Diego Rodríguez is in charge of Mecanizados Pesados Salta S.A., a family business that his grandfather thought back in 1946, which was later joined by his father and which he himself joined at age 15.
In order to do so, she signed up to finish high school on the night shift and although she started as a Mechanical Engineer at UTN, she left after the third year. It was then that the family factory and the factories of his clients, spread throughout the country, were transformed into classrooms where he learned alongside engineers from the most important firms, including Enel, Siderar Shell, YPF, Cemento Avellaneda, Loma Negra and recognized shipping companies.
Heavy Salta had its first headquarters in Lanús, south of the Greater Buenos Aires, and today it is located in the Burzaco Industrial Park. There they make large parts to repair heavy machinery such as that used in Enel's generation plants. All its production is made to order.
Rodríguez explained that in most cases these are pieces that can weigh tons. If these spare parts were ordered abroad, the delay would reach two months, with the losses generated by stopping production or systems for such an extended period.
"Many times the companies need us to go to make the arrangements in situ, to Tucumán, Mendoza, Bahía Blanca, so we travel with our people to the places where the problem is", he explained and said that his team is currently made up of by 10 people, including his sister in the accounting area.
Rodríguez explained that the priority is to attend to the emergency situations of their clients so that they stop their production as soon as possible. This includes turning, grinding, welding and milling work, among others.
The relationship with Enel dates back to before the company arrived in Argentina: “We have been working for the plants for decades. That generated confidence and when the Italian controllers arrived they knew from our work for years from the staff, from their engineers, that we have solved plant shutdowns due to a breakdown in record time”.
And he recalled: “We have been working for the centrals for a long time. Purchasing managers and workshop managers went by and we continued working for them because of the trust that was built, the good relationship”.
“After so many years we built a relationship. I don't have a salesperson, someone who goes to Enel to carry a card. They know that we are there when they need us, in that fundamental moment. It is a relationship of many years, they are big jobs”, he added.
And he explained that when his name speaks of "heavy" they refer to pieces of "about 16 meters or up to 6 meters high and for example 200 tons of weight".
“We have to wait for them to need us and at that moment be ready so that the downtime is the shortest. That is our relationship based on trust”, he concluded.