Technological excellence has been the main protagonist of the Factories of the Future Awards 2025, awards presented within the framework of Advanced Factories 2025, the leading event in robotics and 4.0 technologies in Southern Europe. The awards recognized the work, leadership, and transformation of companies committed to the evolution of industrial processes, innovation, and digitalization. This year's competition received a total of 193 applications, all of which share a common commitment to continuous operational improvement in the new era of the industrial sector.
El Fracttal Award for Leadership in the Digital Transformation of Industrial Plants has relapsed into Horse, a Spanish company part of the Renault Group that develops, manufactures, and supplies internal combustion engines, fuel-efficient hybrids, plug-in hybrids, batteries, and transmissions. The award recognized the firm's potential to drive the implementation of technological solutions and contribute its comprehensive vision of digital transformation in the face of the current global geopolitical situation. Moeve, and its IIoT ecosystem for asset monitoring, along with Michelin, for their Energy 4.0 Project focused on understanding and optimizing electrical energy consumption during the rubber compound manufacturing process, were named finalists in this category.
For its part, ABB has taken the La Vanguardia Award for the Best Industrial Equipment for the Factory of the Future thanks to the Item Picking Family, a group of robotic solutions focused on automating the picking and delivery processes of items from unstructured flows. The company has been recognized for the robustness of this solution in improving efficiency and productivity in picking and sorting processes, enabling its application in different industrial sectors. The finalists were virtualware and its Simumatik platform, which simulates and emulates industrial automation systems, enabling risk-free testing in a virtual environment; and Yaskawa, by iCube Control, an open automation machine control technology initiative that gives you complete control over your systems.
El Sothis Award for the best Automation and Robotics Project in an Industrial Plant It has been for Navantia, for their project, which includes the acquisition of an advanced Pemamek production line, modernizing and automating it. Just shy of the award were Bosch Rexroth for its innovative servo-hydraulic axis that combines the capabilities of electromechanical and hydraulic technologies; and Delteco for its proposal that automates the machining process of 11 large-scale references, enabling machining, finishing, and marking without manual intervention.
The Mitsubishi Award for the Most Disruptive Startup in the Industrial Field has been directed to Uraphex, an emerging company specializing in sustainable, cost-effective, and chemical-free water regeneration in large-scale industrial processes. The company has been recognized for reinventing the way industrial water is regenerated universally, thus contributing to the goal of a more sustainable industry. Automassist, an emerging company providing complementary AI-based solutions for factories; and Aracne Textile Solutions, which has developed technological solutions aimed at transforming the textile industry, have emerged as finalists in this category.
On the other hand, the technological center Aitiip has taken the Eurecat Award for the Best Research and Development Project by ROBOMIMIC, a portable robotic platform for dismantling large composite components, facilitating their recycling and reuse. The proposal was recognized for its potential impact across all industrial sectors, as well as for all operations that can be performed in a manufacturing company. The finalists in the Naitec category were its defect prediction and process recommendation platform based on multimodal artificial intelligence (AI); and Suplex Iberica and its ALICIA project, which establishes a Circular Manufacturing Ecosystem (CME) within the European industrial landscape.
Finally, the Becolve Award for Excellence in Sustainability, Eco-development and Economics circular has distinguished LIUX, a company that is transforming vehicle production through bio-based materials, modularity, and 3D printing. The finalists in this category are SEGUAS for the DuoEnergy System, designed to decarbonize industry and optimize energy use by recovering and reusing waste heat from industrial refrigeration processes; and ACTECO, a leading plastics recycling company that has implemented MESbook to digitize and optimize its production processes.
