History
AMES 1951

1951

– AMES is founded in Barcelona (Spain), as the company Sociedad Civil Salvador Molins Caballé.

AMES 1951 SELFOIL bearings

1953

– Start of production of standard Selfoil® self-lubricating sintered bushings.
– First production of bronze self-lubricating sintered bushings by design.

metallic porous bronze filter

1955

– First production of bronze Bronfil® sintered filters.

AMES 1959

1959

– The company changes the name to Aplicaciones de Metales Sinterizados, S.A. (AMES).
– First production line designed and built internally at AMES, consisting of compacting and sizing presses, sintering furnace, and oil impregnation.
– First production of structural mechanical components of sintered steel.
– First production of special iron self-lubricating sintered bushings by design.

1966 start of operations of the ALME plant, for production of mechanical components

1966

– Start of operations of the ALME plant, located at Sant Vicenç dels Horts (Barcelona, Spain), for production of mechanical powder metal components.
– Start of application of finishing operations by machining in the manufacturing process of hydraulic powder metal components.

AMES group Creation of the R&D department on 1972

1972

– Creation of the R&D Technical Centre at the ALME plant.
– Set-up of the first heat treatment furnace at the ALME plant, for manufacturing of high hardness and strength powder metal components.

AMES 1973 first production of Soft-magnetic parts

1973

– Development and first production of powder metal soft-magnetic parts at ALME plant.

steam treatment furnace 1974

1974

– Development of the first continuous steam treatment furnace in Europe, designed and built in-house at AMES.

Start of operations of the SIMO plant at 1975

1975

– Start of operations of the SIMO plant, located at Montblanc (Tarragona, Spain), for production of self-lubricating sintered bushings and mechanical powder metal components.

Stainless steel sintered filters

1978

– First production of stainless steel sintered filters.

UTISA

1979

– Development and first production of sintered stainless steel parts.
– Start of operations of the UTISA plant, located at Barcelona (Spain), for design and manufacturing of toolings.

1981

– Establishment of AMES SINTERING CO sales office at Glenview, IL (USA). This office location was later moved to Ellicott City, MD, prior to its current location at AMES REESE plant in Lancaster, PA (USA).

high complexity mechanical, hydraulic and magnetic components

1986

– AMES becomes internationally acclaimed for their technical capacity to produce high complexity mechanical, hydraulic and magnetic powder metal components.

Quality cercles at AMES Group

1987

Start of activities of the Quality Circles, considered the beginning of the Continous Improvement in AMES.

second building of the ALME plant - AMES Group

1988

– Start of operations of the second building of the ALME plant.

AMES 1959

1991

Earned Ford Q1 quality certification.

specialized plant for production of self-lubricating bearings, and sintered filters and porous elements.

1992

Start of operations of the SIMET plant, located at Solsona (Lleida, Spain), for production of self-lubricating sintered bushings, and metallic filters and porous elements.
– Opening of the AMES ITALIA sales office in Monza (Italia), moved in 2010 to its present location at Monte di Castello.

1993-AMES-Barcelona-manufacture-sinter-hardened-steels-ALME-plant

1993

– Start of manufacturing of sinter-hardened steels at ALME plant.

1994

Start of activities of the R&D Centre for Bushings at SIMET plant.

AMES ISO 9002 at 1995

1995

Earned quality certification ISO 9001.

AMES Sant Feliu de Llobregat

1996

– Development of material TriboPM®, suitable for mechanical and hydraulic powder metal components with high wear resistance.
– New headquarters at Sant Feliu de Llobregat (Barcelona, Spain), where management, sales, a Logistics Centre and UTISA are found.

1997-AMES-production-of-mechanical-components-NAFTA-market

1997

– Opening of AMES BRASIL sales office in Sao Paulo (Brazil).
– Acquisition of the AMES-REESE plant in Lancaster, PA (USA), dedicated to production of mechanical powder metal components for the NAFTA market, including a Distribution Centre.
– Acquisition of AMES MONTERREY at Monterrey (Mexico), where a sales office and a Distribution Centre for Mexico are located.
– Opening of AMES SWITZERLAND sales office at Bubikon (Switzerland).

finishing operations of hydraulic components.

1999

Capacity increase of the SIMO plant in order to incorporate production lines for finishing operations of hydraulic powder metal components.

quality certification ISO/TS 19649

2000

– Capacity increase of SIMET plant.
– Development of the SuperCoining® process, focused to improve the flatness and pre-load of shock absorber pistons and end cylinders.
– Obtained quality certification ISO TS 16949.
– Development of the high density compacting process named AmesDens-C®, for production of powder metal components with high density and high geometric complexity.

2001

– Development of materials Ames-IBC-S® and Ames-IBC-H®, used to produce iron self-lubricating sintered bushings, with a friction coefficient lower than Fe-Cu-C.
– Earned environmental certification ISO 14001.
– First production of soft-magnetic components for high frequency of SMC materials.

non-destructive testing (NDT) for components inspection

2002

– Internal development of non-destructive testing (NDT) for powder metal components inspection.

Development of bronze Ames-A4®

2003

– Development of bronze Ames-A4®, used to manufacture self-lubricating sintered bushings with low noise and friction coefficient.

compacting presses for compaction of components with high geometrical complexity

2004

– Introduction of in-house design and construction CNC compacting presses for compaction of components with high geometrical complexity.
– Capacity increase of UTISA plant, in order to add new machinery for manufacturing tools of high precision and finishing quality.

compacting presses from 200Tm to 800 Tm

2005

New capacity increase of SIMO plant, in order to locate a production line of large  powder metal components, with compacting presses from 200Tm to 800 Tm.
– Development of material Ames-E47®, used for fuel pumps bushings, having high resistance to corrosion caused by fuels.

high hardness and accuracy requirements

2006

– Implementation of the Press-Hardening process at SIMO plant to manufacture large components with high hardness and accuracy requirements.

AMES specialized in small gears, and high yearly volume components.

2007

– Start of operations at AMES TAMARITE plant, Tamarite de Litera (Huesca, Spain), specialized in production of small  powder metal gears, and high yearly volume powder metal components.

allows to obtain austenitic stainless steels with corrosion resistance higher than 2000 h in salt mist spray chamber.

2008

– Development of the Ames-SSP® process, applied to sintered stainless steels, which allows to obtain austenitic stainless steels with corrosion resistance higher than 2000 h in salt mist spray chamber.

AMES-CMA-machinery-design-and-building

2010

– Segregation of the unit of machinery design and building, which is established as a new company, AMES CMA.
– Opening of AMES JAPAN technical office in Chiba (Japan).

high density compacting process called AmesDens-A

2011

– Development of material Simoloy-B®, of composition Fe-Mn-C, used for production of sintered steel components with low material cost.
– Development of the Mirror Finish process, which achieves surfaces with very low roughness (up to mirror aspect).
– Development of a high density compacting process called AmesDens-A®, used for manufacturing of components with high density and high mechanical performance.

Stainless steel filters AmesPore

2012

– Development of sintered stainless steels CIP filters, for filtration of liquids and gases at high pressure or high temperature.
– Development of low permeability bronze filters, based on a special low-cost bronze powder developed in-house by AMES.

coixinets autolubricats patentats Ames-LFC

2013

– Start of production of patented low-friction Ames-LFC® self-lubricating bushings.
– Opening of AMES NANJING technical office in Nanjing (China).

2014

– Start of operations at AMES HUNGARIA plant, located in Szentgotthárd (Hungary), for production of mechanical and hydraulic sintered powder metal components.

AMES Solsona manufacturing plant

2016

– New capacity increase of SIMET production plant (Solsona – Spain).

AMES WuHu (China) Manufacturing Plant

2017

Start of operations at AMES WUHU located in Wuhu County (China), for production of mechanical and hydraulic powder metal components.
– New capacity increase of AMES Tamarite production plant (Tamarite de Litera – Spain).
– New capacity increase of SIMO production plant (Montblanc – Spain) .

AMES PM tech center

2018

– Creation of  the AMES PM TECH CENTER technology center, which unifies the different R + D + I centers.
– The oldest plants of the group modify their name to unify the corporate identity:

  • ALME change to AMES Barcelona
  • SIMO change to AMES Montblanc
  • SIMET change to AMES Solsona
  • UTISA change to AMES Tooling

2019

Extension of the AMES Hungaria plant to specialize in the manufacturing of sintered hydraulic components.
– Creation of the company AMES Medical, dedicated to the manufacturing and sale of OsteoSinter®porous titanium biomedical implants.
– Market launch of Ames-U4®aluminium bearings.

2020

– Market launch of AmesPore® XPM metallic membranes in the form of filtration modules for the microfiltration and ultrafiltration of liquids.

2021

-Market launch of OsteoSinter® Evans and Cotton porous titanium implants for the correction of flat-footed deformities.

-Creation of the company AMES-PORE Filtration, S.L., which unifies the production and sales of sintered metallic filters.

2022

-Market launch of the new Ames-LFB® bearings.

-Market launch of OsteoSinter® Vet-TTA veterinary implants used for the treatment of canine cranial cruciate ligament ruptures.