Orbea, steel flexibility
- Eibar 1840. Brothers Juan Manuel, Mateo, Casimiro and Petra Orbea Murua created the Orbea Hermanos revolver and pistols factory. In just a decade, it became the largest company in the country of the armers, and before the end of the century, in 1890, they decided to electrify the factory. To do so, they built a small hydroelectric power plant and showed that they had no problem in adapting and diversifying the business: they began to sell surplus energy from the power plant, as well as short firearms.
In 1895, the last of the four brothers died. The company then had 50 employees, while in 1906 it exceeded 400 (and three hydroelectric plants). But all brands broke with World War I. In 1916 he exported only 725,183 weapons.
Of course, with the Great War, the bargain of the armers ended. So, gradually, Orbea was making fewer and fewer weapons. They started to get into the machine tool field, making tornos, milling machines or drilling machines. But from the very beginning, Orbea was dedicated to building steel pipes, and on that road he started making children's cars, wheelchairs and, above all, bicycles.
In the 1940s, the company had 1,000 workers and produced 50,000 bicycles a year. And it wasn't limited to the metal structure, because it made almost all the components of the bicycles.
The new line introduced a 20-year stability, but in the 1960s, the motorization of society caused demand to drop considerably. In addition, Orbea had already made an adaptation effort, since ten years earlier it had manufactured motor bikes through the Velosolex system, from France. But it wasn't enough. In 1969, the suspension of payments arrived and the company was closed. So Esteban Orbea gave the brand to 1,500 workers, and they created the cooperative. Specialized in competitive bicycles, they became competitive again.
Eventually, the steel of the bikes would become aluminum, carbon ... And finally, gold. At the 2008 Olympic Games, Samuel Sanchez on the road and Julien Absalon on the BTT achieved such metal medals on Orbea bicycles.
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