Technology and innovation

Liebig and Giebert laid the foundations for the first technological innovations of Uruguayan livestock breeding and industry, even before the development of the meat industry as we know it today.

Since its foundation, the establishment had been generating its own energy. Several sources were used to obtain it, according to the available technologies: steam, fuel oil and electricity. The facilities and machinery which generated energy with each of these sources are still preserved.

The LEMCO company applied scientific research and innovative technologies to improve the cattle genetics as well as pastures and field yields. It experimented with genetic improvement through the hybridization of European and Creole breeds; it combined different seeds for pastures and created organic and mineral fertilizer.

Not only did the German chemists of the first period of the LEMCO devote themselves to study the meat sector but they also developed studies on problems affecting livestock in general and other areas of human diet and dietetics, including nutritional values and effects of yerba mate, coffee and coca.

All the industrial technology was imported from Europe and the United States. To maintain and repair those technologies, the plant stored catalogs of machines, tools and industrial processes, which are still preserved.

By 1890, the company incorporated biodigesters to produce gas from the organic waste from the slaughterhouse. The fuel was used to illuminate the main workplaces as well as offices.

Many of the machines, devices and tools which were installed in the LEMCO factory had been designed by its founder, the German engineer George Giebert. Being a unique industry of its kind, there was no history of similar machinery, and they had to be specially commissioned. The first machines were manufactured in Scotland following Giebert's instructions and transferred to Fray Bentos in 1866.

The establishment had its own supply of all industrial materials necessary, in such domains as carpentry, barrel-making, tinwork, textiles, smelting, silk manufacturing, label printing. Everything was made on the spot.

From its foundation, thanks to the scientific supervision of Justus Von Liebig, the chemical, veterinary and bacteriological laboratories of LEMCO were equipped with the state-of the-art technology of the time and employed a team of chemists from the best universities in Europe. Heads of laboratories were selected directly by Liebig.

The first electric lamp in Uruguay was switched on at the LEMCO on August 10, 1883. 75 light points illuminated the slaughtering yard, the extract production area, the halls of the school and the social club. Montevideo had to wait three more years for its first electric lamps to be lit. By then, one-third of the LEMCO factory already had electricity.

Sheds where carpenters and blacksmiths performed their daily work.

The product promoted by Uruguay introduced corned beef into the world cuisine. Under this brand (Corned Beef) the German-British company Liebig Extract of Meat Company, later transformed into Frigorífico Anglo (in Fray Bentos town, Río Negro, Uruguay), had been exporting millions of cans to the United Kingdom and other countries of the Old Continent for almost a century, making it a usual dish of the European, mainly British, cuisine.

Wheels, pulleys and cables which used to move "The World's Kitchen".

Marketing and advertising

In addition to launching some of the first food products for mass consumption, LEMCO revolutionized marketing techniques with innovative advertising campaigns of multinational scope.

In all its communications, it applied the "Liebig" brand as a way to assure consumers that they were offered a safe and reliable food product.

From 1872 and for over 100 years, 1,900 series of color lithographs had been produced, each composed of six printed cards. These images were part of a complex marketing campaign designed by agencies in Europe, the United States and Australia.

The harbor cranes stood out in terms of the technological and mechanical equipment. Initially, the port had steam-powered cranes, replaced later by two modern cranes manufactured by Thomas Smith & Sons (Rodley) Ltd.

The constant expansion of the company and the use of technology from Europe made it necessary to organize visits of specialized technicians, for whom a separate house was built on the edge of the town.

On July 5, 2015, the Frigorifico Anglo del Uruguay was declared a World Heritage Site by Unesco.