A Uruguayan company with operations throughout the region, which has played a major role in the construction of UPM’s second mill in the country. Ingener, also present in Argentina, Bolivia and Paraguay, operates in two main business areas—engineering and construction, and operation and maintenance services—with strong expertise in energy, electrical infrastructure and industrial projects.
Ingener was one of the first companies to start working on the UPM Paso de los Toros project, in October 2019. More than two years later, the company remains involved in the project, now completing the final stages of process instrumentation and electrification.
“At UPM Paso de los Toros we reached some 25 contracts in different areas of expertise, such as mechanical installation, civil works, piping, HVAC, and industrial electrification and instrumentation, among others,” said Santiago Tosar, Commercial Manager at Ingener.
The company’s workforce peaked in mid-2022, with more than 800 people working on site.
“It has been a very important job that gave further impetus to our company’s steady growth. Compared with the Fray Bentos mill, we practically multiplied tenfold the number of contracts and, above all, the number of hours worked by our staff,” Tosar said. In fact, “our history with UPM began at the Fray Bentos mill; that is where we started building the relationship, also working on the construction of that first pulp mill in Uruguay,” the Commercial Manager continued. “The relationship continued with operation and maintenance during the operating phase of the Fray Bentos mill, and now we are further consolidating this relationship, which began in 2007.”
Tosar highlighted the involvement of Uruguayan companies in the UPM Paso de los Toros project, which entailed a multimillion-dollar investment by the Finnish company, in addition to the resources and facilities provided by the country. “More than 80% of the total hours worked on this particular project were Uruguayan, which meant a great challenge for the construction sector and also an opportunity for growth, both for companies and for people,” he said. Tosar stressed that Ingener’s strategy is “always” focused on the “long term”: working on the construction and then continuing to collaborate during the operating phase. “That is what happened in Fray Bentos, and we hope the same will happen in Paso de los Toros,” he said.
Although the construction projects are in their final stage, the company maintains a team of more than 40 people working on commissioning, and the goal is to keep working at UPM Paso de los Toros once production begins. “We hope to maintain the relationship and keep growing together.”
What challenges lie ahead for a company like Ingener? The Commercial Manager replied that the challenge is to consolidate the company’s growth and the professional development of all its employees. “In this sense, megaprojects of this kind, not only in Uruguay but also internationally, are a very important learning experience and growth opportunity for companies and for workers, who also gain great expertise in different areas,” he argued.
According to Tosar, these initiatives “put Uruguay on the map” and show the country’s ability to meet these challenges. “UPM Paso de los Toros showed that in Uruguay we are capable of this type of megaproject, especially considering that we went through a pandemic and a logistics crisis—extremely adverse situations that arose during construction—and still finished on schedule and to the expected quality,” he emphasized.
This achievement, in turn, provides the “opportunity” to showcase this “kind of track record” and thus “replicate it” in other projects in the country and in the region, and to “keep expanding our activity” internationally.
For Ingener’s Commercial Manager, the UPM Paso de los Toros project went beyond the company and meant a change for the entire industry in the country. “We are proud that the project’s goal was achieved with Uruguayan hands and Uruguayan management teams, just as we are gratified that a company like UPM trusts in Uruguay’s development and in the capabilities of our people.”
He added: “UPM Paso de los Toros has been one of the most significant projects in the country in recent years. Uruguay prepared well and responded well. This shows that we are ready to host major initiatives, and Ingener has the capacity to be part of them.”
