September 2024
Alejandro Ramírez Cantú appointed president of FICEM 06 September 2017
Guatemala: The Inter-American Cement Federation (FICEM) has appointed Alejandro Ramírez Cantú, the chief executive of Cemex in the Dominican Republic, as its new president for the period 2017 – 2020 at its technical congress. He succeeds Gabriel Restrepo, manager of Institutional Affairs at Cementos Argos, in the role, according to the 7 Dias newspaper.
Ramírez Cantú is an industrial and systems engineer trained at the Tecnológico de Monterrey in Mexico and he holds a Master's Degree in business administration from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. He joined Cemex in 2000 and he has directed operations in Thailand, Puerto Rico, Costa Rica and the Dominican Republic.
Moreno to oversee Sonson plant construction 06 September 2017
Colombia: Organizacion Corona has announced that its President Carlos Enrique Moreno will be replaced by Jaime Alberto Angel from October 2017 as head of the Corona Industrial division. Angel will oversee the construction of a US$400m cement plant in the Sonson Municipality of Antioquia, which the group is building as a joint venture project with Spain’s Cementos Molins. The 1.35Mt/yr plant is expected to come online in early 2019.
Moreno said that the decision to split the company’s management was due to the construction of the cement plant. Angel will also look after Corona’s bathrooms and kitchens, materials and paints, energy and industrial supplies and tableware divisions.
RKW Group appoints Reinhold Franke as head of packaging division 06 September 2017
Germany: RKW Group has appointed Reinhold Franke as the head of its packaging division and to its executive board. He succeeds Matthias Kaufmann. Franke's areas of responsibility also include group marketing and communications, as well as research and development, sustainability and new business development
Franke, aged 57 years, started his career in 1985 and has worked in the sales and marketing of plastic films and flexible packaging. He began his career with Haendler & Natermann and later worked internationally for Nordenia as Head of Sales in the Netherlands and the US. In 2012, as president and chief operating officer (COO), he assumed overall responsibility for Nordenia USA Jackson. Following the acquisition of Nordenia by the Mondi Group, Franke moved to the Verpa Group, where he was responsible for setting up its US business.
SOCOCIM aims at 56% market share in Senegal 06 September 2017
Senegal: Youga Sow, the director general of SOCOCIM Industries, says that his company is aiming for a market share of above 56%. He made the comments at a local festival, according to local press. Sow added that the country produced 3.2Mt of cement in 2016 despite having a production capacity of 8Mt/yr. The other major cement producers include Ciments du Sahel and Dangote Cement.
Pacific Cement prepares for upgrade project 06 September 2017
Fiji: Pacific Cement plans to shut down for three weeks in September 2017 for upgrade work including installing a new cement mill motor, trunnion gear, dust collectors and sensors. The company has confirmed to the Fiji Times newspaper that all the parts for the project have arrived on site. It expects at least 15 engineers and technicians from Australia and New Zealand to work on the repairs. Company director Sowani Tuidrola added that the cement producer has imported 25,000t of cement from Vietnam to meet market demand.
Buzzi Unicem announces purchase of 50% stake in Ecotrade 06 September 2017
Italy: Buzzi Unicem has announced that it purchased a 50% stake in Ecotrade in early 2017. Ecotrade supplies industrial byproducts, such as fly ash and blast furnace slags, from power plants and steel mills to the cement industry with deliveries of over 2Mt/yr at its peak. The company is a member of the Italian Register of Environmental Operators and it has a national distribution network in Italy. Buzzi Unicem intends to use Ecotrade’s expertise to expand its operations internally.
South Africa: Canada’s Fairfax Financial Holdings has made an offer of US$154m to buy a stake in PPC on condition that the cement producer agrees to a merger with AfriSam. Fairfax will also invest a further US$309m to pay off AfriSam debts to aid the deal, according to the Cape Times newspaper. The proposed merger ratio is based on 58% PPC and 42% AfriSam.
PPC said to its shareholders that it had received two other offers from trade buyers about a ‘pan-African combination’ with PPC. It added that although it had yet to ‘fully consider’ the Fairfax proposal, the offer was ‘fundamentally’ undervalued.
Star Cement to invest US$156m on expansion plans 05 September 2017
India: Star Cement plans to invest US$156m towards building a new clinker grinding plant and expanding the clinker production line of its existing plant at Lumshnong in Meghalaya. The cement producer plans to build a new 1.5 – 2Mt/yr grinding plant for US$47m at Siliguri in West Bengal, according to the Hindu newspaper. It also intends to spend US$109m on doubling clinker production to 5Mt/yr at the plant in Siliguri by 2020. The investment will be funded internally and by loans.
ARM Cement revenue down by 20% to US$52m in first half of 2017 05 September 2017
Kenya: ARM Cement’s revenue fell by 20% year-on-year to US$52m in the first half of 2017 from US$65m in the same period in 2016. Its loss for the period grew to US$14m from US$2.6m. Cement production dropped by 3.93% to 3.18Mt in the half year of 2017 according to data from the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics reported by the Kenyan Star newspaper. Cement consumption also fell during the first five months of the year, by 2.34% to 2.5Mt.
Fuchs and DMG Mori launch technology partnership 05 September 2017
Germany: Fuchs Petrolub and DMG Mori have signed a contract for a technology partnership. The goal of the partnership is to jointly develop new lubricant solutions and services for machine tool applications. The plan also includes further progress in digitisation of production processes and condition monitoring of machines and plants.
"Use of the correct lubricant is decisive for optimal productivity when machine tools are used for intensive processing of components. In Fuchs, we are pleased to have acquired a globally-based technology partner, and together we want to continue expanding our technology- and service-excellence," said Christian Thönes, chairman of the executive board of DMG Mori.
DMG Mori manufactures machine tools with sales revenue of over Euro3.5bn. Fuchs develops, produces and distributes lubricants and related specialties.