LafargeHolcim subsidiary Holcim México saw the commissioning of its new 0.65Mta grinding plant in Umán, Yucatán. The Umán plant will be supplied with clinker from production facilities in Macuspana, Tabasco, and Orizaba, Veracruz.

The plant represents an investment of more than US$40m and will be able to supply key infrastructure projects such as the Mayan Train and the Dos Bocas Refinery as well as supply cement in the construction of bridges, roads and housing.

“It is one of the most modern and efficient facilities of its kind thanks to the use of high-tech equipment with low consumption of water and electrical energy, as well as having high-level control technologies and process control systems that allow operating at distance, that is, it has automated systems that have the ability to virtually move the control rooms and be operated in real time, from any other Grupo Holcim cement plant,” said the company in a statement.

“At Holcim we are very proud to continue growing with the Yucatecan community, as well as to continue promoting well-being in the region through the creation of direct jobs, infrastructure and investment with this new Milling Plant that, as I pointed out on the day that the first stone was laid, it will strengthen national and foreign investments in benefit of the growth of the region,” mentioned Jaime Hill Tinoco, general director of Holcim México. The new unit is expected to provide 400 permanent jobs.

The project is the company’s first plant of tomorrow in Mexico, while it is also expected to modernise its other six plants in the country to allow remote operation.