This article is taken from the book "Royo. A Family, a Company, a Legacy," written to mark our 50th anniversary in business.
Every month, from Invext Corporation, we share a snippet of our history, full of multiple learnings and values that help to understand where we come from, how far we have come, and what we want our next steps to be. We hope that sharing our vision can help or inspire other family businesses to believe that the best way to honour a legacy is to create a new future for it.
You can read the previous chapter here
Royo Group: Industrialisation and internationalisation
From humble beginnings in that small workshop in Benicalap, our parents gradually and with great effort grew the company. It was in 1981 that our father took the big leap: moving the business to a 1,200 square metre warehouse in the Quart de Poblet industrial estate, the location where the current factory now stands, and which was expanded over the years.
The growth in those early years would not have been possible without Mari Carmen, Montse, and Aurelio, our father's right-hand man. During that time, the company grew enormously in terms of the number of employees, and if between 1982 and 1986 Royo employed 50 people, from 1987 to 1991 it would double its workforce and reach 800 points of sale in Spain.
Once the company covered the entire national territory, one of Royo Group's major milestones occurred: export. It happened in 1992, and we started selling in Austria thanks to a representative. Then came a client from Germany who initially ordered one truck – and whom our father initially thought was “a bit of a fantasist” – but who progressively demanded more product and responded well. Given the volume of international orders, our father began looking for new facilities to continue growing and be able to take on these new commissions.
More space was needed and processes needed to be professionalised, which is when the company made a qualitative leap by introducing new material production resources and bringing in the first management professionals. This meant that Royo was not only present internationally in Germany and Austria, but also had a presence in the Belgian and Dutch markets.
To allow for the expansion of the factories, which were built during the day, the workers committed to the project and agreed to work night shifts. Upon completion of the work, a large inauguration party was held as a token of gratitude. This same commitment was demonstrated when the paint plant caught fire in 1999, and the workers contributed enormously to the factory resuming its activity as soon as possible. That's when our father realised that his own efforts and those of the family were not enough, and that for the company to move forward, it depended on the entire team that was part of it.
And this growth would not have been possible without the effort and contribution of all the workers.
From this stage, we can extrapolate several business lessons:
- Follow your intuition and learn by doingThe first step is always the hardest; putting your intuition (forged by experience) into value at this decisive moment is key to starting a business project. Fear or risk aversion don't disappear, but you have to learn to live with them and keep moving forward to learn. To start up and do is the best way to make your dreams a reality, and also to make mistakes, pick yourself up, and learn to try again.
- Don't let the opportunity slip awayWe must pay attention to opportunities and seize them. Investing in technology, people, and infrastructure allows us to respond to the needs that arise.
- The true value of a company is its employees. As the project grows, people are key to achieving it.
The best way to honour a legacy is to create a new future for it.
Raúl Royo - Chairman and CEO of Royo Group
