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Familia Martínez, the Valencian group behind Embutidos Martínez, Platos Tradicionales, Cinco Tenedores and La Pila Food, will invest a further €95 million up to 2030 to expand its ready-meal capacity, Financial Food reported on 20 October. The money comes on top of an earlier €150 million plan for 2025 and 2026, which is funding a new plant of about 17,000 m² in Buñol (Valencia) dedicated solely to roasts. The first line is already running and the second will start before the end of the year. The new investment will add the remaining four lines in phases between 2027 and 2030, six in total, and the plant will reach 36,000 tonnes a year. The group turned over €533 million in 2025, up 11%, and will create at least 100 jobs. Its CEO, Raúl Martín, describes it as a clear commitment to specialising its plants.
What it means for a packaging plant
Installing six lines over five years is not the same as installing six at once. Between one and the next there are months of real production, and that production teaches things no project foresees: where the line stops, which minor stops keep coming back, which format causes most waste, what gets rejected at tray sealing or labelling. In practice, the first line is the prototype for the next five.
For that learning to count, it has to be measured from day one and in the same way on every line: OEE per shift, every stop with its cause and duration, every reject with its reason and, ideally, its photo. With comparable data, line 3 is ordered from the supplier with what failed on line 1 already fixed: an extra sensor, a different sealing jaw, better access for a changeover that took half an hour on the first one. Without data, each new line repeats the same problems and every start-up begins from scratch.
In tray-packed ready meals the critical point is usually at the end: the seal, the date, the batch code and the right label on every SKU, because a mistake there ends in a product recall. Checking 100% of trays and keeping the image of every reject gives traceability and, at the same time, the data to improve. We explain it in OEE, stops and waste.
Keys to starting lines in phases
- Measure the first line from start-up, not once it has settled: the first months teach the most.
- Use the same indicators on every line (OEE, stop causes, reject reasons) so they can be compared.
- Turn what you learn into requirements for the next purchase: every repeated stop is a specification.
- Check the end of the line 100%: seal, date, batch and label, with a photo of every reject.
- Review the data at each phase before approving the next line, with production and maintenance at the same table.
A plant that grows in phases has an advantage others lack: it can learn before it spends again. If you are planning something similar, let's talk.
