The Basque company manufactures the fastenings for the structure that will be used in the largest experiment conducted in the United States to study neutrino properties.
Erreka has become a technological partner in the DUNE (Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment) scientific project. The cooperative from Antzuola (Gipuzkoa) has been selected by the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) as the entity responsible for developing the fastenings for the structures that will be buried more than 1.5 kilometers underground and will serve for neutrino detection. “It’s very exciting to be part of such an important theoretical physics project as DUNE, and it’s a major technological and manufacturing challenge for Erreka,” says Arkaitz Etxezarreta, who was appointed CEO of Erreka this year.
In total, they will manufacture 90,000 fastenings for the complete formation of the particle detector structure that will be located at the Sanford Underground Research Facility in South Dakota. “Some of these screws will feature Erreka Digital Bolt technology, allowing us to monitor the structure’s load at all times from here,” explains Etxezarreta.
The company, part of Mondragon Corporation, has three main business lines: one dedicated to plastic injection for the automotive sector, another for ‘fastening’ for the wind sector, and a third for ‘connected access,’ or access systems for the construction sector. Additionally, according to Etxezarreta, “we are gradually trying to enter and grow in the medical sector.”
Thanks to the DUNE project, Erreka has opened a new market line, ‘Big Science.’ “We are diversifying and working to grow in all these sectors so that in the future, Erreka becomes a larger cooperative with more business lines,” concludes the CEO.
