Adrian Alzuri, from KREAN, is the guest on a new Meet the Shaker

Meet the Shaker by MONDRAGON presents a new episode with Adrian Alzuri, an industrial engineer responsible for installations at KREAN‘s Donostia office. The conversation moves from his early dreams of motorbike racing to how a building is designed today, and to why it pays to know a little about everything in a multidisciplinary engineering firm.

Adrian also shares his view on how construction will be done in the future and what he most values about the KREAN team.

This video is in Basque.

From motorbike racing to KREAN’s installations

As a child, Adrian raced motorbikes and saw himself as a rider. If that wasn’t possible, he wanted to end up as an engineer in the world of MotoGP. Over the years he changed course and ended up in another branch of industry, by a route he himself describes as rather unusual.

He started out in construction, as an aparejador, and gradually moved into installations as KREAN grew and its needs changed: first electrical, then mechanical. The fact that industrial engineering lets you hold your own in many fields helped with that step. When the Donostia office needed someone in charge, he took on the role, in which, as he admits, he is still fairly new.

Several specialties, one overall view

What he enjoys most about his work is being involved in many areas at once, even if it sometimes gets chaotic. In a building, he explains, electrical, mechanical and telecommunications installations are all interrelated, and a change in one affects the others.

That is why he values working at a multidisciplinary engineering company with a large team: knowing a little about everything gives you an overall view and helps you anticipate problems.

More office work, less improvising on site

Calculation software and drawing tools have changed the way projects are designed. Today’s projects come much closer to reality, whereas in the past many things were oversized just in case. In practice, more time is now spent in the office designing things properly, and the work reaches the site well defined. Before, more was settled on the ground, deciding on the spot which route to take for each thing.

Adrian believes the change will go further. Asked how his industry will evolve, a question he admits is a hard one, he points out that construction is one of the first industries and has changed a great deal, and that it will keep industrializing. What is common today, seeing people lay bricks, will give way to walls that arrive semi-assembled from a factory straight at the site, so work will be faster and better. It is an opinion based on what he sees in his work and on what he discusses with other members of the team.

A team that works like a crew

When it comes to singling out something about KREAN, Adrian is clear: the people. He admits it may sound like a clichéd answer, even a slightly pedantic one, but it is how he feels. He sees KREAN‘s teams as a close-knit crew in which everyone tries to do their job as well as possible with a common goal, and for him that is the essence of a cooperative.

A question for the next Shaker

As in every episode of Meet the Shaker, Adrian closes the conversation with a question for whoever picks up the baton: what recommendation would you give someone who is just starting to work?

The series continues this way, from Shaker to Shaker, giving a voice to the talent of the MONDRAGON ecosystem.