September 2024
Jordan: The Labour Ministry has helped to resolve a dispute between workers and management at Lafarge Jordan. Following several days of work stoppages the employees have agreed to sign a collective work contract and resume work as normal, according to the Jordan Times. In return workers at the Rashadia cement plant will receive a bonus payment at Eid Al Fitr and then pay increases based on performance. The parties have also agreed to let the ministry lead future talks on early retirement and workers’ association bans on employees.
UK: It is hoped that a Euro23m upgrade project at Hanson’s Padeswood cement plant will be completed in early 2019. A planning application will be submitted to the local government in the summer of 2017 following consultation with local residents. The plant intends to install a new vertical roller mill to grind cement and to build a new rail loading facilities at the site.
“The plan is to mothball three of the old mills and install a new vertical roller mill capable of grinding up to 0.65Mt/yr of clinker. The new mill will be fully enclosed in a building, minimising noise and reducing the potential for escape of cement dust,” said plant manager Steve Hall. The project also includes construction of new cement silos alongside the existing railway line to load trains for delivery. At present the rail link is used to bring in coal to fire the kilns. In future, three trains a week will be despatched to Hanson’s depots in London, Bristol and Scotland or around 15% of total cement production.
India: Shree Cement’s revenue rose by 4% year-on-year to US$442m for the quarter that ended on 31 March 2017 from US$424m in the same period in 2016. However, its profit fell by 54% to US$47.5m from US$103m. The fall in profit arose from the group’s power business and other income sources. The earnings before interest, depreciation, taxation and amortisation (EBITDA) after inter-segment transfers rose by 10% to US$76m from US$69m. The cement producer said that its results are not comparable as it adopted a change in its accounting year from the 2015 - 2016 period.
Denmark: Bjarne Moltke Hansen has resigned as the Group Executive Vice President of FLSmidth. The 57-year old Danish national started his career in 1984 working for Unicon, a subsidiary of FLSmidth at the time. He subsequently held the position as chief executive officer (CEO) of Cembrit Holding for five years before taking up the position as CEO of Aalborg Portland Holding in 2000. In 2002, Bjarne took on the position as Group Executive Vice President, Customer Services Division until he was appointed Group Executive Vice President, Product Companies Division in 2015.
Ramco Group chairman Ramasubrahaneya Rajha dies 17 May 2017
India: P R Ramasubrahaneya Rajha, the chairman of business conglomerate Ramco Group, has died at the age of 82 after a brief illness. He is survived by his wife and son P R Venkatarama Rajha, the vice-chairman and managing director of the group, according to the Press Trust of India. Ramasubrahaneya Rajha was the son of the group’s founder P A C Ramasamy Rajah.
Finland: Miikka Riionheimo has been appointed as the chief executive officer (CEO) of Finnsementti with effect from 1 June 2017. He will replace the current CEO Kalervo Matikainen when he retires. Riionheimo has worked in a variety of roles for Hella since 2004 and also worked for Sandvik. He became the chief operating officer of Finnsementti in 2016.
Italy: Paolo Zugaro has been appointed as the General Manager of Cementir Holding. He has also become the group’s chief operating officer with effect from 1 May 2017. Zugaro, aged 52 years, holds a degree in electrical engineering from Tor Vergata University, Rome. He has worked in a variety of managerial roles for both Caltagirone Group and Cementir Group since 1997. Notably he has been the head of the Nordic & Baltic Region of Cementir Group, the chief executive officer (CEO) of Aalborg Portland and CEO of Unicon. In his recent posting as the head of the East Mediterranean Region, he was the CEO of Cimentas in Turkey, Vice President of Sinai White Portland Cement in Egypt and the CEO of Recydia, a company which operates in the waste and recycling management business in Turkey and the UK.
Fuchs opens US$26m grease plant near Chicago 16 May 2017
US: Fuchs Petrolub has opened a US$26m grease manufacturing plant, research laboratory and warehouse near Chicago. The 3150m2 unit in Harvey, Illinois will supply lubricants to the automotive, heavy-duty truck, construction, rail, and off-road markets in North America.
The expansion of the Chicago-area site is part of a US$330m investment by the company in 2016 to 2018 in its manufacturing and research and development facilities. The company also expanded its facilities in Mannheim and Kaiserslautern, Germany, and is opening new plants in Wujiang, China, Australia and Sweden. The Harvey facility is Fuchs' second grease plant in the US with the other in Kansas City, Missouri.
Pakistan: The National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (NEPRA) has ruled out the option of using waste heat from cement plants as surplus energy for the national grid. The body had started investigating using waste energy from cement plants but decided that high-energy consumption at the plants minimised the possibility of any excess power.
Sandvik hit by WannaCry computer virus 16 May 2017
Sweden: Sandvik has been affected by the WannaCry computer virus. The engineering company said that the ransonware worm had hit its office and production environment on 12 May 2017. The company has focused on mapping the impact and executing recovery measures. It expects to deliver on customer commitments as planned and no major financial impact is currently expected.