October 2025

Germany: Bosch Rexroth has appointed Steffen Haack as its executive board member responsible for engineering from the start of 2021. His tasks will include managing the engineering activities of the company and responsibility for the three business units which constitute the Industrial Hydraulics division. He will take over the role as Head of Engineering from Heiner Lang, who will leave the company by the end of 2020. Haack will retain his role as head of the Industrial Hydraulics business unit. Marc Wucherer, aged 51 years, will be put in charge of the Factory Automation division.

Haack, aged 53 years, holds a doctorate degree in fluid technology. He started his career at Bosch in 1996. Since 2017, Haack has managed the Industrial Hydraulics business unit, for which he remains responsible. Previously, he was a member of the executive board of Bosch Rexroth from 2015 to 2017. In addition to his professional activities, Haack is a member of the Executive Board of the Fluid Technology Association at the Mechanical Engineering Industry Association (VDMA) and the Advisory Board of the German Mechanical Engineering Summit.

Germany-based Bosch Rexroth is a supplier of drive and control technologies for a variety of industries including cement.

Italy: Caltagirone Group subsidiary Cementir Holding has announced the upcoming launch of its FutureCem grey cement product on 1 January 2021. The company says that it has 30% lower CO₂ emissions than normal ordinary Portland cement (OPC). It developed the product in collaboration with its Denmark-based subsidiary Aalborg Portland using 35% limestone and calcined clay to replace clinker. This resulted in a much more sustainable, high grade cement according to the company. It added that the low carbon benefits of FutureCem have been achieved without compromising strength and quality.

Chief sales, marketing and commercial development officer Michele Di Marino said that FutureCem is a ‘giant step’ on the way towards more sustainable cement production. “This is immensely important if we are to achieve our sustainability goals at Cementir Group,” said Di Marino. “But it is also an important contribution to the green transition of the concrete and construction industries in general. Thanks to the efforts of our research and development department in Aalborg, we are ready to begin distributing the FutureCem technology in Denmark and soon other subsidiaries in Europe will follow.” He added, “We have reached an important milestone in our innovation and sustainability efforts, but we are not done. Currently, we are incorporating the technology into more cement types in our product range. This includes white cement, and we have already introduced two white ultra-high performance concrete (UHPC) premix types with FutureCem technology.”

China: Huaxin Cement plans to invest US$184m in a green building materials joint venture called Huangshi Huaxin Green Building Materials. The group says that the other investors are Huangshi City Urban Development Investment Group and Yangxin County Mining Investment. The partners plan to invest a total of US$1.84bn to establish a 2Mt/yr lime plant, a 100Mt/yr artificial sand and gravel plant and a 2bn blocks/yr building materials plant. The new facilities are to be situated in Yangxin County, Hubei Province. The units will be built in phases from January 2021.

Russia: Soyuzcement, the national cement manufacturing union, has forecast a 4% year-on-year fall in cement production in 2020. Greater declines are expected in the central and southern federal regions. It observed that only half of the country’s production capacity was used in 2020. However, the organisation has credited government subsidies for mortgages as staving off the worse economic effects of the coronavirus pandemic in the first half of the year by stimulating construction.

India: The Ministry of Finance Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) says that its Income Tax department has detected US$95m-worth of tax evasion by Chettinad Cement and Anjani Portland Cement owner Chettinad Group. The Deccan Herald newspaper has reported that following raids on its offices the tax department found evidence of inflated expenditure, unaccounted receipts and complex financial arrangements including bogus liabilities in order to reduce capital gains. The investigation continues.

Belgium: Carmeuse has signed a joint development agreement with France-based energy transition specialist ENGIE and John Cockerill for a carbon capture and utilisation (CCU) project in Wallonia. It will concentrate CO₂ from a new type of lime kiln and combine it with ‘green’ hydrogen to produce ‘e-methane.’ The hydrogen will be produced by a 75MW electrolyser plant powered by renewable electricity. The company said, “The produced e-methane will be suitable for injection into the national natural gas grid. This renewable e-methane can be used by industrial users or as an alternative fuel in the transport sector, thus allowing these sectors to decarbonise.”

Construction is due to begin in 2022 for commissioning of the installation in 2025. Its total investment cost is Euro150m. The partners have applied for funding from the EU Innovation Fund and Important Project of Common European Interest (IPCEI) fund. The project’s estimated CO₂ emissions reduction over 10 years is 900,000t

Chief executive officer (CEO) Rodolphe Collinet said, “We are delighted to join forces with John Cockerill and ENGIE for the development of this very exciting and strategic project. It is a major step forward in our ambition to become CO₂-neutral by 2050. This project is a very concrete and important example of Carmeuse’s strong commitment and contribution to sustainable development.”

Oman: Raysut Cement subsidiary Duqm Cement Factory has signed a deal with Ahlibank for a US$21m loan for the construction of its Duqm grinding plant in Al Wusta Governotate. The grinding plant will produce ordinary Portland cement (OPC), Portland limestone cement (PLC) and ground granulated blast furnace slag (GGBFS), according to the Times of Oman newspaper. Construction of the plant started in November 2020.

Raysut Cement chief executive officer (CEO) Joey Ghose said, “We would like to extend our sincere gratitude and appreciation to Ahlibank for financing the Construction of Duqm Cement Factory’s new grinding plant in Duqm Industrial Estate. Through strategic partnerships with the public and private sectors, the bank has ensured the all-round development of Oman’s diverse sectors. The new cement plant will spur economic activities in around the Duqm Industrial Estate and thereby bring more and more businesses to the region.”

US: Mexico-based Cemex has launched the Vertua range of low and net-zero CO₂ concrete products in the US following introductions in Mexico and Europe. The range consists of Vertua Classic, Vertua Plus and Vertua Ultra. The company has begun by selling Vertua Classic – which it says offers a 20–30% reduction in CO₂ emissions – in Bay Area, Central Valley, Los Angeles, Sacramento and San Diego, California. Vertua Plus and Vertua Ultra products will be introduced in 2021.

California regional president Francisco Rivera said, “Since many customers are motivated to reduce the carbon footprint of their projects, we are delighted to offer Vertua Classic, which is suitable for a wide range of commercial and residential applications. Our Vertua products are uniquely designed to balance limited carbon specifications with our customers’ needs for high-quality performance and resilience.”

Denmark: FLSmidth has launched an online condition monitoring kiln service. It says it will give plant managers the live insights they need to optimise performance and be proactive with regards to kiln maintenance. The new ‘Online condition monitoring services for kilns’ enables producers to use existing and additional sensors to gather data from equipment on a continuous basis. This data is sent to FLSmidth’s Global Remote Service Centre where it is analysed for early signs of failure. Recommendations and reports covering maintenance issues that need addressing are sent to the customer. The service agreement is available in two packages, based on the customer’s monitoring requirements.

“Digitalisation enables us to help customers develop a data-led proactive maintenance approach, guided by our network of experts,” said Mireia Fontarnau Vilaró, Head of Service Commercial, FLSmidth. “With this service agreement, we are able to collect and analyse data that would not be normally available, giving our customers the opportunity to really get on top of maintenance, improve the life of kiln components and improve their overall reliability.” The equipment supplier says that its service monitors the kiln crank, kiln shell ovality and axial balance, helping customers avoid unplanned downtime through root cause analysis.

Norway: The Norwegian Parliament has voted in favour of the government’s proposed grant of funding for industrial scale implementation of full-scale carbon capture and storage (CCS) at HeidelbergCement subsidiary Norcem’s Brevik cement plant. Work on the project is expected to start immediately, with the goal of starting CO₂ separation from the cement production process by 2024. The end result will be a 50% cut of emissions from the cement produced at the plant. The group said that the installation will contribute to its CO2 emissions reduction target of 30% between 1990 and 2025.

Norcem chair and HeidelbergCement Northern Europe regional general manager Giv Brantenberg said, “HeidelbergCement highly appreciates the successful cooperation with the Norwegian authorities. The Brevik CCS project clearly shows the importance of industry and public sector to find common solutions in the fight against climate change.”

HeidelbergCement chair Dominik von Achten said, “We are delighted about the final approval of the Norwegian parliament for our breakthrough CCS project in Norway.” He added, “To meet national and international climate targets, CO₂ separation is an important cornerstone. Our CCS project in Brevik will pave the way for our industry and other sectors.”