Company

Cementos Tudela Veguín S.A. has a background spanning over 110 years since it was founded in June 1898. It was a pioneering company at the time as it manufactured an innovative product in Spain: artificial cement. At present it continues being a reference in the production of cement and lime at an international level, placing emphasis on innovation and its absolute commitment to nature.

Likewise, Cementos Tudela Veguín S.A. forms part of Masaveu Industria, being the division of the Masaveu Group dedicated to manufacturing cement, lime, mortar and concrete, among other products.

History

Many innovations and technical changes took place at the end of the 19th century leading this period to become known as the “Second Industrial Revolution”. Spain participated in these, Asturias in particular, living with unparalleled strength the intense creation of all kinds of company. One of the most important and significant, both due to what it was going to become and the innovation it brought about, was Sociedad Anónima Tudela Veguín.

Its foundation followed the initiative of Elías Masaveu Rivell who, with the works that were to be carried out in the Port of El Musel, Gijón, decided to constitute Sociedad Anónima Tudela Veguín, which took place on 28th June 1898 in a public deed before the notary of Oviedo Secundino de la Torre. The capital, amounting to 1,000,000 pesetas, was subscribed by the Masaveu y Compañía society, with the first Board of Directors being chaired by Elías Masaveu Rivell.

It would seem like just one more company of those constituted in the period except for the fact its object was totally innovative in Spain: the manufacture of artificial cement. In effect, this company was opening a totally new path in our country.

Founders

The initiative for creating an artificial cement factory corresponded to the Masaveu y Compañía Society, or Casa Masaveu. The term “Casa” (house), synonym for company, maintained a series of family connotation in the eighteen-hundreds as, in fact, the family groups were still interwoven to a large extent in parentage relationships. It is important to pay attention to this issue as the commercial relations were based on personal credit and this, in turn, on two pillars: personal honesty and economic solvency, with family solidarity being basic to support this. In these years, at the end of the century, is when the change towards forms of limited responsibility started to occur in Spain, with Casa Masaveu being one of them.

Elías Masaveu Rivell was born in Castellar del Vallés in 1847. He arrived to Oviedo at the age of thirteen to work in the fabric business managed in the Calle Cimadevilla by his uncle, Pedro Masaveu Rovira, founder of Casa Masaveu in 1840. Thus, his business career commenced there, with the fabric trade providing him knowledge and capital allowing him to take on other project further on.

And so we reach the last decade of the century. Asturias was a hive of activity regarding projects. Not only the coal mining and steelworks saw their development but also many industrial branches which started crystallising: food, naval construction, gas and electricity, chemicals, shipping and transport, among others. Casa Masaveu participated in some of these, although it was going to design its own project. As good interpreters of the reality around them, and with a long range view that allowed them to figure out where there were favourable expectations – a key aspect for entrepreneurs – they decided to create a cement factory.

It would not be long until their expectations were confirmed: industrialisation, urban growth and public works would make cement a key element.

The Development of the Company

In view of the good acceptance of a new product and despite the difficulties in placing this, it was decided to boost production when manufacturing had just hardly started with a Krupp furnace. Two successive capital increases in 1901 – up to reaching 5,000,000 pesetas – were the financial injection that allowed for successively installing four, large-production capacity Fellner-Ziegler furnaces. Other cement factories had already appeared in Spain by then.

As a result of the high coal consumption, Casa Masaveu decided to participate in two mining companies, Carboneras de Valdecuna and Hulleras de Seguín y Olloniego (1918). The twenties saw a considerable demand increase and, in consequence, that of production which was multiplied by five. New cement producers appeared in other regions and the struggle for a market share grew, despite the regional dispersion and certain compartmentation.

The following investment boost dates from 1928 and was made foreseeing the increase in public works and, more specifically, of Asturian ports. It was decided to build a wet-process rotary kiln which would allow for double the production capacity, by then at 60,000 tonnes per year. The kiln commenced production in 1931.

A slow recovery commenced after the sudden stop due to the Civil War, taking a few years to exceed the levels before the war. The rise in sales suggested and increase in production, which took place with the installation of a new kiln coming into service in 1948. The favourable expectations led to consider an alternative solution and the project was prepared for a new plant in (near the Port of El Musel) to exploit the quarries of the area and which would be inaugurated in 1953.
Production rationalisation not only affected the production plants, a curious fact took place clearly indicating the professionalism and resourcefulness of their technicians: the world concreting record was beaten with the construction of the Grandas de Salime dam. A complex device was formed for this in the factory, together with the movement of machinery to the site. The result was achieving the amazing figure of 120 cubic metres per hour.

The sixties were the years for sales consolidation. They implied successive increases in production capacity, both in Tudela Veguín and Aboño. Companies Cementos La Robla, S. A., with a capacity for 400,000 tonnes per year, and Cementos Valgrande became part of the Tudela Veguín Group in 1968. Another cement factory, Cementos del Cantábrico, S. A., was installed in Aboño one year later.

The low price per weight unit of cement made transport the key element for its commercialisation and, to extend its scope of competitiveness, the Tudela Veguín Group carried out three important actions: the installation of silos on the Galician coasts, the construction of ad hoc ships to supply these silos and, simultaneously, the improvement of the stockpiling means up to the quay. The first to be done was to build the silos highlighting due to their movement, among others, those of the ports of Vigo, La Coruña and Villagarcía; secondly, E. N. Bazán was entrusted in 1968 the construction of two modern twin ships for bulk cement transport, each with a capacity for 2,700 tonnes. “Cementador” and “Fraguador”, with the first of these, with the passage of time, adapted for unloading in sacks. Its success brought about the construction of “Encofrador” and “Cementos del Cantábrico”, with respective transport capacities of 6,200 and 5,200 tonnes. Finally, the Torres promontory was perforated with a tunnel connecting, by means of a conveyor belt, the plants of Aboño with the docks of El Musel. The efficiency of the system resulted in an extremely important cost reduction, adding a new rationalisation element to the company.

Similarly, there was product diversification, installing a new white cement kiln with a capacity to produce 75,000 tonnes per year, a lime furnace, basically envisaged for the steelworks industry, with a capacity for 350,000 tonnes per year, two calcined dolomite furnaces with a capacity for 150,000 tonnes per year, providing both an agricultural and industrial multipurpose product, and an installation to obtain 600,000 tonnes per year of different sizes of aggregates.

Independently from the investment linked directly to cement factories and the distribution of this product, Cementos Tudela Veguín created industrial companies in important fields linked to the cement industry such that of prepared concrete, a sector in which it was the pioneer in Asturias and Galicia with “General de Hormigones, S. A.” and “Hormigones de Galicia, S. A.”, at present maintaining an important presence in both communities, and in that of Castile-León.
PREFASA is the leader in the Asturian market regarding the Prefabricated Concrete sector, its presence even reaching the neighbouring provinces.

Áridos Asturianos, S. A. commenced using steelworks slag in 1970 with, benefitting from a product which, up until then, was discharged into the sea. The use of all the blast furnace slag produced by the Arcelor installations is managed currently by EDERSA.

In the sector of dry mortar, cement glue, render, etc., three large factories have been installed: Asturias has the largest dry mortar plant in Spain at present, in the installations of PREFASA; in Galicia (Galaica de Morteros S. A.), and in Castile-León (Morteros y Hormigones de León S. A.), with the latest technological advances being used in all.