Cementos Artigas starts up its new state-of-the-art grinding and dispatch plant in Uruguay, focusing on sustainability. The investment of almost US$ 40 million entails significant cost efficiency and a notable improvement in environmental and sustainability indicators. The project consolidates Cementos Artigas as the largest player and leader in the Uruguayan market, unifying its operations in the town of Minas, 100 kilometers from Montevideo.
The company owned by Cementos Molins and Votorantim Cimentos, has launched its new plant at the foot of its hundred-year-old limestone deposit in Minas. This milestone is part of the transformation of mining and industrial activities in Uruguay carried out by the company. The initiative involved the unification of manufacturing facilities that until now consisted of a factory located in Montevideo and another located in the town of Minas, 100 kilometers from said capital city.
In this way, through a significant investment, an integrated production line emerged that is more efficient and sustainable. Highlights in this project include a new high-efficiency vertical cement mill, a multicellular silo and a modern high-productivity bulk office. This will allow the company to continue expanding its product portfolio while reducing its carbon footprint, both aspects in which it is a traditional leader in the local market. Thus, with the same product quality, the cements produced in the new mill will consume much less energy.
Investment amounted to almost US$40 million over the past eighteen months, creating up to 300 jobs in the construction phase of the project. In addition, the company respected in this process all the jobs of its own staff, offering the transfer to the new facilities in Minas. All this contributed to the decentralization of the industry at the country level and brought socioeconomic benefits to local communities.
Given its excellent indicators of cleaner production, job creation, decentralization, and innovation, this project obtained the benefits of tax exemption provided for in the Investment Law.
The project generates great advances in terms of competitiveness as a result of the reduction in the consumption of electrical energy and the reduction of production and logistics costs. In the sustainability chapter, the initiative will be a milestone thanks to the greater efficiency of the new facilities, the reduction of freight charges and the removal of industrial activity from the urban center of Montevideo.
Federico Gutiérrez, General Director of Operations at Cementos Artigas, indicated that this is a new industrial, competitiveness and sustainability milestone for the company and the market: “This new investment allows us to continue being the largest, most competitive cement company, but above all, the most sustainable in the country. The new cement mill consumes up to 40% less energy than the previous one and by centralizing logistics in Minas, we will reduce our CO2 emissions associated with freight. We continue to make products with the lowest carbon footprint in the country, hand in hand with this investment and the multiple circular economy programs that we have been developing for several years,” he added.
The project will be complemented by the installation of a modern logistics center and offices in the metropolitan area.
Cementos Artigas was installed in 1919 and is the largest in the sector in the country, with 670 thousand tons per year. It has been working towards sustainability, through a program for the use of alternative fuels and materials, its energy efficiency initiatives that have been awarded several times by local authorities and the benchmark quality of its products in the market, including the minimum carbon footprint.
