Displaying items by tag: Germany

Cemex's decision to head deeper into eastern Europe as part of the Cemex-Holcim asset swap announced this week suggests some nerve. Cement production levels started to fall in the region from 2012, according to Cembureau figures, with continued problems reported so far by the multinational cement producers in 2013. Cemex seems likely to lose money from the start with its new assets in the Czech Republic.

In more detail, Cemex will acquire all of Holcim's assets in the Czech Republic, which include a 1.1Mt/yr cement plant, four aggregates quarries and 17 ready-mix plants. In return Holcim will give Cemex Euro70m and Cemex will give Holcim its assets in western Germany including one cement plant and two grinding mills that encompass a total capacity of 2.5Mt/yr, one slag granulator, 22 aggregates quarries and 79 ready-mix plants.

Cemex must believe that it can wait out the recovery of the construction sector in eastern Europe or make savings from having a more easterly spread of assets. Certainly Cemex said in its press release on the asset swap that its earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) would start to rise from US$20m to US$30m from 2014.

The question for the buyers at Cemex who considered this deal is whether the construction market has bottomed out in the Czech Republic yet. According to World Bank figures, following the 2008 financial crisis Czech Gross Domestic Product (GDP) fell to a low of US$197bn in 2009, rose again until 2011 but then fell to US$196bn in 2012. Currently the Czech National Bank is anticipating a further fall in growth in 2013. Meanwhile, data from a third quarter 2013 Czech construction sector analysis by CEEC Research reported that a drop of at least 4.7% was expected in 2013 with a follow-on decline of 2.7% in 2014.

Possibly one deal-maker for Cemex was the prospect of combined operations with Holcim in Spain across cement, aggregates and ready-mix. Similar to the Lafarge-Tarmac joint-venture in the UK, the move offers reduced risk in a declining western European market. How the Spanish competition authorities will respond remains to be seen. Elsewhere on the continent this week the decision by the Belgian Competition Council to fine the Belgian cement sector shows an example of behaviour the Spanish authorities will want to avoid.

Germany: Dr Michael Mutz has been appointed the head of cement sales at Aumund Fördertechnik. In his new role Mutz will oversee sales of both new equipment and retrofits. The new position will be in addition to Mutz's exisiting job as head of the Mineral Processing division (previously Mining & Minerals), which he assumed in April 2012. Aumund specialises in conveying and storage for the cement industry

Germany: Minister Eveline Lemke has presented a medal for outstanding commitment to the economy in Rhineland-Palatinate to Irene Scheidweiler, one of the joint founders of Vecoplan. Lemke described Scheidweiler as a model for younger generations.

Scheidweiler founded the recycling technology firm based in Bad Merienberg in 1969, when she was aged 22. In 1995 Vecoplan AG became a subsidiary of MAX Automation AG of Dusseldorf. Today the company employs more than 400 staff at locations in Germany, the US, UK, Austria and Spain.

Congratulations to Cemex for their work on alternative fuels in Germany. In April 2013 Cemex reached an alternative fuels substitution rate of over 80% at its German cement plants, with the Kollenbach plant beating 90%. Impressive stuff.

The German cement industry as a whole is already one of the leaders in the industry for alternative fuels use, reaching levels above 60% in 2010. This compares favourably with, for example, the UK's (high) rate of 40% in 2011 and the Cembureau average rate of 28% for its 27 European member states in 2009.

To show how fast the change in alternative fuels usage has been in Germany, in 2000 the rate was around 25%. For Cembureau members it was about 10.5% in 2000. Cemex's achievement at Kollenbach even surpasses HeidelbergCement's alternative fuels rate of 85% that it achieved across the border in 2011, at its Eerste Nederlandse Cement Industrie (ENCI) plant in the Netherlands.

Globally, Cemex seems likely to meet its 2015 target of 35% alternative fuels substitution rate. The other large multinational cement producers have similar plans in place. For example, Lafarge intends to reach 50% usage by 2020.

For more information on the German cement industry, read our feature 'Germany: A modern force in cement' in the May 2013 issue of Global Cement Magazine.

This week we present the 100th issue of Global Cement Weekly, Global Cement's weekly cement industry news digest. To mark the occasion we would like to know what you think about what we are doing. Let us know by taking the Global Cement Reader Survey 2013. All completed submissions will be entered in a draw to win an iPad Mini.

Take the Global Cement Reader Survey 2013

Germany: Loesche has announced that Andreas Huster has joined Loesche Automatisierungstechnik GmbH (LAG) in Luenen as its sales director. He joined Loesche in July 2012.

Huster is 37 years old, married and was formerly responsible for distribution, sales and marketing of automation technology at Miebach group in Dortmund. At Loesche Huster will take over the responsibility for all clients and develop new market potential for LAG. Huster will also support projects for Loesche GmbH in Duesseldorf and their subsidiaries worldwide.

Germany: Dr Michael Mutz has been appointed as the new head of division, Minerals & Mining, at Aumund Fördertechnik GmbH in Rheinberg.

"We are thus strengthening the team and we are advancing the business segment expansion in this prospering market," commented Aumund managing director Jörg Hoffmann on the appointment.

The 41 year-old from Westphalia, Germany comes from a mining family and has continued the family tradition, studying geology specialised in the exploration of solid mineral raw materials, oil and gas. Mutz started out with various mining prospecting projects, including Roland Berger and CPRM, the Brazilian state geological service.

After many years' activity in iron ore mining in Brazil (ThyssenKrupp) Mutz graduated from the Technical University of Clausthal in geology. His experience in the machinery and equipment business started in 2006 at Hazemag & EPR where he headed-up international sales and coordination of key accounts from 2008.

"The good reputation of the Aumund Group and the decades of successes in the cement, power and metallurgy sectors are a solid foundation to also gain a foothold as a supplier in the very service-oriented mining business," said Mutz.

Mutz has been in post at Aumund since April 2012.

Germany: HeidelbergCement AG has announced the appointment of Prof Dr Marion Weissenberger-Eibl as a member of its supervisory board following the resignation of Dr Ing Herbet Lutkestratkotter for private reasons.

"We are pleased that, in Prof Dr Marion Weissenberger-Eibl, we have succeeded in attracting a well-respected top German engineer as a new member of our supervisory board," announced Fritz-Jurgen Heckmann, Chairman of the supervisory board of HeidelbergCement AG. "She is very well-connected in the fields of business, science, and politics. Her extensive experience and expertise in the areas of innovation research, renewable energies, demographic development, sustainability and knowledge management will be a valuable addition."

Germany: Tomasz Czop, former Purchase Director of Ożarów Cement Poland (CRH Group) is now leading business development at MVW Lechtenberg & Partner, the German consulting firm for the implementation of alternative fuels from biomass and useable wastes in the cement industry.

As a former member of the management board of the Polish subsidiaries of Ireland's CRH he was directly responsible for the whole procurement of all business units in Poland and Ukraine. Within MVW Lechtenberg he will lead the business unit of alternative fuels and raw materials trade which is currently focused on the supply of refuse derived fuels for the cement and power generating industry in northern and eastern Europe.

Germany: Dipl.-Ing. Otto Jung will retire from Gebr. Pfeiffer SE on 30 June 2012 after nearly 40 years with the company. Dr.-Ing. Robert Schnatz will take over Jung's technical responsibilities on the executive board.

Jung started his career as a development and project engineer. In 1988, he became head of the projects and sales department processing and then in 1996 he was appointed to the Executive Board of Gebr. Pfeiffer SE, a position he held for 16 years. During this time a number of innovateive new projects were launched for the cement industry.

Germany: With effect from April 2012 Roger Meier has been appointed sales director of FLSmidth Sample Processing Technology, Wuppertal, Germany (formerly Pfaff AQS). Roger Meier will also be responsible for coordinating the common sales effort for FLSmidth Brno (formerly Autec) and FLSmidth Wuppertal.

FLSmidth Sample Processing Technology designs and manufactures a wide range of products for every stage of the sample processing chain in cement, steel and other minerals sectors. Previously Roger Meier has held a position as Building Materials Segment Manager and Industrial XRD Applications Manager at PANalytical BV, in the Netherlands.