Displaying items by tag: Award

UK: Thermoteknix Systems, a global manufacturer of infrared and thermal imaging systems for the cement industry, has been presented with the King’s Award for Enterprise, recognising significant and sustained growth in the company’s international trade. Overseas sales for the company grew by 173% in a three-year period across key markets including North America, Europe and Asia.

Thermoteknix has been a multiple recipient of the public accolade awarded to UK business, having previously won the Queen’s Award for Enterprise: International Trade once and the Queen’s Award for Enterprise: Innovation twice. The awards have been renamed following the accession of King Charles III, emphasising his desire to continue the legacy of Queen Elizabeth II in celebrating the achievements of outstanding UK businesses each year, which she began in 1965.

Commenting on winning the first King’s Award honour, founder and managing director of Thermoteknix, Richard Salisbury said “We are extremely honoured to receive this award and would like to acknowledge the hard work and commitment shown by our whole team in delivering outstanding results for our customers around the world in what continues to be fast-changing and challenging markets made all the more onerous during the Covid-19 pandemic.”

Founded in 1982, Thermoteknix has sustained continued growth from its Cambridge headquarters, manufacturing and supplying advanced thermal imaging solutions to defence and security markets, and process monitoring. Thermoteknix successfully exports to more than 70 countries around the world.

Paul Douglas, Production Technician at Thermoteknix, is part of the team on site at the company's UK manufacturing facilities who prepare the Thermoteknix kiln shell scanners, and kiln and cooler cameras for delivery to Cement plant customers around the world.

India: ACC’s Jamul, Thondebhavi and Tikaria cement plants have won safety prizes at the National Safety Council of India (NSCI)’s Safety, Health and Environment Convention (SHECON) 2023. Press in attendance reported that the 1.6Mt/yr Thondebhavi plant in Karnataka won a safety award and a bronze trophy for implementation of its occupational safety and health (OSH) plan. Meanwhile, the 1.6Mt/yr Jamul plant in Chhattisgarh won a letter of commendation and the 3Mt/yr Tikaria grinding plant in Uttar Pradesh won a certificate of recognition.

Adani Group’s cement business CEO Ajay Kapur said "We are honoured to have been recognised by the NSCI with three prestigious awards for our commitment to ensuring the safety and well-being of our employees, and we are proud to be recognised for our efforts. With a strong emphasis on occupational health and safety, we have a robust safety management system in place."

India: Adani Cement has won four awards at the Occupational Health, Safety and Sustainability Association of India (OHSSAI) Awards 2023. The producer won two manufacturing sector awards - the OHSSAAI Safety Silver Award and the OHSSAI Road Safety Gold Award - and two individual awards. The individual awards went to Ambuja Cements' chief operating officer Sukuru Ramarao, who won the Health, Safety and Environment (HSE) Leadership Award, and Ambuja Cements' head of safety, manufacturing and logistics Pankaj Singh, who won the HSE Mentor of the Year Award for his contributions to road safety.

Adani Cement CEO Ajay Kapur said "We are proud to be recognised by OHSSAI for our safety achievements. Safety is an integral part of our overall business strategy, and we are committed to continually improving our safety performance and achieving excellence in all areas of our operations. Safety is everyone's responsibility, and we are committed to maintaining a safe and healthy workplace for our employees."

Switzerland: CDP, a non-profit organisation that helps industrial players improve their environmental performance, has recognised Holcim's sustainability achievements with an award for a double ‘A’ ranking in climate and water management. The double ‘A’ award, a first for any cement producer, was handed over at the 2023 CDP Europe Awards in Paris, France, on 16 February 2023.

Magali Anderson, Holcim’s Chief Sustainability and Innovation Officer, said "This award is a testament to the progress that our teams around the world are making to build a net-zero future, while protecting and restoring precious freshwater resources. 2022 marks the third consecutive year that our climate actions have put us on CDP's A List, and our first ‘A’ ranking for our work on water security. I am confident we will keep the momentum going in years to come."

UK: Neville Roberts, a former Technical Director of Cemex UK, has died on 10 February 2023, at the age of 66. He was a notable figure in the alternative fuels sector for the cement industry.

Neville attended Holyhead County School 1969 - 1975, taking Maths, Physics and Chemistry 'A' Levels, as well as representing the school in rugby, football and athletics. Roberts trained as a chemical engineer at Loughborough University and had worked in the cement industry for over 35 years. During his career he started as a process engineer, became a plant manager at a number of cement plants around the world including Chelm, Poland, and was appointed to five director roles for three cement companies. The companies he worked for included Rugby Cement, Castle Cement, RMC, Cemex and Saudi Cement Company. His later roles for Cemex included UK Technical Director (2004 - 12) and Energy Business Development Director (2012 - 13). He worked in the UK, Poland and Saudi Arabia. After leaving Cemex, Roberts set up his own consultancy and later became the managing director for the UK of Netherlands-based N+P Alternative Fuels.

He was a passionate supporter of all things Welsh, especially rugby, and was awarded the Global CemFuels ‘Personality of the Year’ award in 2013. Neville was husband to Patricia, father to Katie and Holly and grandad to Martha, Edie and Albee. He was known to his grandkids as 'Wowo.' Neville Roberts was great company, mentored and influenced many colleagues around the world and will be sorely missed.

Nigeria: Lafarge Africa has won different awards for its contributions and achievements in sustainability and environmental performance as well as its commitment towards gender inclusion and diversity in the workplace in 2022. These are: the Award for Sustainability Reporting at the 2022 NGX Made of Africa Awards; the Eco-friendly Cement Manufacturing Company of the Year Award at the Environmental Sustainability Conference, Expo, and Awards 2022 (ECOSEA); Environmental Sustainability Professional of the Year for Titilope Oguntuge, the company’s head for Sustainability & Corporate Branding, also at ECOSEA 2022 and; Most Outstanding Company in Gender Inclusion’ (Extractive Industry) at the Women in Marketing Communications Award (WIMCA) 2022.

Organisation and Human Resources director, Gbemiga Owolabi said “At Lafarge, we put people at the heart of everything we do, from promoting diversity in our teams to thriving with our communities, and this was evident in our results. We achieved a 47% representation on our board in 2022 which is a significant increase from 45.5% in 2021 and 40% in 2020.”

Philippines: Cemex Philippines has secured a contract with Manila Water Company for the supply of biosolids from sewage processing for use as alternative fuel (AF). Cemex Philippines has already taken receipt of 10t of biosolids at its Antipolo cement plant in Luzon's Calabarzon Region.

Cemex Philippines’ sustainability and public affairs director Christer Gaudiano said “As pioneers of the use of biosolids as AF in the country, we have just signed what will now create the series of significant steps towards making circular economy a reality."

Sustainability initiatives form one arm of Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the ASEAN Capital Markets Forum's Golden Arrow award for good management, which Cemex Philippines won for the second time on 9 February 2023.

Philippines: Republic Cement has won seven awards at the Presidential Mineral Industry Awards 2023. The producer’s Bulacan cement plant won the Platinum Achievement Award, while its Batangas, Iligan and Teresa plants all claimed Quarry Operations (Non-Metallic) Awards. The Bulacan plant also won the Best Forest Mining Award in the Non-Metallic category, in which the Iligan plant was second runner-up. Lastly, Bulacan cement plant won the Safest Mine (Non-Metallic) Award.

Republic Cement’s CEO Roman Menz said "Throughout our 67 years of service towards building the nation, Republic Cement has always been deeply and wholly committed to responsible mining. It is through responsible mining and our daily commitment to safety and sustainability that we are able to support robust communities and a thriving environment, towards a greener and stronger republic."

India: The Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FICCI) has named Adani Group subsidiary Ambuja Cements the winner in the Women Empowerment category of its Corporate Social Responsibility Awards 2020 – 2021. During the period under consideration, the producer’s initiatives supported 2970 self-help groups and trained 31,000 women. It employed 9000 women in its operations.

Ambuja Cements says that it aims to help women in their role as breadwinners, changemakers and leaders in their communities.

Romania: Finance magazine Capital has named Holcim Romania as its Leader of the Sustainable Transition in the Construction Industry 2022 in recognition of the company’s CO₂ reduction initiatives.

Holcim Romania’s sustainability director Edmund Piess said “We are happy to receive recognition for our effort to build responsibly and sustainably. The Holcim Group has committed to the net-zero emissions target; to achieve this ambitious target, we place sustainability at the heart of our strategy.” Piess concluded “We are aware of the impact of industry and the increase in consumption on climate change, which is why we have launched our ECOncept business model to build sustainably and responsibly.”

Holcim Romania’s ECOncept model comprises ECO Solutions, including 40% reduced-CO₂ ECOPlanet cement, ECO Services and ECO Score impact evaluations.