Displaying items by tag: Cementos Argos

Colombia: Cementos Argos plans to close its oil well cement production plant at San Gil in Santander. The closure follows falling demand for this type of cement caused by falling global oil prices. The National Construction Material Industry Workers' trade union Sutimac has requested that the cement producer transfer its 75 employees at the San Gil plant to other parts of the business, according to the El Colombiano newspaper. The union hopes that Cementos Argos will repeat its recent transfer of workers from the now-closed Sabanagrande, Atlantico factory to its plants in Cartagena, Tolu and Antioquia.

Colombia: Cement producers are reacting to a boom in infrastructure projects in Colombia by increasing production and upgrading existing production capacity. Demand for ordinary Portland cement is expected to grow in the short-term due to the government's 4G roads programme and the growth of the housing sector. Current expansion projects in the country include Cementos Argos’ new 1.4Mt/yr plant at Sogamoso in Boyaca and Cemex’s 1Mt/yr cement plant at Maceo in Antioquia.

Colombia: Cementos Argos has reported that its revenue rose by 34% year-on-year to US$740m in the first quarter of 2016 from US$553m in the same period in 2015. Its net income rose by 27% to US$33.4m from US$26.4m. The company attributed the gains to ‘healthy’ sales volumes in all of its markets with a particular emphasis in the US.

By region Cementos Argos saw its cement sales volumes rise by 47.3% to 935,000t in the US led by growth in the Carolinas, Alabama and Georgia. In Colombia its cement volumes fell by 17.1% to 1.48Mt due to lower growth in the central region of the country. Despite this the company increased its revenue in this territory in the quarter. In its Caribbean and Central American region the cement producer reported a rise of 14.4% to 1.11Mt in its cement sales volumes.

Colombia: Cementos Argos has launched energy saving measures that could contribute close to 10% of the energy saving goals of the Colombian national government. The cement producer has joined the energy savings campaign promoted by the government by taking additional measures at its plants and offices that can help conserve this important resource.

Cementos Argos intends to deliver excess energy from its self-generation plants of about 30MW to the domestic electrical network and limit the use of its 16 cement mills during peak hours, which will represent savings of about 38MW. In addition it will maximize its use of flexitime and day work to limit the use of electrical energy at its administrative offices. With these measures the company hopes to save the equivalent of the consumption of close to 100,000 homes per day and of close to 130,000 homes during peak hours.

“We are convinced that by joining our efforts, we can multiply results. That is why, if all companies and families put their best foot forward, we can all contribute to energy saving and create habits that allow us to preserve resources that are fundamental to our planet’s sustainability,” said Jorge Mario Velásquez, CEO of Cementos Argos.

Colombia: Cementos Argos has reported that its net consolidated income rose by 83% year-on-year to US$556m in 2015 from US$305m in 2014. Its revenue rose by 40% to US$7.91bn from US$5.67bn. The rise in profit was attributed to an increase in market profitability and operational effectiveness.

“The record-setting results obtained in 2015 are the results of a well-planned coherent work during the last decade aimed at transforming a local company into a multinational player devoted to the cement and concrete business,” said Jorge Mario Velásquez, CEO of Cementos Argos.

Overall cement production volumes for the Colombia-based multinational building materials producer rose by 14% to 14.3Mt in 2015. Cement production volumes rose by 13% to 6.2Mt in Colombia. Cement production volumes rose by 20% to 3.4Mt in the US and by 21% to nearly 4Mt in the company’s Caribbean and Central American division.

Cementos Argos also noted that it completed its US$125m expansion of its Rioclaro Plant in 2015. The upgrade has increased the plants production capacity by 0.9Mt/yr.

US: The Argos USA Newberry cement plant in Florida has achieved Energy Star certification from the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for its superior energy performance in 2015. It joins nine manufacturing plants that have gained the certification for the first time. Overall, 28 cement plants gained certification in 2015.

“Energy Star certified manufacturing plants are driving the kinds of efficiencies and innovations that keep our country strong,” said EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy. “They’re proving every day that businesses can save on energy, cut down on bills and reduce harmful greenhouse gas emissions all at the same time.”

Since 2006, the EPA has certified manufacturing plants with the Energy Star for reaching the top 25% of energy performance in their industries nationwide each year. Energy Star certified plants must have their energy performance independently verified. Plants from the automotive, cement manufacturing, corn refining, food processing, glass manufacturing, pharmaceutical manufacturing and petroleum refining industries are among those that qualified in 2015.

Since the inception of EPA’s Energy Star certification, a total of 148 manufacturing plants have achieved this distinction. These plants have saved over 41Mt million of carbon dioxide equivalent emissions.

Colombia: Camilo Restrepo has been appointed the Vice President of the Caribbean and Central Region for Cementos Argos. He replaces Mauricio Ossa, who recently became president of the Colombia construction company Odinsa.

Restrepo was educated at the University of Maryland and is currently completing MBA studies at Emory University's Goizueta Business School in Atlanta, US. He joined Cementos Argos in 2005 as a research and development analyst. He became the Vice President of Innovation in 2012.

US: Cementos Argos has started incorporating and capturing recycled carbon dioxide (CO₂) in several of the concrete mixtures it produces at its US plants, specifically the ones in Atlanta, Georgia. The CO₂ is collected, stored and taken to the plant by the Canadian company CarbonCure, which developed the batching technology. The gas chemically reacts with the calcium hydroxide and the water of the concrete, making insoluble calcium carbonate.

“We are extremely proud of being the first company in the United States to be able to offer its customers a product with CO₂-capturing and incorporating properties. This concrete, even when demolished, never releases the CO₂ contained within its structure, allowing us to close the gas’ cycle and contribute to making the construction sector more and more sustainable and eco-friendly,” said Jorge Mario Velásquez, CEO of Cementos Argos.

Colombia: FLSmidth has signed a contract with Cementos Argos S.A. for a new OK 33-4 cement mill system to be installed at its cement plant in Sogamoso, Boyac, Colombia. This contract marks the fourth OK mill purchased by Cementos Argos. The mill system will include cement storage, Ventomatic packing plant, MAAG gear, Airtech filters and auxiliary equipment.

Colombia: Cementos Argos has reported that it will reach US$2.61bn in revenue in 2015. Revenue was US$1.86bn in the first nine months of 2015, a 35% year-on-year increase. Colombia represented 88% of Cementos Argos' revenue in the nine months.