- The report has been updated, four years after its creation as a work tool, with the collaboration of the University of Vigo and the Ourense Provincial Council.
- José Antonio Rodríguez Araujo: “The impact has been enormous, but so has our ability to recover. This study is a bath of realism, but also a call to well-founded optimism”.
Although there have been many economic crises that the companies in the San Cibrao industrial estate have had to face since its origins, there had never been a phenomenon like the one caused by the pandemic.
And it is that the president of the Association of Entrepreneurs, José Antonio Rodríguez Araujo, already explained it in the presentation speech of the study “Polígono en figures”:
“We couldn’t let a situation as exceptional as the one we experienced go by without analyzing how it had affected us”.
For this reason, it was decided to update the document, which was presented at the headquarters of the business entity as a conscientious and rigorous research work that portrays the polygon for what it is: one of the most important in Galicia, the largest in extension and the more diversified.
Presentation of the Polígono en Cifras
At the presentation ceremony, José Antonio Rodríguez Araujo was accompanied by the president of the Ourense Provincial Council, José Manuel Baltar; the mayor of San Cibrao das Viñas, Manuel Pedro Fernández, and the coordinator of the research team at the University of Vigo, Andrés Mazaira.
Knowing exactly the impact that the pandemic has had on the San Cibrao industrial estate was the main objective that led the Business Association to promote the updating of the “Polígono en Cifras” project, a study created in 2018 to evaluate, document and learn about accurately the business reality of the industrial area and put it in relation to other business spaces in Galicia.
Three years later and a pandemic in between, updating the data allows for a complete X-ray of the industrial epicenter of the province.
As Rodríguez Araujo pointed out, “the impact has been enormous, but it also shows recovery capacity.” For this reason, the president of the businessmen considers that “this study is a bath of realism, but also a call for well-founded optimism”.
The data shows that 3 out of 4 companies that suffered falls in their turnover have already recovered the level prior to the pandemic or plan to do so this year.
And to affirm it, it is based on data such as that 3 out of 4 companies in the polygon that saw their turnover reduced or have already recovered it or hope to do so this year.
The report also highlights data such as the 106,142 million euros that correspond to the total turnover of all the business groups that have facilities in the industrial Estate (AcelorMittal, Aceites Abril, Cie Automotive, Faurecia, Finsa, Grupo Comsa, Aernova-Coasa, Coren, Hijos de Rivera, Logística Cuevas, Adolfo Domínguez or Grupo Pérez Rumbao), which confirms this industrial space as a magnet for large national and international groups.
The Polígono San Cibrao is a benchmark in Galicia not only for its size (420 companies with around 8,350 workers who carry out an activity in 4,800,000 square meters) but also for its diversity, reflected in the almost 700 economic activities that are carried out in him and for his dynamism and ability to overcome difficult times and continue on the path of growth, as shown in the study that has just been updated and presented.
The mayor of San Cibrao, Manuel Pedro Fernández, spoke along the same lines, alluding to the enormous potential of the estate and its future:
“This study is the evidence that everything we can do from the administrations for this industrial area is little in relation to the return it generates. And I’m not just talking about San Cibrao, but about the province of Ourense and Galicia. I am thinking, in particular, of issues such as the railway freight station, the expansion or the necessary and continuous improvement of communications”.
More than a hundred variables analyzed
In his speech, the coordinator of the research team at the University of Vigo, Andrés Mazaira, offered an exhaustive analysis of the data.
He explained that the cross analysis of the different variables analyzed (which in this second edition of the study already exceed one hundred), allows conclusions to be drawn, among which the fact that Polígono Industrial de San Cibrao continues to be configured as the reference industrial estate of the southern Galicia.
Andrés Mazaira also provided relevant data on the digital transformation of companies.
Thus, more than half of the companies participating in the study have already made, to date, investments in the so-called emerging technologies (automation, robotization, internet of things, data analysis and processing tools, artificial intelligence…), a figure that rises to 66% if we refer to those that plan to incorporate them in the short term.
As for companies’ commitment to sustainability, he added, “1 in 2 companies consider it a fundamental element in the company’s strategic agenda and 1 in 3 have plans to reduce energy consumption and increase the consumption of clean energy”.
The president of the Ourense Provincian Council, Manuel Baltar, closed the presentation ceremony by assuring that the figures of the study are “to feel pride in this business area”, which he referred to as “the polygon of Galicia”.
He also stressed that the data is positive and confirms that “this reality exists, a reality that changes for the better””, concluding that the figures of its dimension, diversity and dynamism speak for themselves.
Finally, and alluding to the economic crisis that the pandemic brought, the president of the provincial entity insisted that the polygon not only withstood the challenge, but also did it better than others.
He also encouraged the directors of the Business Association to continue working along the same lines to continue improving the positive figures shown by the study.