Erpec News

ISTObAL – CELEbrATING 60 yEArS OF SUCCESS
would have traded for a nice cup of English
tea. Then again coffee is what everyone else
drinks in the factory so why shouldn’t I and it
was great to see that there is a drinks trolley,
not a vending machine, offering workers a
personal service, something which today you
will not see too often in the UK. Next stop,
quite literally was what I can only describe as
‘Istobal Central Station’. This transportation
hub is a vital ingredient in the ‘Just-in-time’
process through which a constant flow of
small containers pass, carrying materials to
the next stage of their manufacturing process.
as mentioned earlier in the seven lean
manufacturing key principles, the quantity
of the work performed at each part of the
production process is dictated solely by demand
for materials from the immediate next
stage. This ‘Tren’ Spanish for train, operates
throughout the whole factory and keeps the
whole manufacturing and assembly process on
track, showing departure and arrival times on
a board just like any other railway timetable.
I suppose seeing the end product, having followed
a process from start to finish, will always
be where most people get the greatest buzz,
for want of a better word. We have seen steel
cut, welded, assembled and painted. Watched
the electrical components being loaded into
their various positions and witnessed how
brushes are put together through a process
unique to Istobal, prior to the machine, which
it has suddenly become, being slotted onto
one of six roller tracks, leading ultimately
to the outside world, where it will hoisted
onto a lorry and transported to its ultimate
destination. In a normal day Istobal make
eight machines of sorts and we were lucky to
see one just finished for OMV, destined for
somewhere in austria. The range of car wash
related products actually manufactured by
Istobal is extensive and includes Roll-Overs,
Washing Drying Tunnels, Payment Terminals,
Jet Washes, Enclosures, Water Treatment
equipment, Washing accessories, plus a
whole range of commercial wash solutions.
Their top selling ‘M’ range of Roll-Overs, is
without doubt their star line, but my feeling,
having spent a day with this group of extremly
the ‘tren’ timetable at istobal Central Station with departure
and arrival times, just like any other mainline station
innovative people, is that there is much more
to come in the future. Sonia Mañas kept
hinting to me that there will be something
exciting to see at this year’s automechanika
in Frankfurt, but every time I pushed her on
the matter she said “You will have to wait and
see” Sounds promising!
Back in the offices for half an hour, I met
with long time erpec delegate and Managing
Managing Director of Istobal,
Rafael Tomás
Director of Istobal, Rafael Tomás and he had
time to tell me briefly where Istobal’s focus is
right now: He said “There are two main focus
points this year regarding markets: one is to
finalize our consolidation in the European
market, especially in Germany where we have
gone through a strong modification of our
current organization. Our second focus is the
North american market. The main tasks of our
Product Development Department regarding
Europe, is to improve even more the reliability
of our products with new developments, while
in North america our main objective is to
continue adapting our products to the needs
of this particular market. In general terms
our strategy is based on hearing our clients,
mainly the Oil Companies and making sure
that first we understand their requirements
and secondly that we are able to give them
exactly what they need and to be able to do
this everywhere in today’s globalised market”.
after a nice “Paella” for lunch with the team,
what else would you expect, we said our
thank you’s and headed for the airport, but
as we were exceptionally well organised, we
had an hour to spare, so Ms Stroppel and I
Álvaro shows the just in time process, where only the parts
for the next job are held at any particular work station
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went to see the City of arts and Sciences, a
famous modern landmark in Valencia. For
me it will always be famous as being the
place where I lost my hire car keys! a 200
kilometres drive to alicante followed, from
where I had originally rented the car, to get
the spare set of keys, in another car I had to
rent. I was one hundred and fifty kilometres
on my way back from alicante to Valencia,
before I realised the car hire company had
given me the wrong spare keys. another one
hundred and fifty kilometres back to alicante
and I finally get the correct set of keys followed
by another 200 kilometres drive to
Valencia, before driving the second rented
car back to Valencia airport and getting a
taxi back to the first one, which luckily was
still there. another 200 kilometres and eight
hours later than I should have been there, I
was back to alicante checking into a hotel at
11 pm, having missed two flights home in the
process. Sadly, they had just stopped doing
food. luckily, Ms Stroppel was able to leave
on her scheduled flight many hours earlier,
as like any hero, I insisted she should leave
and I would sort out the logistical nightmare I
was presented with … and she did! However,
through all of this there was an unexpected
bonus for me. Whilst driving around Valencia
that evening, totally lost I must say, I witnessed
the most spectacular display of street lights I
have ever seen, evident in every road I drove
down, attributed I have since learned to Valencia’s
annual Festival called “The Fallas”,
which involves extremely loud fireworks, lots
of dressing up and a great deal of drinking.
So, if like me, you ever lose a set of car keys
in Valencia at this time of the year, I recommend
you simply tell the rental company the
car has been stolen; you buy some carnival
clothes, locate yourself in the nearest bar
and wait for the car rental company to come
and sort everything out. after all, they said it
would take 2 – 3 days, which for this particular
festival is probably just about right.
For more details visit www.istobal.com
Valencia’s annual Festival called “Fallas”, a must see for
anyone visiting town in March with time on their hands