History of the Boix Family
More than 50 years of doing business with you
José Boix Jaén was born in Elche in January 1942 into a simple family, where he couldn’t afford to have an academic education. At that time, Spain was going through difficult times, conditioned by the economic crisis that deteriorated with the course of the Spanish Civil War.
He started working in a jeweller cleaning rings at the age of seven, delivered newspapers at an age of eleven, and fixed bicycles and motorcycles in an Official Montesa Service, with Andrés Martínez Pérez, to whom he always had great admiration. It was his “uncle from Arnedo”, as he called him, Joaquín Jaén Irles, from whom he learned the things that would define his life and that of his entire family. This gentleman moved from Elche and went to La Rioja to set up a footwear business (Calzados Jaén).
Possibly it was his personality and the way he saw things that influenced his biological parents to agree to take the boy with him for a few months. Pepito Boix, short for José, spent about a year performing mechanical maintenance work throughout the factory, a time that allowed him to specialise in working with lathes in the company’s own maintenance workstation. He also combined his stay, in order to learn to read and write, with the help of a private tutor provided by his uncle. From this man he learned the entrepreneurial spirit of running a business, the responsibilities and the sacrifice it entails. Although he was not there for very long, his stay marked him enormously, given the admiration with which he speaks of this stage of his life.
On his return from La Rioja, he continued to work in various jobs, always linked to the metallurgical sector, as this was his true passion. Oddly enough, his mother never liked it, as she said it was a job that got his clothes very dirty. For a few months he worked in a mechanical workshop for footwear machinery called IMU. He worked for another 3 or 4 years with José Antonio Sánchez Flores repairing machinery and then around 1957-58 with Enrique Ferrández where he repaired agricultural machinery (tractors, implements,…). Unfortunately, they all disappeared a few years later, but he always cites them as examples, since they were the true masters of their profession.
In 1963, at the age of 21 years while doing his military service in Ceuta, he established himself with a partner in a small building of only 200m2 under the name “Luis López Amorós“, located at 17 Manuel Garrigós Alberola Street.
Later they were renamed “IMELOB, S.L. (Industrias Mecánicas López y Boix, S.L.)”. In the beginning, they mainly did some locksmith work and repaired imported machines purchased by footwear manufacturers in the area, as almost all of these companies did not have a technical service in the country.
From then on, the idea of being able to manufacture a machine for the auxiliary footwear sector was born. around 1970. The first machines manufactured were called LB-1 and LB-2, and stood for LB= Lopez y Boix, being these for the production of footwear with functions such as harnessing and sole sanding.
Three years later, he decided to separate from his partner, buying out his share of the business and keeping the workstation. Many of the workers who started with the two of them continued to work under José Boix until they reached their respective retirement ages.
A fun fact is that many of the children of those first workers still work for the Boix family.
The novelty of manufacturing machines related to cardboard, arose from the need of a customer with whom Pepito had a very good relationship. This gentleman bought a German machine to make shoeboxes and since it did not fit well with the Spanish cardboard, he asked if he could do something to the machine so that it could pass through the cardboard; after some changes and modifications he managed to make it work.
Thanks to the commission of this work, and also Ginés Coll’s insistence, the then owner of the company was the one who made Pepito think about making a machine to form the shoeboxes. This company, now under different management, is still related to the former company after more than 50 years.
The “Boix” brand was founded in 1973 by Mr. José Boix, initially called “José Boix Jaén”, laying the foundations for a family business that would eventually grow as a company with a strong exporting character and with a large international presence.
No matter how much time passes, some things do not change. In the facet of production, raw materials, labour and capital are present, which has been the case since the first industrial revolution. José Boix started with 15,000 pesetas, equivalent to €90, which his father asked him for, and as he did not have them, a neighbour lent them to him. With this money he established himself and bought second-hand equipment since he could not buy new.
Throughout his working life, he has shown professionalism with everything he does and is a pursuer of quality. He never picked up with a poorly done thing, and passed it on to everyone who worked with him.
At the age of 69, he decided to retire, leaving all duties to his three children. He wrote 72 books on patents and utility models, and has planted more than 50,000 trees. Today he lives on his estate far from the city where he was born, where he shares his favourite hobby, which is the countryside and animals. Another passion is his grandchildren, to whom he devotes as much time as he can.
Don José Boix or Pepito to many, has no studies or languages, but has a very long professional experience, since he has spent his whole life working, learning and fighting in the “University of Life“.
In this whole process, one person has been fundamental, and that is his wife. Dña. María Luisa Sebastián AndreuShe has not only understood her husband’s business, but has also spent her entire life supporting and contributing to its development and growth.
Both applied the philosophy of the three “W’s”.
