MYL: and independent spirit

60´s

The growth of MYL is in parallel to the rapid development of the machine tool sector in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s, even though it had to overcome, with considerable effort and dedication, various cyclical crises in the sector, such as that which goes from the mid 1970s up to the early 1980s and that of the early 1990s.

In 1969, Manuel Gil was already a well-known entrepreneur in the machine tool sector in Elgoibar (the heart of the machine tool production in the Basque Country). That very year, he left the project of expansion of what was to be the beginning of the current Danobat concern, in order to start a solo career, in accordance with his spirit of independence, and he set up his own company, MYL.

70´s

The first products that were produced by MYL, were pulley transmission spindles, destined to the machine tool and automotive markets. Later, driven by the growth of the company and tending to the needs of an ever more demanding market, MYL started the production of electric sleeves with an incorporated motor, for high-speed heads destined to those sectors needing a higher quality and productivity, such as the automotive sector and new generations of machine tools.

80´s

In the mid 1980s, the number of MYL-brand spindles in the market was already considerable and there was an increasing need to provide service for the repair and maintenance of its own products. Soon afterwards, this service was universalised and MYL is then able to offer repair solutions for most brands and types of head bits available in the market.

90´s

With its vision of the future, in 1999, after the inauguration of the installations in Mendaro, the new Department will be provided with the most advanced means available together with highly qualified personnel.

MYL at present

With the enlargement of the factory in 2006, new and sophisticated means of production have been incorporated into the company, together with an important amount of professionals. The engineering department has become especially relevant and the development of new products destined to higher-quality and higher added-value markets has also been prioritised. The repair service has been equipped with the most modern last-generation test and analysis methods that guarantee a first-class service. This determined bet for the quality, has allowed MYL to become a company of reference within its sector, at the same time as it has won over the confidence of front-line customers throughout the world.

Machining at Elgoibar

The founding of Elgoibar in 1346 was due to a request by the residents of the area who wanted to defend themselves with a walled town from the continuous attacks by criminals and the fighting between bandits. There were as many as 16 ironworks in the jurisdiction of Elgoibar as a result of the needs for armaments and military supplies, which gave rise to intensive trade to obtain “Biscayan iron” and to dispatch the products obtained in the area and those that came from the interior. Elgoibar’s location next to the river Deba, in an area with abundant forests on a strategic trading route was extremely important in the past in the economic and industrial activities carried out by the people of Elgoibar

Arms manufacturing was very important in the area over the centuries, and led to a certain degree of specialisation in Elgoibar in forging. We should stress the launching of the “Factory of St Peter” (1877), with two charcoal blast furnaces, which established a link with the traditional activity of the ironworks.

In the early 20th century they began to make machine tools at the company run by Eulogio Estarta and Jose Leon Ciaran, which in 1913 started to manufacture pedal lathes and drills for the arms industry. This activity has made Elgoibar the centre of our machine-tool production and for metal working, with an exemplary exporting activity that has enabled it to become well known in many countries and become a national symbol of this activity. We are now among the ten top manufacturing and exporting countries in the world and rank alongside France and the United Kingdom, which are countries that we couldn’t possibly have compared ourselves with 25 years ago.

This industrial tradition led us to manufacture those first machines more than 100 years ago, and since then, more than 600 companies have devoted themselves to making machine tools in our country.