An entrepreneur's choice is to become a driver and aspire to success.

JAIME HERRAIZ MAZÓN, member 5043 since 1973

  In fifty years of professional life, we come to know all the facets and social changes, which represent a challenge to which we must adapt.

Jaime is an Industrial Technical Engineer and studied in Vilanova i la Geltrú. Why did you become interested in engineering and, specifically, the electrical specialty? What makes it interesting?

At that time, pursuing a career was an obligation to the family and we also saw it as a guarantee of earning a living. Engineering provided a sufficient breadth of knowledge to develop in the industrial world.

How do you remember your time as a student?

It was a true discovery of life, considering that, at that time, I had not yet turned seventeen. It meant leaving home, meeting new people, also studying hard...in short, quite a challenge for me.

Was your first job as an engineer?

Initially, I did some projects, but I quickly focused on building control panels, a job my father did, which consisted of automating industrial processes.

We know that you worked for a short period of time in public education. Tell us about this stage of your life. What did you like most and what did you like least?

I worked there for only one year. I enjoyed working with the students, although it was a responsibility and a commitment to prepare classes at night. Over the years, those students became men and it has been rewarding, years later, to have worked with them professionally.

Why did you leave teaching to pursue private business?

Well, because teaching is a big responsibility and I had to share it with the practice of the profession. The family business had to develop and needed all my energy, so I had to decide and opt for the business world.

And here the Herraiz company takes a special interest. Where did the idea to create it come from?

My father started the company in 1946. His business was focused on building electrical switchboards and, at the same time, we sold industrial supplies on a small scale. It was a modest business with four employees.

Is this more of a family business?

The company is completely family-owned and its focus, for many years, has been the sale of supplies for industry and construction, as well as the sale of water pipe systems. We occupy warehouses of around 5,000 square meters in our headquarters in Tortosa and the Tarragona branch, with a workforce of fifty workers.

Currently, the management is in the hands of his son Julián Herraiz, who is the third generation. How do you value continuing the legacy and his footsteps?

For me it is a great satisfaction, since his decision has been voluntary and he has approached it as a transformative challenge that is modernizing all the company's operating processes.

And how has the company changed from its founding to the present day?

The company has changed in the same way as the mentality of the people who make it up has changed. We are committed to providing the best service to our customers, and this implies constant changes in our facilities and processes.

This year, as part of Engineers' Day, he received the distinction of 50 years of membership. What stands out about these half a century?

People are nothing more than another gear that provides movement to the entire vital system. Each person's task can be developed as an engine or as another element of the transmission. The choice of an entrepreneur is to become an engine and aspire to success. In fact, in fifty years of professional life, one gets to know all the facets and social changes, which represent a real challenge to which we must adapt.

What would you say to the new generations who want to be engineers? Any specific advice?

When you study something that doesn't make sense to you, think that that unpleasant theorem will probably one day have an application in your professional life. Studying is an arduous task, but you should never stop training. When you finish your degree, it is important to join a college, whether or not you develop a private activity, since contact with other colleagues will keep you useful.

And now that you are enjoying retirement, what do you do with your free time?

To travel, to maintain projects that, even if they are not of great relevance, keep us excited.