Success story: Cameto, a regional and international benchmark in the industrial sector

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Cameto is a company based between Tomelloso and Argamasilla del Alba, a small town in the province of Ciudad Real in Castilla-La Mancha (Spain). The company itself was set up over 22 years ago but its professionals have more than 40 years’ experience between them. The group posted an annual turnover of 12 million euros in 2021.

It has set a fine example and become a national benchmark within the Spanish metallurgy sector, both in terms of manufacturing and assembly. Its business is focused on infrastructure and public works, hydraulic works, water treatment and energy. It has become a global benchmark for energy projects and solar thermal energy projects to be more specific.

We spoke with Elena Ortiz Losa, Head of Project Development at Cameto, to find out more about this success story in the industrial sector of Castilla-La Mancha.

Where did it all start for Cameto and how has the company become what it is today?

The company was mainly focused on boilermaking and water treatment activities to begin with. Our team of incredible professionals soon positioned us as a benchmark within the metallurgy sector, first regionally and then nationally.

In 2007, during the great financial crisis in Spain, Cameto was forced to join the huge number of companies in this sector that had to reinvent themselves in order to stay in business. At that time, renewable energies were just starting to grow and take hold in this country. That was when we decided to make a change and specialise all our welding professionals in the development and assembly of solar thermal power plants.

That increased professionalisation and growth by Cameto in the assembly of power plants based on solar thermal technology has maintained a constant and unstoppable upward trend ever since. So much so, in fact, that four major solar power plants were being built around the world in 2017/2018 and we were involved in three of them: two in South Africa and one in Kuwait, with 250 MW between these three alone.

Again, the importance of solar thermal energy declined a few years ago and that led us to decide on another new path, adapting Cameto to the needs of the modern market by adding a line of business focused on the development, manufacturing and assembly of infrastructures for photovoltaic energy.

Cameto 4

Current images from the construction of a major water treatment plant in Romaniaa

Image of one of the solar thermal energy projects in South Africa

How important is the renewable energies sector for Cameto? Does it represent your main line of business nowadays?

Renewable energies are a very important line of business for us. We are an international benchmark in the field and, for years, we have focused a large part of our efforts on the research and development of new lines of business that will enable us to maintain that position.

As I said before, when solar thermal energy began to decline in Spain a few years ago, we took the decision to expand our renewable energies line of business with solar photovoltaic energy. We did two things:

Firstly, we decided to build a facility in Tomelloso to manufacture structures for photovoltaic power plants. Secondly, we developed our own solar tracker, for which we obtained a utility model from the Spanish Patent and Trademark Office and for which we soon hope to obtain the ‘Innovative SME’ seal of recognition from the Spanish government.

 Image of our fixed structure, manufactured at our factory in Tomelloso

Has your solar tracker already been installed at any photovoltaic power plants?

Yes, right now, two pilot power plants using our tracker system have been installed in Spain.

Highly dedicated and specialised in the field of renewable energy, but without forgetting your roots.

That’s right. Ever since we started, water treatment has always been one of our main lines of business even though it’s true now that the majority of investment by the company is focused on renewable energies.

Is there any project, either completed or yet to begin, that you would like to highlight from within the field of water treatment?

Internationally speaking, one project that has been under way for two years is the construction in Romania of what is the largest water treatment plant in Eastern Europe to date. Around 30 people from our team have been relocated to the country. Domestically, here in Spain, we recently completed a project in the province of Vigo to install another purification plant.

What percentage do international projects represent in the Cameto portfolio?

That is a difficult figure to produce before the end of the year. However, right now, between 30% and 35% of our completed projects have been overseas.

Have you worked a lot overseas? Would you say that your customer portfolio is more international or domestic?

We have completed projects in Africa, America, Asia and Europe. But our customers are mostly in Spain.

So how do you get your hands on those major international projects?

Our domestic customers are the ones who tender bids or sign contracts internationally with other companies or institutions. We mostly get involved when those projects have already been approved on paper.

They normally contact us directly to get the projects done. However, another very common situation involves a proposal being launched via a database to which various different companies respond. The one offering the best terms and conditions is then selected, something like a tender process.

Elena, almost your entire professional career has been with Cameto. When did you start working for the company?

It is a family business and I have had ties to Cameto my whole life. I spent some time living in London after I finished university. I studied to improve my English while I was working there and then I began my professional career at Cameto when I was 23.

You must have been involved in major international projects ever since. Which ones stand out for you?

I have been very fortunate to work alongside my colleagues on some very interesting international projects during my time in different departments of the company.

I would highlight the first two years we worked on projects in South Africa. It was a great experience, highly enriching, both in terms of professional and personal development due to the type of works we undertook. Those were the years when I truly learned what Cameto is and what it does. It was like doing “military service” for the company.

Is that an experience that everyone at the company goes through?

All our project managers conduct site visits at least once a month to oversee their projects. On top of that, our construction managers are on-site permanently for each project.

Furthermore, the magnitude of many of the international projects we have worked on and continue to work on means that we have to relocate a large part of our team to the country in question, as well as take on new hires whenever necessary.

I can name a few major projects off the top of my head for which our team needed to work internationally:

The construction of 12-metre tall sulphuric acid storage tanks in Egypt; a 40-metre long and 4.5-metre wide pedestrian overpass for Sweden, manufactured at our facility in Tomelloso and delivered to site via special transportation; the combined- cycle power plant in Côte d’Ivoire, where we are still working; and one of the largest projects, in South Africa, where we are engaged in the pre-manufacturing and assembly of the HCE and HTF piping systems and header assembly in the solar field.

Image of the combined-cycle power plant project in Côte d’Ivoire

Images of the 40-metre long pedestrian overpass in Sweden

How many people currently work for Cameto?

The main workforce at the company consists of 55 professionals but, when taking the projects I spoke about at the start of this interview into consideration, there are about 80 people working for us at the moment.

Are the additional professionals you have to hire for certain projects always Spanish?

Indeed they are. We also try to make sure they are from our region whenever we can, although the large scope of some projects or the specifications required sometimes require us to look beyond Castilla-La Mancha. In those cases, we try to ensure that the companies we select are still in Spain at least.

How competitive is your sector in Spain?

Well, it differs quite a bit from one line of business to another. In terms of water treatment, for example, the competition within Spain is more localised and equally tough. However, in terms of renewable energies and photovoltaic energy in particular, the competition is very strong at the moment due to the ongoing “boom” in this field.

So what is it that makes Cameto stand out for companies in this sector?

I would highlight three factors: Approachability, adaptability and agility.

It is very important for us to ensure that our customers enjoy a close relationship with us, and that is achieved through all the hard work done by the entire team at Cameto. The role played by our project managers, construction managers and overseers is partly that of a salesman and partly that of an ambassador because they are the face of the company on every project. Furthermore, the speed at which the company responds, its ability to adapt and the flexibility we offer all means that we provide a consistently personalised service to each customer no matter how fast the company grows and that we have not become overly bureaucratic.

All this is what makes many of our customers think of us first whenever they need to undertake a new project. These are the strengths that best define Cameto.

Internationalisation and digitalisation within a company are essential not only for survival but also for growth and the consolidation of its position in the market. How important is digitalisation for a company like yours?

2021-2022 have been the years in which Cameto has done its homework on digitalisation. Just like every other company, we realised during the pandemic that we had to keep up or get left behind and that an online presence and search engine optimisation were essential. I don’t think that this issue was very important for the industrial sector in general, but that is changing now. Digitalisation is not only necessary but it also makes our work a lot easier.

Finally, the Russia-Ukraine conflict is affecting every sector and everyone indiscriminately. How has it most heavily impacted you?

As you said, the current situation and the energy supply crisis with Russia is affecting us all equally. We have felt it most strongly in the delays to material supply for some of our projects, as well as in the final cost of raw materials…

Cameto website: www.cameto.es

Contact e-mail address: cameto@cameto.es

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