Interview with Roberto López, Corporate CTO Familia Martínez

Position and company: Corporate CTO at Familia Martínez
Date of birth: 5/27/1981
Sports he practices: paddle tennis and trekking
Hobbies: traveling, soccer, gastronomy
Studies: Technical Engineering in Computer Systems
People in charge: 17
Seniority in the company: 12 years

Interview with Roberto López, Corporate CTO at Familia Martínez

What is the main part of Familia Martínez’s IT budget dedicated to?

To new projects to incorporate current technologies in the development of our companies. It is a priority objective to be up to date with new technologies, especially those that can add value to the development of our main activity, which is none other than the preparation of healthy and tasty food.

Currently, at Familia Martínez we are focused on standardizing our MES and HCM systems in all the companies that are part of our Food Division, in order to have common kpi’s in terms of production and people.

In which area is investing more this year?

Operations, People and Cybersecurity, without leaving aside our ERPs and the exploitation of Big Data through BI tools that allow us to collect different sources of data, consolidate that data and create dashboards with the information that provides us with the most value for decision making. decisions.

Which project are you most satisfied with?

Precisely the consolidation of data from 4 companies in a single Datawarehouse hosted in Azure and the subsequent exploitation of the information through powerful dashboards in Power BI. It is the beginning of a project with a long history thanks to the amount of data from different departments that we want to consolidate and that each year will provide greater value thanks to the fact that the information comes automatically from the systems, saving a lot of time for the people who present the reports. data and currently have to work manually.

If you were put in charge of all the benefits of the company by the IT department, what would you like to implement?

It would establish fully automated production lines and warehouses in Familia Martínez through the new technologies applied to the sector (AI, machine learning, drones, IoT, …), even making processes more modern through augmented reality. It is a fact that the workplace is changing, we must optimize production processes and increase the safety of workers through RPA and automatic systems that perform recurring tasks, with greater risk and that allow greater well-being for employees.

Is security a problem?

Security is one of the main aspects we are working on, we are focused on it. We make significant investments every year with the aim of achieving greater maturity in our systems, processes, procedures and, above all, in training and making employees aware of the important role they play in this aspect and the need for them to collaborate to achieve a safer environment.

What challenges does a sector like yours have?

The food sector is in a moment of disruption, with a clear evolution from mass production models seeking to reduce manufacturing costs towards innovation, offering much healthier products aligned with the needs and requests of consumers. We have to be able to prepare food that is attractive (healthy and tasty) to the final consumer and, in addition, we have to achieve it through sustainability and civil responsibility, two key aspects that every company should be committed to.

Can you work from home?

Due to our activity, logically the people who are in production lines could not work from home, but for the departments where this possibility does exist, we are committed to improving the well-being of people, and for this we understand that a mixed work modality is the most appropriate, teleworking 1 day a week to improve work-life balance. In addition, we have flexible hours, summer hours, free Friday afternoons and other series of flexibilities and social benefits that have marked a clear evolution and improvement in the well-being of our employees.

What main trends do you see in the ICT world?

As main trends I would highlight the IoT, drones, blockchain, big data, augmented reality, 3D printing, virtual reality, AI, robots, genetics and the metaverse. These new technologies are transforming society and organizations as we have known them until now, and all companies should be prepared for what I call the “future-present”, since they seem like science fiction technologies to us, but as soon as we look around us we will realize that they are already a reality, that they are being used in our environment and that they are increasingly widespread.

Under no circumstances can your mobile be missing…

Email, Teams, Microsoft Authenticator (MFA) and Linkedin for the professional part, and Amazon, Eltiempo.es and Spotify for the personal

What is the tool that really changed your life?

Since certain tools to measure and organize work appeared, the way of seeing and understanding the IT world has changed completely. For example, we use Proactivanet as ITSM that allows us to record and measure all our activity, Trello to organize tasks and know our workload, and SmartSheet for all project management. Organization, information and progress, the 3 pillars on which we must base ourselves.

Tired of solving technology problems for family and friends? What do they usually ask?

Any change of smartphone or computer in my family first goes through the filter of my approval. The greater knowledge in technology makes them trust my opinion more than what they read out there.

What about extracting the value of the data, will it really mean the evolution of companies like Familia Martínez?

If no doubt. Currently we spend a lot of time locating the really important data and working with other data sources in order to have results that add value to decision making. It is clear to me that if we manage to automate all these processes, the people who make decisions will be much more efficient thanks to the immediate availability of quality data.

What is that about digital transformation? Slogan or necessity?

I would say REALITY. Just like when the industrial revolution arrived, the digitization of processes and technology is something we cannot turn our backs on. It is something that is here to stay and, whether we like it or not, it will mark the foundation of the world in which we are going to work and live.

Generate demand with essential products? How does Familia Martínez achieve it?

We are clear about our Mission, what is our Vision and what are our Values ​​and all of them are very aligned with the current reality. Food is something basic for human beings, but we are at a point where we must listen to society and detect new needs in order to create food that provides what people need.

In the cloud or on-premise?

hybrid mode. Being clear about the benefits and drawbacks of each of the models, we are committed to having everything we consider to be the business core on-premise and in the cloud, which provides us with accessibility and savings in maintenance costs.

Is the lack of customer and employee security knowledge the main challenge?

It is a challenge, no doubt. We must continue working to help customers and employees to have more and more digital knowledge and integrate the use of technology in their day to day with the security and peace of mind that they do it correctly

How does technology help to achieve the best food product?

Well, in many different ways: traceability allows us to know the route of the product, artificial vision helps us to withdraw products that do not have the expected quality, warehouse automation allows us to keep the product in optimal conditions for consumption, cybersecurity It protects us from manipulation of our manufacturing process,… We are clear that all the technology we implement must have as its final objective precisely the improvement of the product we serve, and in one way or another, it must have an important influence.

Is the supply chain a problem? How can ICT help to improve your management?

It is true that the impact that the covid has had on the current globalization model has been very large, and that supply chain has been affected, but whenever a problem appears, a solution emerges, and this has led us to find national or international alternatives. local as valid as the rest. Technology and information can clearly help by analyzing data (logistics, costs, location of suppliers…) offering many alternatives and guaranteeing the supply chain.

What is the technological solution that is transforming your sector?

From my point of view, robotics and artificial intelligence is what is marking the evolution in the entire food manufacturing sector.

What does automation mean for a sector like yours?

For me the formula would be:

Automation = Process improvement + cost reduction + people’s well-being

I think it’s a very direct approach to what automation brings to companies like ours.