On 1st March the co-operatives’ Group Council was set up, which was the historical embryo of Mondragón Corporación Cooperativa, what is now MONDRAGON.
The benefits funded by the Distribution System increased significantly compared to previous years. Health care stood out as the first benefit to exceed €6m in payouts a year. Over the last five years, the number of machines with numerical control manufactured by the Debako Group had gone from 5% to more than 40%. It was clear that the decline in mechanical components in favour of electronics was one of the causes of the crisis in traditional machine tool sectors.
Barrenetxe now had 80,000 m2 of polytunnel greenhouses, of which 50,000 were in the Markina area. Urssa, for its part, started work on building the support structure for two 170-tonne bridge cranes for Hidroeléctrica Española. Eroski posted sales in excess of €180m, which was 14% up on the previous year.