Innovation plays a preponderant role in all the companies of the CAP Group and is one of the focuses of its 2020 Strategic Priorities. To that effect, it launched the Knowledge & Innovation Management Program, aimed at generating innovation processes (including teams, resources and plans) in all its subsidiaries capable of generating short, medium and long term results. So far, such results have been very encouraging indeed.

CAP Minería

Amidst the crisis of the mining industry, wherein most companies have been almost exclusively focused on reducing costs, CAP Mineria, instead, set up an area and team that is 100% dedicated to Innovation, to work on the following three central elements (axes): Cost reduction and operating efficiency; development of new technologies; and, social innovation with neighboring communities.

CAP Acero

The “continuous improvement” process has made very relevant achievements, such as increasing productivity (in terms of Metric Tons/Person-Year); the highest in all its history. Likewise, per-capita returns (US$/person-year) increased by 300% in the last 5 years. On the other hand, fixed costs (US$/MT) and energy consumption efficiency (Gcal/TM) reached similar or even better levels than those when the company operated at full capacity with two blast furnaces.

Cintac

Together with innovating in its own products (aimed at becoming veritable constructive solutions, while steering away from traditional products that do not generate great value), Cintac has set in motion new businesses, Cintac® Solar, among them, which develops solutions for self-sufficiency and for the marketing of photovoltaic solar energy on the ground and on roofs. The company has built Latin America’s largest solar plant on surfaces.

At CAP Acero the focus of innovation has been consistent with the country’s strategic needs. This experience and capacity opens up a clear path for the future of CAP Acero in the manufacturing of other “special steels” for applications that go far beyond the realm of mining. Moreover, the construction market, in a seismic country like ours, constitutes a continuous technological challenge for the company.

Some recent developments include, for example, CAP-Sol® concrete bars with guaranteed weldability, and helical rods for tunnel reinforcements (a “bar-screw-sheet set”).

Transforming steel into innovative products, supplying constructive solutions to the market aimed at improving people’s quality of life has been the focus of Cintac for six decades. The supply of road safety products and housing solutions with new value proposals in terms of aesthetics and habitability, are a reflection of the Cintac seal.