Discover our blogs

Aerospace | Cranfield University

Aerospace

Agrifood | Cranfield University

Agrifood

Alumni | Cranfield University

Alumni

Careers | Cranfield University

Careers

Careers | Cranfield University

Defence and Security

Design | Cranfield University

Design

Energy and Power | Cranfield University

Energy and Sustainability

Environment | Cranfield University

Environment

Forensics | Cranfield University

Forensics

Libraries | Cranfield University

Libraries

Libraries | Cranfield University

Manufacturing and Materials

Libraries | Cranfield University

School of Management

Libraries | Cranfield University

Transport Systems

Water | Cranfield University

Water

Homepage / Wonderful study tour in Bilbao

Wonderful study tour in Bilbao

29/04/2016

Header-Cranfield-University

Hi everyone! It’s been a long time since my last post. This time I am going to share a very exciting update about our latest event – our study tour in Bilbao.

We had a four day tour in Bilbao, Spain, from 19th to 22nd April. Though a very short stay, everyone enjoyed it and learnt so much that we often talk about all the wonderful times in Bilbao. Let’s get on with the story…

Well , it was a little bit challenging to take the coach setting off at 3am in the early morning, however 32 members (30 students and 2 supervisors from faculty) showed up on time with happy faces.

3am in the morning, there we go!

3am in the morning, there we go!

99

The whole itinerary was very tightly scheduled – we started our first visit immediately after a short rest in the hotel. By the way, the hotel was really well located with good views and a tasty breakfast._DSC8435_resize

Breakfast-Chorizo is necessity

Breakfast-Chorizo is necessity

breakfast

19th April – first destination, Orbea

Orbea is a bicycle manufacturer in Mallabia, Basque Country. It began in 1840 as a rifle and gun producer and began making bicycles in the 1930’s. As Spain’s largest bicycle manufacturer, Orbea designs and builds bicycles – with some of the higher cost bikes being made in Portugal, all the others are made at the Orbea factory in Mallabia. What impresses us most is their idea of customisation as they offer a wide range of options for components with different colours and painting options. They also allocate a dedicated team to assemble for each order, and keep their customer well informed of the assembling progress which gets them involved in the process.
o2

o3

structure

Orbea presentation and factory vist

Orbea presentation and factory vist

IMG_7700

20th April – second day, Eroski & Winery

Eroski is a Spanish supermarket chain with nearly 1,000 outlets spread across Spain (excluding franchises). The company was founded in 1969 in the regions of Biscay and Gipuzkoa in Spain as a co-operative between ten supermarkets in the region. Its headquarters are located in Elorrio, Biscay, where we visited their automatic warehouse. Covering all the equipment like conveyors, miniloads, rackings and typical processes from receiving, storage, picking, sorting and dispatching, the warehouse visit consolidates our knowledge from the warehouse module of our course.
_DSC8466_resize

webwxgetmsgimg

e1

_DSC8461_resize

In the afternoon, we had the exciting winery visit and a delicious Basque lunch with wine testing as well.
webwxgetmsgimgV1HEHQYW

Winery Visiting and wine testing

Winery Visiting and wine testing

w2

w4

testing

Capture

GROUP

21st April – third day, CAF  & San Sebastian sightseeing

Construcciones y Auxiliar de Ferrocarriles (CAF) (literally “Construction & Auxiliary of Railways”) is a Spanish private company which manufactures railway vehicles and equipment. It is based in Beasain in the Basque Country where we visited. Equipment manufactured by CAF includes light rail vehicles, rapid transit trains, railroad cars and locomotives, as well as variable gauge axles that can be fitted on any existing truck or bogie.

We spent more than 2 hours walking through the factory to get to know the manufacturing process from material cutting and welding to assembly. Because of the strict requirements of company management, we couldn’t take any pics during visit. However, we were very impressed by the overall process through which the bogies are manufactured from raw materials to finished products.

CAF visiting

CAF visiting

In the afternoon, we went to a beautiful city, San Sebastian – a city known for one of the best in-city beaches in Europe. Definitely a feast for the eyes with the nice view and peaceful atmosphere!
5

6

7

9

unspecified
unspecifiedA95E5D3Z

Have fun on the beach

Having fun on the beach

unspecifiedV7XQRXY9

22nd April – last day, Zallo canned goods

Good times always elapse too quickly. The last day we came to a food company called Zallo – a traditional canned goods company offering the best products since 1926. Due to the high standard of health, all of us got issued with special work clothes before we entered. The process of making canned food was very new to us that we only had a general idea of how canned tuna was made from washing, boiling, deboning and storage. Then testing time began!
imageimagecan

Just one last ‘dance’ in Spain
00

last

Above is a rough description about our tour in Bilbao. Hope you enjoyed reading it!

Ning Wu

Written By: Cranfield University

Categories & Tags:

Leave a comment on this post:

  1. Mel Ellis 06/05/2016 at 9:25 am - Reply

    Looks like you had an amazing time guys! 🙂

Sign up for more information about studying master’s and research degrees at Cranfield

Sign up now
Go to Top