Projects

The Applus+ team in Chile is providing support and advisory services to the tax inspector in the concession contracts for airport works, ensuring faithful compliance.

We provide a multidisciplinary team of professionals based on-site, which allows us to fully address the scope of the contract, including legal advice, management and business, infrastructure, equipment and systems, operation and quality of services, environment, risk prevention, contractual milestones, exploitation and operation, and the monitoring of infrastructure, equipment and systems at the facilities in Antofagasta, Chile.

We are providing instrumentation and monitoring services for the expansion of the Yellow Line of the Porto metro, which connects Santo Ovídio with Vila d’Este. This extension will help reduce congestion in city by lowering the circulation of 17,000 cars and subsequent emissions.

The extension is 3.15 km, with three new stations: Manuel Leão, Hospital Santos Silva and Vila d’Este. The extended route runs underground through tunnels and viaducts, as well as above ground.

We use SIGTUN, our proprietary custom-designed monitoring technology, which monitors the performance of a project in the field using digitalised cartography and the location of every single instrumentation device

Applus+ joined the Companies For Ukraine project, part of the “Empresas Que Ayudan” (Companies that Help) programme, run by the Spanish Confederation of Business Organisations (CEOE).

The programme works as a digital platform, with training and employment offers to help Ukrainian refugees. This facilitates their full, long-term inclusion by helping the displaced persons find decent employment and offering them free training.

We post all vacancies on the platform in Ukrainian, English and Spanish languages. Thirty per cent of all vacancies are posted by Applus+, which has been chosen, together with another Spanish company, as a model enterprise for the project.

We have already made the first recruitments within the framework of this initiative.

Through our “Giving Back” social responsibility programme, we continue to support the most vulnerable people in Indonesia. In 2022, we distributed laptops to children in Lombok thanks to the collaboration agreement with the Fiona Unity Foundation.

The pandemic restrictions had made it difficult for children to continue with their education. Therefore, our aim was to ensure that they had access to appropriate learning devices.

Through this programme, we work closely with the community to improve the quality of life of children and their access to education, promoting lasting changes in vulnerable families, not only in Lombok, but also in nearby areas.

In 2022, we celebrated the ninth edition of Safety Day, an event organised worldwide, where 100% of the countries where Applus+ operates participate and to which we invite our workforce, clients and contractors to join in the events.

For 2022, we focused on raising staff awareness of the dangers of risk normalisation and its consequences. The materials were translated into 12 languages.

Among other events, we had an internationally recognised specialist talk about how to prevent risk normalisation, the importance of following protocols, focusing on work and taking care of oneself.

This activity has been highly valued by our employees, as reflected in the comments on the event’s social wall and in the satisfaction surveys.

Applus+ has mechanisms in place to minimise the risk of road accidents in our operations, promote a culture of road safety and assess driver behaviour.

We have developed and implemented a GPS-based vehicle tracking and control system to monitor vehicle speed and driver behaviour, with alerts and retraining plans for the most recurrent situations.

As an example, in 2022, the implementation of the model in six Latin American countries (Mexico, Panama, Colombia, Peru, Brazil and Chile) enabled the monitoring of 1,105 vehicles

We have established internal safety inspection programmes in our statutory-vehicleinspection stations, which are carried out by the station managers. These inspections check, among other things, the overall condition of the facilities and equipment, and the use of PPEs.

Albert Zavide, Automotive Division Manager in Galicia (Spain), says: "The role of middle management is essential to achieving safe working conditions through these safety inspections. In 2022, in Spain, 190 safety inspections were conducted, which represents an increase of 13% compared to 2021."

The Applus+ delegation in Portugal participated in a team building action with the Agile Thinkers label on 17th May 2022.

The event was held at the Portuguese Chamber of Commerce and Industry, in collaboration with private companies and entities such as the Lisbon City Council and the Portuguese Army and Air Force. And to start strengthening a collaborative working environment for our team, the previous day we organised the peddy-paper, or paper-chase, “Em Lisboa na Peugada dos Graffitis” (In Lisbon in the Footsteps of Graffiti).

The objective of these initiatives is to optimise work and achieve a sustainable change process by demonstrating the skills and talents of the teams to solve organisational challenges through the adoption of best practices. Such initiatives encourage employee motivation, communication and teamwork.

At Applus+, we monitor the Group’s cyberhealth using the SecurityScorecard Index, which evaluates an organization’s cybersecurity risk using data-driven, objective and continuously evolving metrics. The index also allows us to compare the Group’s risk ratings against our competitors’.

The November 2022 Ransomware Analytics report gave us a 98 score, which places us in a Good Position compared to the global average of 79. The report shows which cybersecurity issues make an organisation more susceptible to ransomware attacks.

At the end of 2022, we launched the IDIADA Digital Solutions B2B e-commerce portal, the first of its kind in the field of automotive validation and homologation.

The portal provides these industry’s users a suite of digital tools, applications and solutions developed in-house by Applus+ to boost the agility and efficiency of engineering projects for vehicle development.

Among the variety of products offered by the portal we can find:

• Digital tools and services for target setting, reporting and lifecycle management of tests and data
• Tools to obtain reference benchmarks
• Digital twins for virtual development
• Specialised individual vehicle homologation services
• IDIADA’s Regulatory Information System (IRIS) application, which provides up-to-date information on current and future regulations and legislation for vehicle homologation and market access.

Applus+ together with the GdS Optronlab Group has developed a device using nearinfrared sensitive cameras and special acquisition procedures, which permits daytime electroluminescence measurements on photovoltaic modules in solar radiation environments (EL images are normally taken at night in the absence of light), with no need to disassemble the panel.

The device is a breakthrough in the field and may greatly increase test efficiency in the long term.

The prototype incorporates software, with a wide range of image capture and processing procedures, which makes it possible to obtain images under different conditions (nighttime and daytime) by automated processes. The system enables simultaneous polarisation of entire strings of modules, thereby reducing the number of connections and disconnections, which increases the module inspection rate while decreasing accidental error probability.

The good test results of the prototype significantly improve night-time technical-operational conditions.

The project has been developed within the framework of a funded R&D project by the Centre for the Development of Industrial Technology (CDTI).

Applus+ plays a key role in electric vehicle (EV) component testing in China, which is one of the world’s powerhouses in the field of the electrical mobility. Applus+ has strengthened its collaboration with manufacturers of these types of components through continued investment in new facilities and capabilities.

We have pioneered electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) testing in China, which is a key factor in ensuring electric mobility performance and safety. With the addition in 2022 of three new chambers, our Laboratory in China now has a total of 10 EMC chambers, including a reverberation chamber for high-frequency testing and a specialised chamber for electric batteries. These facilities are used to validate key components of new electric vehicles, such as electronic motor control, converters and integrated battery chargers

We have also opened a new specialized cable and connector testing laboratory, which performs environmental, ageing, mechanical, electrical, and protection tests.

Thanks to the Applus+ Group’s commitment to quality and excellence, we are now a benchmark for automotive manufacturers in China and around the world.

In 2022, Applus+ became the first European Group to achieve full accreditation under European regulations to certify all types of drones and accessories.

In addition, in 2022 Applus+ signed an agreement for the validation and certification of UAV drones in Europe with Aeroports de Catalunya (Catalonian Airports) and the Advanced Centre for Aerospace Technologies (CATEC). This agreement means we now have airport facilities with real test environments at our disposal to add to our previous agreement for performing flight tests with the ATLAS Experimental Flight Centre.

The use of UAV drones is growing exponentially and the new European regulation for their usage will be mandatory in January 2024. Applus+ has all the necessary technologies to offer a complete testing and certification service for these high-tech devices, and to collaborate in the development of Advanced Air Mobility11 (AAM) solutions

The goal of the EU-funded SUaaVE (SUpporting acceptance of automated VEhicle) collaborative project is to improve public acceptance, trust and comfort of autonomous vehicles.

The introduction of autonomous vehicles is set to disrupt the industry and the market. The transformation of drivers into passengers requires new systems, designs and features, both from a technical and user perspective.

SUaaVE project solves the gap between technological advances and public acceptance, through the inclusion of the user in the design and prototyping process. Applus+ has created use-cases to study how users will utilize and interact with the system, laying the groundwork for the acceptance of autonomous vehicles.

This experience can be used in future projects to reduce the barriers to incorporating connected, autonomous and adaptive vehicles into the market.

These forums are used to express diversity, equality and inclusion-related interests, concerns, needs and barriers, which form the basis of our action plans and improvements. Each council appoints a representative to convey the results and proposals to the Human Resources and Group Management areas.

In 2021, over 60% of our workforce is represented by these councils, present in Spain, Colombia, Chile, Germany, The Netherlands, Norway, United Kingdom, Finland, Ireland and Sweden. In 2021, we implemented many of the proposals, among them some aimed at protecting mental health and measures related to teleworking practice.

We engage with local communities in all the countries that we serve, supporting their development and helping to improve their opportunities through our services, which also contribute to the sustainability of the planet.

Applus+ is providing management and inspection services in Costa Rica for the infrastructure under construction at the Taras and La Lima road interchanges in the city of Cartago. Some 40,000 vehicles pass through the area every day, so this project is extremely important for all users travelling along the San José - Cartago route and south of the country.

Based on previous knowledge on the use of video and audio technological devices for use in restricted access situations, Applus+ has developed a methodology to carry out verification inspections and remote surveillance in collaboration with clients and suppliers. This has been refined by reducing face-to-face inspection teams and allowing experts remote access so several stakeholders could confirm compliance in real time. The auditable video footage is also used as a learning resource and forms the basis for continuous training of new inspectors.

The Automotive Division has digitalised its statutory vehicle inspection stations to continue improving the efficiency and safety of their centres, as well as the gathering, processing, transfer and traceability of inspection data. Our proprietary technology aSeller+ is an innovative tool that centralises all information related to customers and allows our technicians to understand, analyse, segment and streamline all inspection processes. The inspection process is now more efficient and safer, minimising interaction and cybersecurity risks.

The Laboratories Division is making a major investment to spearhead the testing of electric vehicles and their components. It boasts unrivalled facilities located in Silverstone (United Kingdom) for batteries, engines and heavy vehicles and it has devised and built specific testing benches for trials of electric vehicles. We have also expanded the testing capacity of all our laboratories, as well as our electric vehicle facilities in China.

The IDIADA Division contributes to the design of automated driving systems and conducts tests to ensure that these systems will function in different driving conditions. It has also signed an agreement with Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) to collaborate in the development of facilities for controlled environmental testing of highly automated vehicles (AV). The project is developing a test scenario with a combination of virtual and physical configurations to simulate diverse controlled climatic and lighting conditions. This will speed up the operational design time and improve the safety and reliability of this type of vehicle through verification systems using advanced digital technologies.

Every December since 2015, 40 employees at Applus+ visit vulnerable villages in Panama to bring them a message of hope, as well as toys and food. In 2021, 160 children from the communities and schools of Quebrada León, Gandona, Escobalito, Nueva Sevilla and Icacal Arriba received a visit within the frame of this project.

In addition to supporting disadvantaged groups, this project strengthens and energises the connections between the individuals who make up our organisation.

The business park where Applus+ headquarters in Madrid is located was recognised with the most prestigious certification in the field of environmentally sustainable building certification, the LEED Certification, developed by the US Green Building Council in the area of “Existing Buildings. Operations and Maintenance”, obtaining the highest score.

Applus+ has actively participated in obtaining this certification by providing data on energy consumption, sustainable purchasing, waste management and cleaning, all necessary for a correct evaluation of the sustainability of the buildings on site.

This recognition goes beyond a certification, as it encourages the reduction of energy use and water waste and the improvement of air quality and habitability to make the facilities healthier and more sustainable.

In 2021, the Applus+ Group and Caixabank, a leading Spanish banking institution, signed a line of credit worth €100 million linked to sustainability criteria.

The agreement is based on a gradual reduction (down to 17%) in the intensity of the emission-per-employee rates until 2023 in comparison with the intensity of our base year (2019). The selection of this measurement indicator is based on its representativeness to evaluate the environmental impact of our activities.

This financial operation is the first linked to the environmental performance of the Applus+ Group. This commitment drives us to continue reducing our emissions and thereby minimising our environmental impact. Thanks to the efforts made in 2021, we have achieved a reduction of 26%.

In 2020 we signed an agreement with our largest electricity supplier in Spain whereby all the Spanish facilities where we are responsible for purchasing power are supplied with 100% renewable electricity.

In 2021, we expanded the number of countries where we consume green electricity to Sweden, Ireland, Costa Rica and Italy, with an annual consumption equivalent to 11.79 GWh. This change represents annual savings of more than 10,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions, which allows us to perform our services in an increasingly sustainable and environmentally-friendly way

We are committed to joining organisations that address the challenge of sustainability and the generation and use of renewable energy from a local perspective. In 2021, Applus+ joined several such associations, among them: the American Clean Power Association (US), which works to remove barriers to the renewable energy industry; Clean Energy Council (Australia), which aims to speed up energy transition; and Middle East Solar Industry Association, whose mission is to empower solar energy in that region through teamwork.

In June 2021, we installed solar panels on the roof of our Bibra Lake facility in Perth, Australia. With these panels, we save 40% of energy, which avoids the emission of more than 35 tonnes of CO2 per year into the atmosphere. Our goal is to work actively to reduce the climate impacts of our activities, focusing on optimising consumption and demonstrating our commitment to renewable energy.

Applus+ takes part in the Dubai Green Run, a charity race to raise awareness of climate change and the importance of caring for the planet. The event includes all sorts of activities, and every year, our employees come together with the common purpose of protecting the environment.

Since 2020, Applus+ has sponsored the marathon for the fight against rare diseases, known as "la cursa solidària", organised by the Autonomous University of Barcelona. All the funds raised through participant registrations are donated to support the research of rare diseases.

Applus+ participates in Recycle to Change Lives, an initiative by Ecoembes that promotes the inclusion -both socially and in the workplace-  of people who are at risk of exclusion, those who have been out of work for long periods, victims of domestic violence, people who have suffered human rights abuses, people with disabilities, etc. This project connects job offers in the recycling and waste sector with the employment needs of people at risk of social exclusion, as well as designing tailored selection and training plans for participating companies.

Applus+ joined the Recycle to Change Lives network of companies in June 2018. Participation in the project has been beneficial for all parties: at the company level, it reinforces our commitment to society’s most vulnerable people, while the participating beneficiaries are able to restart and rebuild their lives.

Each year, Applus+ participates in different initiatives to collect food for people in need. On the one hand, the Automotive Division in Galicia (Spain) takes part in the donation of food to the Red Cross in Pontevedra, contributing 1,000 kg of food in the last edition.

On the other hand, the Laboratories Division encourages its employees to participate every year in the Gran Recapte d'Aliments, a charity drive organised by the Food Bank of Barcelona (Spain) to purchase fresh and refrigerated products for people in need. During the last edition, the company donated twice the amount of the staff, thus tripling Applus+ total contribution. In total, 875 kg of food were collected.

To develop new talent and facilitate the recruitment of young people, the HR Department at Applus+ in Colombia launched the Semillas (Seeds) programme. This initiative provides students with the opportunity to support Applus+ professionals at the office.

This programme is aimed at young people who are considering technical careers. It welcomes those looking to undertake a traineeship at Applus+, as well as those still in full-time education that might be interested in it on completion of their studies. In 2018, approximately 40 students took part in the programme.

Initiatives like this strengthen our ties to the local educational community and help young people to develop their skills by promoting inclusion and access to the job market.

For people with learning disabilities, training programmes open the doors to the labour market. Applus+ supports the participation of individuals with intellectual disability in formal training through the Promentor Programme of the Prodis Foundation, which offers them access to higher education.

We teach a theory lesson on business objectives and corporate culture as part of the Business Services master course, which trains students with learning disabilities as technical experts in a university environment to help them to enter the business community. We also contribute to this ultimate goal through an internship programme, offering one of the students the chance to join our workforce.

In 2017, Applus+ in Colombia signed an alliance with the Matamoros Corporation to support work and social inclusion opportunities for people with disabilities caused by injuries in combat and/or in activities related to their work in military or police services. The programme helps integrate these employees into different projects and administrative areas of Applus+ in Colombia.

Our programme encourages this personnel to develop their personal and professional skills, and also generates new life projects away from disability, supporting their social, economic and emotional rehabilitation.

The Without Limits (Sin Límites) project promotes the integration of people with intellectual disabilities into the Applus+ workforce in Spain. The company has an agreement with several foundations in order to create a more inclusive working environment.

Launched in Spain in 2019, Without Limits is part of our existing social inclusion programme, They Are Capable (Son Capaces), which has been running since 2001 in Galicia. In the coming years, the programme is expected to extend to other regions. To this day, we have welcomed 43 people with intellectual disabilities into all divisions of the company.

Without Limits' core activities include personalised onsite support by a job coach or trainer, helping the new employee to familiarise with the tasks involved, as well as raising awareness among the staff, organising meetings and presentations about intellectual disabilities before the new incorporation arrives.

Applus+ offices in Seville, Sada (Galicia), Madrid and Bellaterra (Catalonia) organise charity sales to raise awareness about intellectual disabilities and collect funds for several associations that support people with them.

In Seville, Applus+ supports the Aspanri Down association; in Sada it's the ADCOR foundation; in Madrid,the sale is organised with the Prodis Foundation; in Bellaterra, he partner is the Robingood association. 

All of these activities are part of the Without Limits project.

In 2021, Applus+ Automotive Division launched several ground-breaking training projects using digital tools to keep boosting internal talent and to ensure agile and effective training for new recruits.

The Automotive Talent University training itineraries for vehicle inspectors facilitate the exchange of experience and knowledge worldwide. The 3D training tool simulates a vehicle inspection, and lets users practice inspection methodology, assess possible faults and learn on their own. As a result, teams of people from different departments and countries have been able to work together and share their points of view.

Automotive Talent University’s goal is to develop current and future leaders. Participants are chosen among the workforce for their high potential and they're given a personalised training itinerary based on new technologies to drive digitalisation in the sector. These courses are devised and taught by our own experts, all of whom have a high level of performance, expertise and proven success in the industry.

To this date, over 450 people have now completed the course for vehicle inspectors.

Applus+ employees in the United States are invited to take part in the Volunteer Time Off (VTO) programme to work with different organisations and social projects for 8 hours per year. One of the volunteer activities is in a centre for children with disabilities.

The Applus+ volunteer programme in Costa Rica, running since 2014, is aimed at all employees who wish to promote road safety and environmental protection. The projects are designed and implemented by a volunteer committee led by the Communication and Social Responsibility Department, and each centre has a volunteer leader who advertises the activity among their colleagues.

In 2021, Applus+ in Spain and some of our partner foundations and associations  (Prodis, Aspanri, Aura, Down Syndrome Foundation and Plena Inclusión) held several talks for everyone involved in our selection processes, with a view to favour the hiring of people with disabilities.

In 2021, we met our target: we have 1.11% of people with disabilities within our global workforce. We are firmly committed to continue moving forward to create diverse teams who are a true reflection of society.