On 13 August 1989, Picanol was informed that Jaime Picañol Camps, the Catalan inventor from whom the group took its name, had passed away. In 1936, he became the head of the weaving machine development department. By the end of 1936, he managed to launch the ‘Omnium’ - the first production-ready weaving machine. Jaime would remain involved with the development department until the early seventies. After his career at Picanol, he returned to Spain. In 1989, as two-thirds of sales of the foundry were realized outside of Picanol, the foundry division was split off from the other activities and made into a separate company, Proferro NV. Also in 1989, Picanol took a stake in former electronics company Protronic (now PsiControl Mechatronics). On 10 November 1989, the 10,000th PAT-airjet weaving machine was installed at the Italian Gruppo Miroglio Tessile. Eduardo Miroglio pressed the start button under the supervision of Patrick Steverlynck.
