Tafalla Iron Foundry S.Coop is the new name of Fagor Ederlan Tafalla after its socio-business transformation, approved at the last assembly of the cooperative and by which it has become a worker cooperative. According to the company informed this Thursday, the new name “responds to the global presence of this industry, while reflecting its local roots and the commitment of the worker-members to the business project through cooperativism”.
This reconfiguration, which culminates a process of cooperativization, aims to make “Tafalla Iron Foundry S.Coop. a technological reference in its sector at international level, in addition to promoting the development of new business units”.
A foundry specialized in the manufacture of engine components for automotive, commercial and industrial vehicle applications, most of Tafalla Iron Foundry S.Coop’s production is export-oriented, with 84 % to Europe, 10 % to North America, 3 % to South America and 3 % to Asia. Among its main customers are Deutz, Renault, John Deere and Perkins.
It currently has a staff of around 900 people, 90% of whom are worker-members: “This means that the cooperative is a driving force for development and territorial cohesion that is fundamental for Navarra, as it generates more than 50% of the industrial employment in the nearest municipalities, Tafalla and Olite”.
THE PROCESS
The process that has now culminated began in 2008, when Victorio Luzuriaga Tafalla ceased to be a public limited company and became a mixed worker cooperative. This led to the creation of Fagor Ederlan Tafalla S. Coop was born, with 49.3% of the capital belonging to the Fagor Ederlan cooperative (Mondragon Corporation), 26% to the workers and 24.7% to Mondragon Inversiones.
Already at this time, “the objective was set to continue increasing cooperativization as a way of generating a strong structure, committed to the industrial project and innovative in management”. The last impulse was given in 2021, “when the process of reconfiguring the cooperative was relaunched at the request of representatives of the Governing Council of Fagor Ederlan Tafalla”.
Thus, on March 25, 2023, at the company’s extraordinary general assembly, the collective of worker-members “agreed to reconfigure itself as a worker cooperative, integrated in the CHP (Chassis & Powertrain) Automotive division and in the Mondragon Corporation”.
Fagor Ederlan and Mondragon Inversiones “have transferred their rights, so their contribution remains in the cooperative, after ceasing to be collaborating partners and shareholders”. In this way, 100% of the rights “remain in the hands” of the members and workers. Likewise, “their membership of the Mondragon Corporation is consolidated as a basic cooperative instead of as a subsidiary”.
In parallel to the social-business process, the Tafalla plant has undergone “an important technological modernization, which has allowed it to increase its competitiveness at international level and to attract new projects in its industrial business”. Thus, the investments made from 2008 to 2022 amounted to 98 million euros.
“Despite the complexity of the global economic context, it has a consolidated sales structure for the coming years. Likewise, in the business area, employment has been maintained and a plan for attracting and retaining talent has been implemented, which contemplates that more workers will become partners,” the company concluded.
