transformation, but rather a gradual process that reflects the importance of education and access to opportunities.”
As a counterpoint, she points out that the AZTERLAN team has always had a significant female presence. When she joined, four of the eight members of staff were women and, from her experience, she never felt that her professional development was conditioned by her gender. “Both at AZTERLAN and, previously, at university, I felt that my knowledge and my ability to respond to technical challenges were valued.”
Likewise, she does not recall that her gender was ever an obstacle in directly interacting with industrial professionals. “Companies came to AZTERLAN for help with their problems and respected us insofar as we were able to solve them or, at least, guide them toward a solution.” She also remembers visits to industrial plants with more experienced colleagues as an important part of her learning process, as they were highly valuable both for directly understanding the reality of production companies and for building relationships with clients and being recognized as a technical interlocutor.
Faced with the current social reality in which the presence of women in technical degrees and professions remains low, Marta believes that education is the foundation for continuing to transform society. “At home, the message I always received from my parents and grandparents was that studying is an investment in oneself, something no one can take away from you and that opens doors; and they encouraged me to train in whatever I wanted. In my specific case, I always had a natural inclination toward more technical subjects and that was the path I chose, with the full support of my family.”
Although she is aware that today — in our environment — no one questions that there is no field of knowledge biased by gender, she believes that in order to continue transforming society it is important to present young women with the full range of possibilities available to them. “For example, I think visits by young students to AZTERLAN (and other centres and workplaces) contribute to this mission and help make visible possible professions that may be of interest to them.”
Nevertheless, Marta stresses that the true foundation lies in family education and in transforming gender roles and expectations that, “many times and without realizing it, we transmit to our daughters and sons from a very early age.”
