25 November 2022. Aludium’s Amorebieta plant was visited yesterday by two lecturers and 33 third year Industrial Engineering Technology Degree students from the Department of Systems Engineering and Automation of the UPV/EHU School of Engineering of Bilbao. The visit formed part of the syllabus of the subject ‘Automation and Control’ and shows the close collaboration between the UPV/EHU and Aludium given that it has taken place every year since before the foundation of Aludium.
The main reason why future engineers visit the facilities of Amorebieta is to familiarise themselves with the plant’s hot rolling mill. “Aludium is a company that has always been of interest to Bachelor’s and Master’s students of those disciplines related to Automation and Control. The hot rolling mill especially, allows them to understand when and in what situations control algorithms should be applied and what control strategies are used for.” States Professor Eloy Irigoyen. “The students are always delighted to visit given the spectacular manufacturing processes and because it brings them closer to an industrial reality that in the lectures they are unable to perceive”, he adds.
Aludium’s Amorebieta plant, based on its commitment to meet and promote local talent and transfer knowledge, collaborates and undertakes activities and projects with the universities of the Basque Country in order to increase its positive impact locally. With activities like this visit, students can observe real-time production processes and draw a little closer to their future work when they graduate.
Aludium, a leading company in the metallurgical sector
“Aludium is a benchmark company in the metallurgical sector in Bizkaia”, says. Irigoyen. “Furthermore, it continues to have unbroken and direct contact with the university, since it welcomes and approves of us. It is a company where graduates from our school have found work and it is always receptive to listening to the ideas and proposals made from academia,” says the lecturer.
The visit left the students feeling very happy and motivated. The lecturers commented that “whenever they are consulted about whether the visits to Aludium are interesting and if it is advisable to continue with these activities, the students say they are very happy and encourage us to carry on with these initiatives for later courses”. The visit has been very gratifying for Aludium as it is a great way to meet the next generations of engineers and exchange impressions and see their interest in our innovative and sustainable processes for manufacturing our aluminium”, point out those responsible for the Aludium plant in Bizkaia.
