ULMA MANUTENCION S. COOP.

Their core work

ULMA Manutencion is a Basque cooperative specializing in automated material handling, warehouse storage systems, and industrial robotics. As part of the ULMA Group based in Oñati (Spain), they design and deploy automated storage and retrieval solutions, robotic handling islands, and intralogistics systems for industrial environments. In EU projects, they contribute their expertise in robotic part handling, automated storage infrastructure, and the integration of these systems into production lines — from manufacturing floors to large-scale food processing facilities.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

ULMA Manutencion began its H2020 involvement in the digital/ICT domain, participating in U-Test (2015) on cyber-physical systems testing and then coordinating PICKPLACE (2018) on industrial robotic handling. Their most recent project, FARMYNG (2019-2025), marks a deliberate pivot toward applying their automation and robotics capabilities in the bioeconomy and food production sector. This trajectory shows a company moving from general industrial robotics R&D toward concrete deployment in emerging bio-industrial applications.

ULMA is expanding its industrial automation expertise into bioeconomy applications like insect farming, signaling readiness for cross-sector projects where robotics meets food or bio-production.

How they like to work

ULMA balances leading and contributing: they coordinated PICKPLACE while participating in two other projects, suggesting they are comfortable in both roles. With 38 unique partners across 13 countries from just 3 projects, they engage in medium-to-large consortia and appear open to diverse, pan-European partnerships rather than relying on a fixed circle of collaborators.

Despite only three projects, ULMA has built a broad network of 38 partners across 13 countries, indicating they join well-connected consortia with wide European reach. Their partnerships span both ICT/robotics and bio-production sectors.

What sets them apart

ULMA Manutencion sits at a rare intersection: they are a cooperative-owned industrial automation company with hands-on robotics expertise that has been validated in both traditional manufacturing and emerging bioeconomy contexts. Their cooperative structure (part of the ULMA Group in the Basque Country) gives them long-term stability uncommon among technology firms, while their FARMYNG involvement proves they can adapt automated storage and robotic systems to unconventional production environments like insect farming. For consortium builders, they offer a reliable industrial partner who can bridge the gap between robotics R&D and real-world deployment in factories and bio-production plants.

Highlights from their portfolio

• PICKPLACE
  ULMA's only coordinated project (EUR 448K), focused on flexible and safe robotic part handling — directly aligned with their core business.
• FARMYNG
  Flagship demonstration project applying ULMA's automated storage and robotic islands to industrial-scale insect protein production — an unusual cross-sector application of their intralogistics expertise.