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Support activities for metalworking companies on the littoral continue
LATU, the Ministry of Industry, Energy and Mining (MIEM) and the Commercial and Industrial Center of Young promote productivity improvements through training and technical assistance.
Technicians from the LATU's Local Development Department carried out new activities in Río Negro as part of a program aimed at supporting metalworking MSMEs (Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises) in the region through training and technical assistance designed to improve their productivity.
The program promotes the incorporation of continuous improvement tools, such as the 5S methodology, which helps optimize processes, reduce costs, and increase the sector's competitiveness. Activities began in April and will continue until the end of June, with both in-person and virtual sessions.
Background and involved institutions
Since 2023, MIEM, through its National Directorate of Handicrafts, Small, and Medium Enterprises (Dinapyme), has been supporting the development of the metalworking sector, with a special focus on the Uruguayan littoral region (Artigas, Salto, Paysandú, Río Negro and Soriano departments).
In turn, LATU, through its Local Development department, has been working for over 20 years to strengthen business competitiveness, collaborating with public and private institutions to provide training and technical assistance in management technologies.
Both organizations launched a joint program in 2020 to boost the competitiveness of businesses nationwide, which is currently focused on the cities of Young and Fray Bentos. On the ground, the Young Commercial and Industrial Center (CCIY) and the Río Negro Commercial and Industrial Association (ACIRN) play a key role as local facilitators, connecting with participating companies.
Progress of the project
The activities began in April 2025 with a series of three virtual workshops on productivity improvement, continuous improvement, and the 5S methodology, with the participation of 30 representatives from companies across four departments in the country.
Subsequently, LATU started providing technical assistance to three companies in Young and one in Fray Bentos, helping them identify and implement improvements in their workplaces and production processes. The work included:
- In-person workshops in Young (April 22 and June 3), where representatives from the beneficiary companies deepened their understanding of productivity improvement concepts and tools through practical exercises. In the second meeting, participants shared progress, improvements implemented, challenges faced, and strategies to overcome them.
- Technical visits to companies (April 23-24 and June 4-5), during which LATU technicians, together with the improvement teams of each company, assessed the initial conditions, improvements made, and progress achieved, as well as defining new actions to implement.
- Virtual technical assistance with each company, focusing on providing support for concrete solutions to identified issues, based on the technical proposals agreed upon during the first visit.
The program will conclude at the end of June with a virtual closing workshop, where the tools applied will be discussed, new improvement opportunities will be identified, and each company will present its main achievements, such as improvements in infrastructure use, equipment, space reorganization, greater efficiency in input usage, and smoother work processes.
Beyond the immediate results, these activities aim to foster a culture of continuous improvement, with benefits in workplace safety, process and product quality. The program also promotes networking among companies and institutions, and strengthens business management capacities.
These advances, combined with the reduction of waste and operational costs, significantly contribute to improving the competitiveness of the companies.
