The perfect combination of a work collective to maintain the vitality of the Base Business Unit (UEB) Hormigón y Terrazo, known as the Spanish block factory, as called not only by the people of Morón.

Arley Carvajal González never speaks of his own feats. He prefers to highlight the achievements of the collective he leads as president of the Innovators and Rationalisers Committee of the UEB Hormigón y Terrazo, known as the Spanish block factory, in the municipality of Morón, in the north of the central Cuban province of Ciego de Ávila.

«We have 16 projects prepared for the upcoming Forum for Innovation at our centre. By the way, I want to highlight that more than 90 per cent of the solutions that maintain the vitality of the production lines here come from the contribution of these creative men and women of the ANIR,» he stresses.

He gives an example: «To that meeting we will bring the results of the brush for manufacturing adoquins, which are types of bricks or tiles for paving and beautifying outdoor spaces; the recovery of electric motor devices; the restoration of electrical systems for the movement of mixers, electronic components and circuit boards for the production line computers, magnetic systems and control stations for the construction materials processing plants.»

–Do these achievements alone make the difference today?

«All areas have significant contributions. We work with fewer concrete block pressing plates because they deteriorate over time with use and are imported, but if it were not for the rehabilitation of those that can be recovered, we would achieve 2,000 fewer 10-centimetre blocks, to give just one example.

«In the plants where we manufacture that wall element, along with the 15 and 20 centimetre ones, we also immediately solved the situation that arose when the electricity service from the national grid is interrupted, because material would remain in the mixing hopper; we placed two hydraulic jacks on the sides of the mould, lifted it and cleaned out that residue, leaving the mechanism ready.

«That was not enough, since sometimes the agitator would remain on top of the mould and we could not lift it, so we disconnected the hose from the piston that pushes the mixing hopper, adapted a cable with a ring that we pulled with a forklift, and the problem was solved; explaining it is simple, but these are contributions from our people that solve a world of problems.»

–These ingenious solutions have names and surnames.

«Of course, they are the fruits of the work of Edilberto Benítez, Alexander Noa, Alex Cordero, Alexander Rodríguez and other ANIR members, plant operators and assistants, headed by turner Rafael Sosa Gómez, winner of the 2022 National Innovation Award for Greatest Economic and Social Impact, and proposed for the twenty-fourth edition this year, for the results of the dust grinder at the terrazzo plant, a home-grown piece of equipment originally designed for five tonnes, which has been continuously improved and now processes more than 30 tonnes daily.»

The members of the management council and the various organisations at the Ciego de Ávila Construction Materials Company value the innovative management of the UEB Hormigón y Terrazo collective as exceptional, being one of the pillars of the entity known as Avilmat — the best of its kind in the country — in obtaining the Lázaro Peña Third Degree Order, the National Vanguard category for eight consecutive years, the High Impact Award, given by the National Association of Innovators and Rationalisers, and the Provincial Technological Innovation Award, among other accolades.