Balay products

Balay is a Spanish appliance company founded in Zaragoza in 1947. It was acquired by the German multinational BSH in 1989, and both the old factories and the "Balay" brand are currently owned by BSH Electrodomésticos España.

Esteban Bayona was born in 1919 in Milagro, Navarra. Around 1939 he started a commercial network of sheet metal and copper in Zaragoza. In 1940 he bought a grocery store on Avenida San José de Zaragoza where his future wife, Felisa Uriel and his future in-laws worked. The Ultramarinos Uriel store provided him with the investment capacity for another business. In 1947 Esteban Bayona and José María Lairla founded an electrical material manufacturing workshop located on Calle San José de Calasanz in Zaragoza where their 4 employees, 2 men and 2 women, were engaged in manufacturing voltmeters, boosters and voltage reducers. The name Balay is born from the first two letters of Bayona and the first 3 letters of Lairla. They changed the i to y to give the trade name more consistency. Esteban Bayona was president of the company until 1970.

In 1948 the workshop moved to Pradilla Street, number 58 in Zaragoza and with 17 employees it manufactured ballasts for fluorescent tubes.

In 1951 the company became a limited company under the name of Industrias Radioeléctricas Balay SA and its 40 employees began to manufacture electric stoves.

In 1954 it began to manufacture top-loading washing machines in which the clothes always moved in the same direction.

In 1956 it moved to the 3,000 m2 factory located in Montañana (Zaragoza) where its 80 employees manufactured cooking and washing appliances. The production of electrical equipment was abandoned.

In 1957 Esteban Bayona, Alfredo Sarto Pina and Andrés Izuzquiza created Vitrex SL, dedicated to the enameling of pieces, such as the tanks for washing machines and ovens.

In 1958 Fuyma was created for the production of valves, stopcocks and thermostats for gas stoves and stoves.

In 1962 Comercial Balay was established to commercialize the products. Balay had 200 employees.

In 1964 Balay began manufacturing gas heaters.

In 1966 it launched its first automatic washing machine, the T-500, which weighed 100 kg and consumed 100 liters of water in each wash.

In 1968 it began the export of its products.

In 1970 he began using the logo with a spiral inspired by the spiral-shaped electric plates.

In 1976, the Minister of Labor, José Solís Ruiz, awarded the silver medal for merit in work to Esteban Bayona Navarro.

In 1979 Balay invested 1,030 million pesetas in its new factory in La Cartuja, Zaragoza. Created 454 new jobs. It began manufacturing its fourth generation of automatic washing machines.

In 1980 he began research in the field of induction as a cooking system. Balay stood out historically for always trying to develop his own technology.

Balay has always been linked to the city of Zaragoza and its two factories were located in the rural environment of the city of Zaragoza.