Within the central plains of Spain in the region of Ciudad Real you will find located the realm of the Garrido family and their metal manufacturing empire, Symaga.

1. W
ithin the central plains
of Spain in the region of
Ciudad Real you will find
located the realm of the
Garrido family and their
metal manufacturing
empire, Symaga.
Leading the family
owned and managed
business from up front is the equivalent of the modern day El
Cid Campeador, Alfonso Garrido. Like the legend of old who
himself served Alfonso IV, Alfonso Garrido drives his companies
expansion globally whilst at the helm of his ship “Symaga”, not
so dissimilar to the global exploits of Ch ristopher Columbus on
the Santa Maria, with more than 90 percent of its business being
overseas and outside of Spain.
Syamaga was established in 1985, and now 30 years on,
how privileged was I to be cordially invited to their global
headquarters and central production plant.
Along with a delegation of potential international customers
from Poland I was given free access to explore this successful
multinational organisation.
Symaga divided its production into several lines, one
specialised in designing, manufacturing and marketing galvanised
steel silos for storage; one line focused on livestock, poultry,
pig and bovine equipment; and a third one specialised in
manufacturing agricultural equipment such as water tanks and
vineyards equipment.
For every storage challenge
... there is a storage solution
by Darren Parris, Milling and Grain
Darren Parris from the Milling and Grain
team recently visited Symaga at their global
headquarters and central production plant
to see how this rapidly expanding company
deals with the challenges facing their clients
Bespoke solutions
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2. I was given unfettered access
to the whole complex. The
impressive factory is one of the
largest in Europe, occupying
100,0002
meters of the 400,0002
meter (4 square kilometer) family
owned land on which it resides.
As special guests of Alfonso
Garrido, all the potential
customers and myself were
accommodated at the family
ranch Quinta Monteguerra in
the heart of the family estate.
Whilst undoubtedly a leading
international business, Alfonso
likes to get to know all of his
customers personally and when
you are visiting the Garrido ranch
you are treated like family and with five star accommodation
and private kitchen you are able to focus your all your efforts on
evaluating what Syamaga has to offer.
After we were treated to a classical evening meal of local
cuisine and a relaxing regional breakfast we were all chauffeured
to the factory. Upon arrival we were given complete access,
nowhere was off limits and it was evident that Symaga operate
with a policy of complete transparency.
Such is the confidence in the Symaga product that pride in its
quality and service has replaced any concern for secrecy.
Investing more than 10 percent of its turnover each year into
R&D and innovation, it is clear to see why Symaga has been
growing consistently in both sales and size over the last 10
years, with now over 200 staff worldwide. However, even with
this growth in size Symaga has managed to maintain its family
ethos, it is Alfonso’s philosophy is to get to know the people in
the factory personally. With this in mind, it is perhaps less of a
surprise to learn that in the years leading up to taking over the
business from his father, Alfonso worked in every section of
the factory and understands the exact processes involved in his
business inside and out.
This understanding first hand of what is required on the factory
floor has led Symaga to become one of the most cutting edge
companies in respect of automation technology in Europe and the
number one in Spain. To put this in perspective Alfonso explains
“The process of manufacturing farm silos used to be manual, in
Milling and Grain - May 2016 | 67
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3. the past, it would take four people 38 hours to manufacture one silo, whereas today two people can produce 100 silos in one day.”
With 15 new robots in the last couple of years, Symaga now boasts 30 fully automated robots on its silo production line with
precision cutting, bending and welding robots along with 13 profiling machines giving Symaga a state of the art production process.
This high level of automation allows Symaga to be very competitive producing over 250 tons of steel a day and over 85,000 tons per
year with reduced delivery times and a focus on customer satisfaction.
And it does not stop here, from the initial high quality technical drawing required for a full turnkey project and the accuracy and
precision of its work, Symaga also invests heavily in its customers by holding over 10,000 tons of high grade European steel on site at
its factory at any one time, therefore no waiting for stock to arrive.
In addition to this, Alfonso explained, “Symaga is proud to guarantee that all its silos are manufactured with a galvanization of 600 g/
m2
coating of zinc which we feel we can claim is between 28 percent and 37 percent more galvanization in our silos than most of our
competitors”
Furthermore Alfonso went on to explain that Symaga certifies the manufacture of all its steel structures with a CE marking, which
significantly implies that the (EXC2) Factory Control Production is certified by Bureau Veritas for steel structures and components.
It is no wonder, then, that this attention to excellence in the manufacture of its silos through the implementation of a rigid quality
management system with strict quality controls has helped encourage a growing number of international customers to begin business
with Symaga. With a presence in more than 120 countries, Symaga offers storage solutions for everything from Flat bottom to Hopper
or Delivery and Farm Silos, with capacities from 6 to 25,000m3
it is not so hard to see why Symaga is a one stop solution for most
international customers.
With Symaga I learned that numbers do speak for themselves and last year they manufactured over 24 million m3
of constructed
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5. storage worldwide on many different projects from Feed mills,
flour mills, rice mills through to breweries, port terminal and
malting plans to name but a few, which seemed very impressive
to me.
As the company has expanded so has its product range,
with huge investments being made in a leading plastic
injector moulding system allowing Symaga to manufacture
new models of farming equipment which have led to large
scale turn key projects for the poultry, swine, sheep and beef
livestock sectors.
It was clear to me that in the three days I spent with Alfonso
Garrido that he inspires his team with an infectious passion
for the business. Alfonso told me that he and his staff pride
themselves on the high level of customer service they provide. It
is of the upmost importance to be able to relate to the customer
and their needs by putting themselves in their position in order
for them to fully understand what solution they want and what
works best for them and not what works best for Symaga.
Alfonso explained that many of their projects are bespoke and
with Numerical Control available in all of their automated robots,
Symaga can make to order for any project.
After almost 3 hours of solid walking around the factory I visited
the logistics area and loading bays. There was what felt like
kilometers of shelving with completed products, many completed
ahead of schedule and all-awaiting delivery to the customer. From
the logistics sector, which can hold over 20,000 tons of steel, both
stock and completed products can easily be moved to one of six
ergonomically designed loading bays to help maintain product
quality.
As my three days at the Garrido ranch drew to a close and I
reminisced with my new found Polish and Ukrainian friends it
became very clear that my personal feelings from my Symaga
visit and my final summing up of what I took away from my
stay was shared with all the other visitors, many of whom had
signed contracts for new silos during their stay. When I asked all
the customers what stood out for them, apart from the generous
hospitality all were unanimously impressed with the quality control
and the robotic automation whilst maintaining a competitive price.
And just when we thought it was all over, Alfonso whisked us
all off to the edge of his estate and to his personal vineyard and
winery where we were treated to some of his locally made wine
and gifted a few samples to take home - a visit truly appreciated
by all the Polish customers.
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