Success story: Miralles

They achieved this in less than a year by applying continuous improvement procedures.

Miralles reinvents itself by increasing its overall efficiency and reducing its changeover times.

In the sustained pursuit of excellence that has always characterized the Catalan company Miralles Displays; Packaging throughout its more than 110 years of existence, the challenge was set to establish a collaboration with the engineer Marc Tarral in order to achieve better performance and greater productivity that would allow them to conquer even greater market shares both in Spain and in Europe.

At Miralles & Co., thanks to the methodical dedication of each of their employees and guided by Marc Tarral's expertise, they have managed to increase the efficiency of their offset printing section by more than 351 TP3T in less than a year, while simultaneously reducing waste. Likewise, in the same period, changeover times and other processes have decreased by up to 401 TP3T. This is what the Catalan plant summarizes as "doing more and doing it better.".

Miralles, characterized by its high design and finishing capacity essentially in POS material, promotional kits, wine boxes and packaging in general, opted a year ago for the solid experience of Insta Lean, the company led by the French engineer, to achieve maximum productivity through its customized industrial organization processes.

Relying on all the managers, section heads and operators of the Offset department of the plant, InstaLin developed a procedure in the form of a Greek temple, where the priority has been to build the foundations first, and then move on to the pillars.

Through 'Agile Systems' (proprietary industrial management software), Marc Tarral laid the foundations for continuous improvement at the Catalan plant. Firstly, the implementation of the Halcón automated reporting program allowed managers and operators to monitor all efficiency parameters in real time, knowing the status of the key performance indicators at all times.

The Visual Plant or Reinforced 5S methodology then allows for the optimization of consumable consumption, improves reaction times to potential disruptions, and structures changes in a standardized way, which ultimately increases employee motivation. "Everything in its place visually, ergonomically, and above all, very practically," says a machine operator about this procedure.

InstaProcess is the next base that Marc Tarral had to implement in
Miralles. This is an agile system that allows the complete management of more than 30 standardized procedures with a strong focus on the autonomous maintenance of printing machines.

After laying the foundation, Marc Tarral built the pillars. Implementing Lean Planning's Concorde software proved vital, enabling an effective fight against wasteful planning. The founder of Insta Lean explains that in the Offset section of a large packaging plant like Miralles, the manager can spend up to three-quarters of their time planning, due in part to the large number of internal suppliers.
which it has. The Concorde also ensures that all staff focus and synchronize with each other, eliminating unnecessary administrative work. “Before, preparing the printing plates, inks, varnish, and cardboard took up to a week to successfully complete the process; now the Concorde helps to execute it in just hours,” explains the Insta Lean leader.

Through the SMED pillar, Miralles' operators can have the
The next change is made while the machine is still running, which significantly increases productivity. Another key element is TPM-I, or Autonomous Maintenance, performed by the operators themselves. This system makes it possible to detect and resolve all the latent failures and wastes—the invisible part of the so-called 'Iceberg of Breakdowns' in industrial equipment.

The final component is the TPM-2 software, or Visual Maintenance Plan, which allows for real-time communication of any type of breakdown or incident, prioritized according to its impact on the business. This software reports them, indicating where and when they occurred, representing the visible part of the 'Breakdown Iceberg'.

Regarding this software suite, José Antonio Fernández, Human Resources Director at the plant, emphasizes that “now we can analyze each incident daily, instead of at the end of the month as we did before this project was implemented. This is important, not for criticism, but for providing solutions.”.

The executive also points out that the tools InstaLin is giving the factory "give middle management the opportunity to focus on the problems they are having while analyzing them for each shift and each machine.".

Finally, the French engineer decided it was time to add the finishing touch to the project. This is the 'Agora Zone,' the physical space within the plant where the weekly meeting and discussion between the various operators and management takes place. In the 'Agora Zone,' using Halcón and TPM-2 software, incidents are reviewed and alternatives are sought to address the waste caused by machinery. "I've called this process 'the Treasure Hunt,' and it displays each proposed improvement idea and its progress on visible panels," the Insta Lean engineer emphasizes.

For his part, José Antonio Pérez, head of the Offset section at the plant, doesn't hide the significant benefits that the implementation of Insta Lean processes has brought to the Mollet del Vallés plant: “Marc Tarral has bequeathed us such effective processes and instructed us so well that I believe we couldn't work without them now. It all boils down to better production and optimized machine performance,” he reflects.

“Now I just press a button and the entire daily report appears. This allows me to spend more time with the machinery, addressing any unforeseen issues,” Pérez explained. The recent success of this renowned packaging plant demonstrates that with the right methodology, the consistent involvement of its operators and managers, and the motivated leadership of an expert, production rates can be improved to achieve near perfection.

Javier Montes de Oca Rodríguez

Instalin Consult to accompany you in the transformation process of your company and start obtaining measurable results.