Managing Director Paco Irujo says that teamwork and transparency are the strengths of this new stage at Bildu Lan, which is centred on the customer.

“After the situations we experienced previously, we have become very cautious. We are moving forward gradually but steadily, without stopping.” The situations referred to by Paco Irujo, Managing Director of Bildu Lan—a company specialising in custom special-purpose machinery for industrial processes and process automation—were a series of management mistakes in previous years that led the cooperative into insolvency proceedings, which it successfully exited on 20 May.

However, Irujo does not want to look back, except to draw positive lessons from that period: “As a company, we have learned from our mistakes. Part of the problem was a lack of communication and transparency, so one of the lessons we have learned is to be more honest in our management, act with integrity and be more transparent with information. Before and during the insolvency proceedings, considerable harm was caused to both employees and creditors, but the experience showed us the strength that a group of people can have when they share a common objective and truly want to achieve something. It is far greater than we might imagine.”

Along the same lines, Irujo is clear about Bildu Lan’s strengths: “The experience we have acquired since the company was founded in 1973; project-based teamwork, which involves very direct and close collaboration with the customer and helps ensure customer satisfaction; and our new quality system, which has enabled us to incorporate excellence into our management procedures.”

He also emphasises the values that have helped the company move forward and that he associates with those of a social-economy cooperative: teamwork, generosity towards colleagues and the company when carrying out one’s work, availability, participation and transparency, and “above all, the team and everyone pulling in the same direction,” he says, convinced and proud of the effort made by Bildu Lan’s 34 members and employees over recent months.

The company, located in the Torres de Elorz industrial estate, is now entering a new stage in which it aims to consolidate this long-term business project with “enthusiasm, optimism and hard work”, with particular attention to customers and people who, in the Managing Director’s words, “are the strength of Bildu Lan”.

What are the most important changes you have made to the way the company is managed?

We have reorganised the company from top to bottom. Previously, the structure was hierarchical and pyramidal; today it is completely horizontal. There is no middle management. We work in project teams, and each team manages every aspect of the project, including the financial side. Each team includes one person from every area of the company; everyone contributes, so both successes and mistakes belong to the team. There is no individualism. To me, that is the company philosophy—it is the logical way to work.

It represents a major cultural change, and we are still implementing it, but we have already achieved very good results because we are meeting the objectives we set ourselves: regaining control of projects and encouraging participation. There is now a project leader, and the customer always knows who to contact and who is accountable. As a result, communication—and therefore customer confidence—has improved considerably with this approach.

What actions are you taking to increase transparency and internal communication?

We are systematising communication so that everyone participates and feels involved, each area explains its situation to the whole company in monthly meetings, and anyone who wants information can access it. We are also redesigning our website. It is an important change because the company came from a very authoritarian management model—the opposite of what a cooperative should be—and there was very little information available. Now, by contrast, we want to share information and involve all employees in the business strategy so that we can build it together and make it everyone’s strategy.

What added value does Bildu Lan offer that differentiates it from the competition?

Team-based working enables us to maintain very tight control over our projects, which gives customers greater confidence. We work directly with the customer and provide personalised attention through the project team. Our objective is to integrate the customer into the project team and make them part of it. We also provide cutting-edge technology solutions, such as integrating machine-vision systems into machines using high-performance PC-based systems that significantly outperform conventional compact cameras. We also develop industrial applications that integrate computers into machines with SQL databases for storing, managing and analysing data relating to manufactured parts and machine operation. Finally, we develop state-of-the-art robotics applications.

What major projects are you working on, and for which companies?

We are manufacturing special-purpose machinery for Viscofan, Kayaba, Grupo Antolín, Gestamp and Talleres Irudi. Over the previous five years, we have also worked for Johnson Controls, M. Torres, Gamesa, Pikolín, Faurecia, Flex&gate, Edscha, Inauxa, Kaufil and PMG.

We have two business lines. One is focused on maintenance: component manufacturing, spare parts and ongoing interventions in customers’ production processes. The other is the manufacture of special-purpose machinery, which is a more project-based need and therefore less consistent over time. Component manufacturing provides us with steady turnover and workload, particularly for Viscofan and Kayaba, our two main customers at that time.

Any company with an industrial process may need to invest in an improvement, a technology or programming upgrade, robotics, or a completely new production line and can therefore seek our support. Some customers come to us with an idea for improving their production process but do not know how to implement it, while others continuously invest in custom special-purpose machinery. In both cases, a thorough understanding of the customer is essential in order to develop the right solution.

You place great importance on customer relationships and on building trust.

Yes, because we want our customers to be satisfied. We do not simply sell them a product; a machine is ultimately a service. We therefore need to know and understand the customer’s process, identify the problem and solve it as effectively as possible. That requires very close communication. Ideally, we want the customer to see us as if we were one of their own internal departments. When we manufacture machinery for a customer, we spend a great deal of time with them and a relationship of trust develops. In the end, we come to know their production process almost as well as they do.

How many new employees have joined the company this year?

Throughout 2014, we recruited personnel in several areas: mechanical assembly, programming, sales engineering and machining. At the time, we were recruiting for three profiles: industrial design engineer, sales engineer and milling-machine operator.

Are you planning any investments in the near future?

In 2015 and subsequent years, we planned to renew our machining equipment.

Do you also work for international markets?

Our product is unusual because it is difficult for us to export directly in the way other companies do. Most of our customers are multinationals, and they are the ones that take us to other countries for specific projects. Our machines can be found anywhere in the world, although we work with the customer’s domestic headquarters. We have manufactured machines for India, China and countries throughout Europe.