INTERVIEWS
November 7th, 2023.

Welcome to “the kitchen”, the workspace where ideas come to life. It is November and in the interview of the month, we open the doors of the office in which the 2D layouts acquire volume, the office in which seven diverse and unique talents coexist and interact to develop, weeks later, unique machinery that they can feel and observe performing at our factory located in Almería, Spain.

It's not magic, it’s industrial design. It is not mere technical knowledge, it’s the ability to understand what our clients need. It is not a divine gift or clairvoyance; it is the potential of human ingenuity to solve problems and identify solutions that the client himself may not have considered for his future.

We want you to continue reading, so please, get into conversation with José Maldonado, Daniel Estévez, Maggie Rojano, José Miguel Ávila, Ana Matute, José Caro, and José Antonio Simón to understand the evolution of this team, their day-to-day work, the learnings they have had and the challenges they will face as a team. Here we go…

Tere: Hello Team! I would like to begin by talking about the evolution of the team. Who joined the team first?

José Maldonado: It was me! I’ve been here for 9 years and 2 months. When I arrived in 2014, there was only Juan Martos, another person and me. INDUSER was a small company. Our facilities only occupied two warehouses and the number of people working at the factory was less than the current half. Then the work was getting done with greater ease.

Tere: And after you, Daniel Estévez came, right? Daniel, can you tell us what your background is and what impression of INDUSER you had back in the day?

Daniel: I arrived only a week apart from José. I studied industrial technical engineering with a speciality in mechanincs and had worked in a very similar position, even with a greater workload. When I first arrived I felt afraid and scared, as I suppose happens when you start in a new place where you know you are being tested. I didn’t know much about INDUSER, I didn’t know they manufactured packaging lines, so I pretty much focused on making the projects as good as possible.

From left to right, José Maldonado and Daniel Estévez, two of the senior designers at INDUSER.

Tere: And then… who joined the team?

Maggie: I did! I started by covering a leave because Daniel was only working part-time. I was not surprised to see I was the only woman in the team, it had happened before in previous professional experiences. My first week here was difficult because I am from Córdoba and I moved alone. I thought it was going to last a short time, and now look, in January its going to be 8 years here! That has been a surprise! In 2015 there were only three of us on the team and we had the support of Juan Martos (R&D Director) and Daniel Navarro (Factory Manager). Ever since, I have asked a lot, when in doubt, questions, as many questions as possible, until you get comprehension, and even now I continue asking every time things are not clear for me!

Tere: And then, José Miguel Ávila came aboard. When you joined the team, did you spend a lot of time at the factory?

José Miguel: In reality, you must understand that the work of Industrial Design requires continuous communication with the different areas of the company, yes you have to spend time in contact with people, you have to invest time in understanding the different parts of manufacturing of the machines and people involved in the process. Designing Industrial Machinery is not a job that is done alone, you need to be in communication with others.

Tere: What changes do you notice sins then?

José Miguel Ávila: Complexity and volume! The machines we design today are more complex and the workload is greater than before.

From left to right, Margarita Rojano and José Miguel Ávila. Behind them some of the 3D printers that are used in the manufacturing process.

Tere: And then… the second female Industrial Designer came to the team. Ana, tell us about your experience?

Ana: I joined the team when Maggie went on maternity leave. Being part of INDUSER represented and important change on a personal level because I am not from Almeria either. It is true that I have not seen the growth that my colleagues talk about because by the time I arrived, 3 years ago, INDUSER was already a consolidated engineering brand. It’s funny to think that design has brought me here because I wanted to study renewables (laughs) but my internship and my end-of degree exam led me to develop myself in Industrial Machinery Design.

Tere: Well Ana, in the end, what we do determines our destiny. Who joined the team next?

José Caro: Then I arrived. My works is a little different from that of my Design colleagues. Although they are more focused on machines, my work is related to technical documentation: exploded views, loading layouts, manuals, and customer certificates. IT is related to my professionals training since I studied mechanical engineering and machinery design.

Tere: Okay… so finally (for now) José Antonio Simón joined the team. José, although you are from Almería, you come from Murcia, what brought you here?

José Antonio: The company caught my attention. I found INDUSET on the web, I saw the profile on LinkedIn, I went to the website, and I uploaded my resume, and they called me. IT was fast. The truth is that I didn’t look much further, what INDUSER offered me suited me for what I was looking for my life.

Ana Matute: I like that we have freedom to design, from an engineering point of view they let us take the proposals where we feel or want.

From left to right, Ana Matute, José Caro and José Antonio Simón.

José Maldonado: What gives me the most satisfaction is seeing the machine made. It’s not like being in your office seeing your machine in 3D and that’s it, being able to see how it goes from being on a drawing, then in its manufacturing process and then in commissioning make you say “Wow! That machine started with a design I made!

José Miguel Ávila: I think the same. In other larger companies, perhaps you don’t get to see anything of what you are designing, but here you see the evolution, it’s the most satisfying thing about our work.

Tere: Do you notice any evolution in your working capacity?

Daniel Estévez: Obviously. Nine years later, I have more ease, more speed. When I first arrive I found new machines, now many projects have references that serve as a basis for adapting them. Now, however, we are making new designs, innovations, we make new machines that require thought, care. The pace of work, however, is different, now you must go faster. I think we all feel the same way after a while.

Tere: Let’s talk about projects, is there any project that has been a challenge?

José Maldonado: There are many, but I think it is important to highlight two types of challenges. The first is that a machine is a challenge because we have never made it before. The second challenge is the complexity of an entire installation. For example, this year we have a very ambitious project that has a large volume of machinery; the number of pieces to be manufactured is for a limited space. We have another project that, for example, falls into that “first type of challenge” and requires us to face the packaging of new products; That is where one must think about how to resolve the treatment of the product.


In the picture, a view of INDUSER's facilities from the Technical Office.

Tere: Right now, what do you think is the main challenge you face as a team?

Ana Matute: The team is growing, the volume of work is growing, perhaps the challenge we face right now is the need to be coordinated and organized.

José Simón: Without a doubt it is important to follow the same direction and have a person who represents support, who is the reference to look for, to follow the same criteria.

Daniel Estevez: From my point of view, I think leadership role are important, especially when a company grows so quickly in such a short time.

Tere: José Caro, since you have different responsibilities, what would be the most important challenge for you?

José Caro: Perhaps for me the most important challenge is receiving feedback. That is, as far as my work is concerned, I deliver the folders and I think it is always good to have communication, a response from the team.

A perspective of the Technical Office at INDUSER

Tere: Well… let’s get to know the Industrial Design Team, from the perspective of the team itself… What have they learned from their colleagues?

José Maldonado: I would like to have a little more of that patience that Daniel Estévez has, I would love that! But in the end, I can’t, the poison ends up coming out (laughs).

Daniel Estévez: Uff! I can’t tell you anything specific, what I can tell you is that you can’t know everything in life. I always want to be governed by “I only know I know nothing”. I think I can learn from anyone, from a project that one of my colleagues has started.

José Miguel Ávila: I would like to learn from José and Maggie’s organization. Maggie, for example, when I came in she insisted on checking everything, always making sure that the plan se was handing in was correct, check, check, check! That has ben a great learning.

José Antonio: I have learned something from everyone. José Maldonado is a person who I know understands that subject. Dani, it’s constant, it’s there, in full swing! Maggie has a special way of approaching things. Ana Matute was a great help at the beginning. With José Caro, since he does not designs machinery, I do not have as much contact, but his work is important and I recognize it because I used to do it in my last job. Everyone supports. That in itself is something to learn from.

Tere: Finally, since we are in one of the most important places for innovation within our facilities… for you, What does it mean t be innovative?

Daniel Estévez: From my point of view, it is having the ability to respond to the specific need of each client; here, for example, there is no such thing as “standard”. We always must think about how to help the specific needs of each client. Their product, their packaging format, their facilities. We continually respond to their needs and improve it with a sense of technology.

José Antonio: The fact that we are such a large company and that we continue to pay attention to specific details has to do with innovation.

José Maldonado: From my point of view, innovation has to do with the time and resources that are allocated to knowing how to anticipate trends and design solutions that respond to those trends.

Along with the team, Juan Martos (R&D Director) and Víctor Muro (Production).

Tere: What does it mean to you that one of your machines is in places in the world as remote as Australia, Japan, or Mexico?

José Miguel: For me, a machine in Huelva is as important as a machine that goes to Australia. That is, the work must be well done.

Ana Matute: On a personal level, the quality of our work is the same, but on a company level, it does give us more prestige and allows us to position ourselves in new markets.

José Miguel Ávila: What brings a sense of pride is the performance of our machines, regardless of their destination, because they have left here, from the technical office and from what we have learned as people, as professionals and as teammates.

Tere: And with this we come to the close of this conversation.

Thank you fantastic seven… for your involvement, commitment and team work you’ve shown from day one!

You, who have read and have come this far, thank you also for being interested and reading us, until the end!

These conversations, which are intended to bring you closer to our company, our processes and our teams, will continue to take place, until they pass through all the teams that make up INDUSER.