INTERVIEW WITH GPAINNOVA

GPAINNOVA is an industrial-goods corporate group born in 2013 in Barcelona, where its headquarters are located. Its subsidiaries are placed in Sunrise (Florida, USA), Hong Kong and Shenzhen (Mainland China). GPAINNOVA has a team of more than 165 professionals on staff and more than 35 engineers, and had a revenue of €15.8 million in 2020. The company has been selected by Financial Times among the 1,000 Europe’s Fastest Growing Companies in 2020 and 2021.

GPAINNOVA’s mission is to make any technology-based project real, while meeting the needs of investors and creators. The company can manage the complexity of the projects, from the conception of the idea to the implementation of the product and the introduction to the market. The organization is also different from other companies: it is transversal and open, and based on the sum of the knowledge of bright minds with the expertise and capabilities of a specialized multidisciplinary team, motivated to achieve goals quickly and with maximum efficiency.

Easy Engineering: What are the main areas of activity of the company?

GPAINNOVA: GPAINNOVA is specializing in surface-metal finishing machinery, with two brands: DLyte and MURUA; medical devices, with GPAMEDICAL and its ventilator, Respira Device.com Advanced; marine robotics, with GPASEABOTS, and high-performance power electronics, with POWER INNOTECH. A part of the group’s activity is linked to SARSCH, which works as a distributor of Acralock, a structural adhesive.

E.E: What’s the news for 2021 about new products?

GPAINNOVA: In spring of this year, GPAINNOVA launched the first ultra-compact dry electropolishing machines on the market: DLyte Desktop PRO and DLyte Desktop Dental. These two devices have been designed to improve the work environment of thousands of small workshops and laboratories by replacing the manual polishing of metal parts or with equipment that uses hazardous materials for workers. GPAINNOVA is also about to present this autumn improved versions of its two solutions for massive manufacturing industries: DLyte PRO500 and DLyte 10,000. Both cells allow to automate the process of loading and unloading the holders, loaded with the parts to polish, into and from the surface-finishing machine itself.

Concerning the naval division, GPASEABOTS, is about to launch a new marine drone: SB 100 Cleaner, a water surface floating debris cleaning USV, designed for hydrocarbon retention and absorption.

E.E: What are the ranges of products?

GPAINNOVA: GPAINNOVA’s activities cover a wide spectrum of industrial demands and needs. MURUA, the smallest machine in passive layer technology to work with precious metals, is available in three different versions, which have been fully adapted to the most common materials in jewelry and aesthetic parts: gold, palladium-coated gold, silver, and brass. DLyte, the first dry electropolishing solution on the market, offers four lines of products, including ultra-compact and compact surface-finishing machinery, machines aimed at massive manufacturing processes and modular solutions for industries. All of them are suitable for dental, healthcare, and industrial sectors.

GPASEABOTS, GPAINNOVA’s marine engineering spin-off, commercializes microplastic-filtering buoys and marine drones, such as the SB 100 PRO, the most versatile multitasking USV on the market; the SB 100 Multipro, the smallest platform equipped with a Wassp S3 multibeam echo sounder, and the SB 100 Cleaner, a water surface cleaning system that captures floating solids and hydrocarbons.

GPAMEDICAL, a medical device company created in 2020, manufactures and sells RESPIRA, the first high-performance invasive ventilator based on the automation of a manual resuscitation device. The project was launched in the spring of 2020, coinciding with the outbreak of the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. This device was also carried out with the cooperation of some of the best Spanish hospitals and leading tech partners, such as Siemens, SMC, TEG and MAM, and has been approved by the Spanish Agency of Medicines and Medical Devices (AEMPS) of the Ministry of Health, Consumer Affairs and Social Welfare to conduct clinical studies in hospitals. It will soon be CE certified so that it can be marketed freely in any EU member state.

Finally, POWER INNOTECH’s professionals are working in sectors linked to sustainability, such as water treatment, power management in hybrid and electric vehicles, and aerospace research.

E.E: At what stage is the market where you are currently active?

GPAINNOVA: All our products are disruptive and innovative. Although the most traditional and stable sectors tend to be less prone to innovate and risk, the current context —in which large amounts of funds for sustainability, innovation and environment are more and more common— pushes companies to adopt new solutions to comply with regulations and to meet customers’ needs. The lack of supplies from Asia has led many companies to rethink their production strategies. This involves making production more efficient in countries with high salaries. On the other hand, the upcoming incorporation of costs associated with emissions in manufacturing will make it more competitive to produce with clean technology and avoid long-distance transportation. All these elements make the markets look for efficient and ecological solutions. For this reason, this context improves the sales prospects of our products.

E.E: What can you tell us about market trends?

GPAINNOVA: The market trend is to reshore production back to Europe and do it in a sustainable way thanks to innovation. Digitalization affects all sectors and leads to the creation of larger companies to gain competitive advantage over it competitors by taking advantage of technology.

E.E: What are the most innovative products marketed?

GPAINNOVA: Although all of GPAINNOVA’s products are based on innovation, it is worth to highlight some of them. For example, GPASEABOTS’ marine drones automate missions that cannot be carried out by traditional boats, by adapting the latest technologies to a sector that has always been affected by operational barriers. At GPAMEDICAL, the goal is providing medical devices to every single country, regardless of its purchasing power, to deal with medical emergencies. Concerning the newest products, the new DLyte PRO500 Automated Cell takes post processing to the next level, as it fully automates surface finishing processes in a single step, replacing tasks that have always been done manually. Finally, the DLyte PRO Desktop democratizes technology, since it is affordable for every company, no matter the size.

E.E: What estimations do you have for 2021?

GPAINNOVA: We expect to increase our turnover about 50% this year compared to 2020. Additionally, GPAINNOVA is about to join the Catalonia’s Efficient Energy Cluster, a business association of companies which offer, promote or develop products or services related to energy efficiency. We do believe that this strategic alliance will help us create synergies with key players in the sector and move forward in areas such as green energy or e-mobility.