Displaying items by tag: US
Jaime Rocha Font appointed head of Elementia
24 June 2020Mexico: Elementia has appointed Jaime Rocha Font as its new chief executive officer (CEO) with effect from 2 September 2020. He succeeds Fernando Ruiz Jacques, who will focus on, “new business and development opportunities.” Rocha and Ruiz will work together over the transition process.
Rocha is currently the CEO of Elementia’s Cement Division, including Cementos Fortaleza in Mexico and Costa Rica, as well as Giant Cement Holding in the US. He holds 29 years of experience in the cement industry, and prior to Elementia he held a number of senior positions at Holcim. He has a degree in Civil Engineering from Universidad Católica de Chile and an MBA and postgraduate studies from the IMD in Switzerland, the Free University of Brussels in Belgium and IPADE in Mexico.
Vicat publishes business activity update
24 June 2020France: Vicat says that group business activity increased month-on-month between April and May 2020. In a special update on business in the context of the coronavirus, the company said that the outbreak’s impacts varied across the 12 countries in which it operates, all of which locked down due to the pandemic.
In France, the level of business is “slightly lower” than in May 2019 following a steady recovery from a “strong slowdown in mid-March 2020.” Macroeconomic and competition issues continue in Egypt and Turkey, not however due to the coronavirus outbreak, while volumes and prices have generally increased in Switzerland, the US, Brazil and Western Africa, except in Senegal, where the government has cancelled infrastructure projects. Following the pan-Indian lockdown between 24 March 2020 and 17 April 2020, business in India has resumed, albeit at a “level significantly below that of the same period of 2019.”
The group says that it is planning cost-cutting measures and has postponed a planned US price rise to late 2020.
James Hardie revises fourth quarter guidance
23 June 2020Australia: James Hardie has revised its guidance for the quarter ending 30 June 2020, the fourth quarter of the Australian fiscal year 2020, following “improved housing market activity, particularly in North America.” Australian Associated Press – Financial News has reported that James Hardie has revised its North American fibre cement boards volumes growth estimate to 1% year-on-year from a 3% drop previously. It expects Australian volumes to remain constant year-on-year, as previously predicted, and European volumes in the quarter to fall by 13%, rather than by 16%.
Hawaiian Cement moves terminal
22 June 2020US: Hawaiian Cement has announced the relocation of its Kahului Harbour cement terminal to an adjacent facility, previously occupied by a sugar company. The Maui News newspaper has reported the reason for the relocation as a disruption caused by operations at the terminal to a neighbouring company’s unloading operations, which caused “a significant constraint to operations and safety at Pier 2.” The new terminal, adjoining Pier 3, will have two cement silos with a joint capacity of 6000t, up by 88% from 3200t. Hawaiian Cement says that this will enable it to meet 100% of demand on the island of Maui.
US: Bulk materials handling specialist Conveyor Components has announced the launch of the Tripper Position Switch (TPS), a control unit consisting of two SP/DT micro switches rated for 20A at 120V, 240V or 480V. The unit indicates when the tripper of a shuttle conveyor is located on a multiple discharge point and will activate the dumper when signalled. Conveyor Components says that the device is housed in a “cast aluminium enclosure rated for NEMA 4 weather-proof or NEMA 7/9 explosion proof.”
LafargeHolcim partners with COBOD and GE Renewable Energy to develop taller wind turbines
18 June 2020Switzerland: LafargeHolcim has announced its participation in a project aimed at increasing the height of wind turbine towers by producing larger bases on-site using 3D concrete printing technology. LafargeHolcim will supply concrete for use with Denmark-based COBOD’s 3D printing technology, while US-based GE Renewable Energy backs the project. The method enables bases to exceed the 4.5m maximum diameter necessitated by road transportation. This increases the maximum height of turbine towers by 100% to 200m from 100m, which in turn raises power generation by 33% to 20.2GWh/yr from 15.1GWh/yr.
LafargeHolcim research and development head Edelio Bermejo said, “Concrete 3D printing is a very promising technology for us, as its incredible design flexibility expands the realm of construction possibilities. Being both a user and promoter of clean energy, we are delighted to be putting our material and design expertise to work in this ground-breaking project, enabling cost efficient construction of tall wind turbine towers and accelerating access to renewable energy”
CalPortland launches sustainable product line
17 June 2020US: CalPortland has announced the launch of Advancement, a product line of cements containing sustainable materials and produced using renewable processes. These include the replacement of 15% of the Ordinary Portland Cement (OPC) clinker with blended limestone. The company currently offers Advancement Light for aesthetic design and Advancement High Sulphate for general use concrete applications and when high sulphate resistance is required, both of which have 10% lower embodied carbon than OPC. More products are planned to follow.
CalPortland president and chief executive officer (CEO) Allen Hamblen said, “Advancement is a line of products that can be combined with other concrete carbon reduction technologies to further enhance performance and increasingly reduce the embodied carbon of concrete.”
US: Solidia Technologies has filed a patent for a new hydraulic cement consisting of Ordinary Portland Cement (OPC) and other supplementary cementitious materials (SCM) including lime, alkali hydroxides, clay minerals and over 10% synthetic pozzolan.
Solidia Technologies said, “In order to reduce global CO2 emissions it is necessary to adopt new approaches to create a new generation of hydraulic cements. The most efficient cement kiln can produce OPC clinker with an associated emission of 816 kg of CO2/t. Blending the ground cement clinker with SCM, which have low or zero associated production CO2 emissions, reduces the total embodied CO2 of the final product. Using a cement with the lowest possible clinker factor for a given application is the most common industry approach to reducing the CO2 footprint of concrete.”
US: Germany’s Beumer Group has appointed Joseph Dzierzawski as the president and chief executive officer (CEO) of Beumer Corporation, its US subsidiary based in Somerset, New Jersey. He has been in post since April 2020. He is responsible for the Conveying & Loading Systems, Palletizing and Packaging Technology, and Sortation and Distribution Systems business lines in the North American market.
Dzierzawski holds a degree in metallurgical engineering from the University of Michigan. Later he attended executive management programs at the University of Michigan School of Business and the INSEAD business school in Fontainebleau, France. He joins Beumer from Hatch Metals & Minerals group where he worked as Global Director, Technology & Business Development. Prior to this he worked at SMS, where he held a series of positions, eventually serving as president and CEO for SMS USA and Chief Technology Officer for SMS Group.
US: A lawsuit raised by the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) against CCC Group alleges that black construction workers were subject to racial discrimination and harassment during the construction company’s work on an upgrade at the Lafarge Ravena cement plant in 2016. The EEOC says that the workers were the target of racial language, were threatened and made to carry out more dangerous and physically taxing tasks. It added that it only took legal action after first attempting to reach a pre-litigation settlement through the agency’s conciliation process.
CCC Group says it investigated the claims from one former employee in 2017 about ‘inappropriate comments’ after it was reported to the EEOC. However, it says that the complaint was never reported internally and that the EEOC refused to share information about the allegations. Subsequently, it was unable to determine what happened. The construction company only became aware of the other allegations when the EEOC filed its lawsuit in June 2020. CCC Group said, “We take all such allegations very seriously and continue to thoroughly investigate these claims. Regardless, CCC Group will continue its commitment to ensure that any such conduct is not tolerated or allowed to occur in our workplaces.”
800 workers were involved in the upgrade to the plant in New York State, which brought it to its present integrated capacity of 2Mt/yr.
This story was updated on 16 June 2020 following comment from CCC Group