This week, we had the pleasure of interviewing Pedro Luis Fernández, President and CEO at GAM.
Tell us briefly about the history and mission of GAM.
GAM is a publicly traded Spanish multinational company that provides comprehensive solutions and services for the industry sector. Currently, we are present in 9 countries (Spain, Portugal, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, Peru, and the Dominican Republic) with 81 branches and we offer our services to more than 25,000 clients worldwide.
We define ourselves as a people-oriented company with integrated industry solutions based on machinery rental, maintenance, and distribution. We currently have more than 36,000 machines in our inventory. We work with leading brands in the sector such as Magni, Hyster, JLG, Clark, Pramac, and Ormig, among others.
But we are more than just a machinery solutions company; we also offer related auxiliary services, such as specialized training for the industry through Kirleo. We provide sustainable mobility services through Inquieto, offering comprehensive last-mile delivery solutions. Furthermore, we have an Audiovisual division that we conceive as a one-stop provider for technical design, audiovisual equipment rental, structure assembly, and power solutions for events.
Tell us about your professional journey and your current role at GAM.
I founded GAM and currently serve as the President and CEO of the group, overseeing the management alongside the dedicated and close-knit team that makes up GAM and knows how to respond to the challenges and difficulties we have faced over the years.
I studied Law, but I always knew that my passion was in the business sector. The first company I established was Carretillas del Principado, S.L, which specialized in the rental of forklifts and equipment. In less than a decade, the company experienced significant growth, both within and outside of Asturias, until it was acquired by the Machinery Rental Division of the American multinational Hertz in 2000.
In parallel with my business activities, I served on the Board of Directors of Real Oviedo FC and later, for four years, as the General Director of the club. In 2003, I took the leap to establish GAM. Since then, we have gradually achieved successes, such as internationalization, going public, diversifying our business, and overcoming the 2008 crisis that impacted us directly. GAM's recent results are very positive. In the first half of this year, we achieved a profit of 4 million euros. Our turnover reaches 130.7 million, and we have grown in all lines of business.
What is the element that sets you apart or of which you are most proud in your company?
Since GAM was founded in 2003, honesty, integrity, fair treatment, and full compliance with all laws have guided our business activities. These values have consistently marked our social and environmental commitment.
Likewise, we have a strong commitment to sustainability, talent, and innovation, which are strategic focal points to drive GAM's transformation into a conscious, responsible, and demanding business model based on experience and excellence. I want to emphasize that sustainability is an essential requirement in the development of any business model. For this reason, at GAM, we have embraced sustainability with the goal of making a real impact on both the environment and people.
What role does innovation play within your organization?
Innovation is a strategic pillar for us. At GAM, we view change as a continuous process, and therefore, we seek resilience by paying attention to the crucial aspects necessary to embrace innovations within the organization.
From the founding of GAM to the present day, the company has undergone significant changes because we have never wanted to settle. We always seek improvement, reinvention, and the pursuit of solutions that meet our customers' needs, as well as a commitment to new lines of business. To illustrate this with some data, when GAM was established in 2003, it was primarily a company focused on general machinery rental.
A few years later, by 2008, we had already acquired a dozen local companies of reference in nearby areas, which allowed us to expand our reach and diversify the company's activities into other areas within the industrial machinery rental segment.
Always mindful that our growth should be sustainable, the circular economy is present in GAM's business model, and soon we will inaugurate REVIVER, our machinery refurbishment plant, under a new industrialized model based on sustainability and environmental respect, thus giving a second life to machinery parts. Since 2016, the Group has been undergoing a digital transformation process at the forefront of innovation. The incorporation of the most disruptive technologies in the market has enabled us to reshape our portfolio of products and services, ultimately establishing ourselves as the leading provider of comprehensive solutions for the Industry. Thus, GAM Digital was created: a plan consisting of 85 measures grouped into 46 projects to be developed by 2025, aimed at optimizing efficiency in all areas of the company to become completely data-driven.
Why did you choose to become partners with AmChamSpain?
We already have a significant international presence, with a strong presence in Latin America and a clear global aspiration. Becoming partners with AmChamSpain aligns with our commitment to internationalization and the business generation opportunities that such a strategic country as the United States offers.
An example of this is our partnership with Hyster-Yale, an American company that offers a wide range of forklifts and high-level warehouse and port operations solutions. GAM Group is the authorized distributor for Hyster-Yale in Spain, Portugal, and Morocco. We also consider our membership an excellent opportunity for information exchange, sharing best practices, and networking, which the working groups on Sustainability and People, Talent, and Corporate Culture will undoubtedly provide us with.
