The engineering that listens to maintenance technicians

The following article was written by journalist Anna Pinter and published in the newspaper L’Econòmic. From MYC Facility Industrial, we would like to express our gratitude to Anna and the entire team of the newspaper for their interest, professionalism and for giving voice to initiatives like ours. We share the full interview with you:

Interview with L'Econòmic

The company, created in 2022, is standardizing procedures and documentation of good practices

Although it seems invisible, one of the fundamental links for an industrial plant to function is the maintenance service. A service that is usually little recognized, which, for decades, has been chosen to be outsourced and divested. In this context, MYC Facility Industrial was born, a company based in Barcelona that is committed to bringing order where technical disorder has become chronic.

“There are factories where the maintenance department lives completely isolated. There is no leadership, there are no documented processes and everything depends on the memory of a technician who has been solving problems on the fly for twenty years,” explains Carlos Valera, founder of MYC and with more than two decades of experience in the sector. “We don’t sell hours of labor, but structure. And structure is not something you can see, but it is what makes everything else work.”

 Valera, who has worked for years in maintenance management positions in industrial companies in various sectors, identified a recurring pattern: the maintenance suffers from a lack of resources and a general absence of solid organizational models. “When a company grows, it usually strengthens sales, logistics or production. Maintenance is relegated. It is strange that it has a defined leadership and all together it ends up being a source of internal conflicts.”

MYC was born, precisely, to respond to this general reality. With a light but very technical structure, the company defines itself as a partner in the reorganization of maintenance. They do not perform operational maintenance on a permanent basis, but rather come in to detect structural dysfunctions, propose organizational solutions and support the implementation of systems that can be supported by internal teams.

“Our work is temporary, but profound,” explains Valera. “We go to the plant, we integrate with the technical staff, we listen to them, we identify critical points, we review the available information and we propose a change in model. We work on processes, people and tools. When we leave, we leave a more autonomous team, a clearer structure and a safer environment.”

Although maintenance can vary greatly depending on the type of installation, MYC has found that the underlying problems are usually similar. “The sectors we are working in are different —food, pharmaceutical, automotive, electronics, cable, plastics, etc.—, but what we often find is the same lack of strategic vision for maintenance,” summarizes Valera.

MYC’s clients include names such as Top Cable, a leading manufacturer in the electrical sector, and the packaging company Derprosa, part of the international group Taghleef Industries. They have also worked in plants of Adient, a German multinational specializing in car seats, and in companies in the bottling, wood, metal and electronic components sectors.

In one case, MYC helped to completely transform a maintenance department that operated without any computerized management system. “They went from writing down repairs in a notebook to having a functioning CMMS, with inventory management, work reports, preventive orders and control panels for the technical manager,” says Valera. The result was not only a reduction in unplanned downtime, but also an increase in team morale and better communication with management.

MYC’s proposal is based on a proprietary methodology that combines technical knowledge with change management, leadership and training tools. “We don’t just write a report. We roll up our sleeves and stand by the technicians. If necessary, we work night shifts or weekends. What we want is to understand the system from the inside and help transform it,” says Valera.

For this reason, the company works with hybrid profiles: engineers who know the technology, but also the reality on the plant. In addition, they collaborate with specialists in organization, security, training and digitalization to adapt to the specifics of each client. Although the company has a highly qualified technical team, its real structure is based on a very small central core accompanied by a network of external collaborators specialized in maintenance, digitalization and training. This formula provides them with sufficient flexibility and technical capacity to tackle complex projects while maintaining low operating costs and agile management.

MYC expects to close next year with a turnover of close to one million euros, a figure that represents significant growth compared to the beginning.

MYC's successful take-off process is explained by the fact that they are not a conventional engineering company, nor a service company. They are, rather, an "organizational ICU" for plants that need to regain control, efficiency and safety.

But, beyond the business generated by MYC, Carles Valera admits that he has a fundamental ambition: to contribute to dignifying maintenance as a strategic area within the industry. “We need to break the perception that maintenance is something that is done when everything else fails. It is a technical discipline, with a lot of added value, that can avoid millions in losses if done well,” says Valera.

The company collaborates with vocational training centers and technical schools to promote the training of new professional profiles.



It also works on standardizing procedures and documenting good practices, to combat another common problem: dependence on key individuals. “When a technician retires, they often take all the knowledge of the plant with them. This is an organizational risk.”