Cementos Molins to invest $40 million in the transformation of its operations in Uruguay

This new milestone for the Cementos Artigas S.A. factory will drive a breakthrough in cost efficiency and a significant improvement in sustainability objectives.

• The investment will drive a breakthrough in cost efficiency and a marked improvement in sustainability targets.
• The project is a new milestone for the Cementos Artigas factory, which Cementos Molins shares with the Brazilian company Votorantim Cimentos and which is located in the town of Minas, 100 kilometres from Montevideo.

Cementos Artigas, a company owned by Cementos Molins and Votorantim Cimentos, has launched a project to unify its industrial activity in Uruguay. The initiative involves the integration of the industrial facilities, which until now have been divided between a plant located in Montevideo and the main factory located in the town of Minas, 100 kilometres from the capital.

The project involves the relocation of the current cement grinding and dispatching operations from the Montevideo plant to the Minas factory, resulting in a unified, much more efficient and sustainable production line. In addition, as a result of this unification, a new state-of-the-art vertical cement mill and new cement silos will be installed at the Minas unit.

Cementos Artigas will invest USD 40 million in this operation, the execution of which will begin in the coming months and is expected to be operational in 2022. The company will respect all the commitments assumed with the workers and will offer the staff their transfer to the new facilities.

The project will result in major advances in competitiveness by reducing the mill’s electricity consumption by approximately 40% and lowering production costs. In terms of sustainability, the initiative will be a milestone thanks to the greater efficiency of the new facilities and the disappearance of the activity in the urban centre of Montevideo. For Julio Rodríguez, CEO of Cementos Molins, “with this new investment we continue to develop our strategy, in which sustainability and respect for the environment are the first priority and, on the other hand, it is also a clear demonstration of our long-term commitment to the Uruguayan market, where we have been present since 1991”.