Displaying items by tag: Cemex

Mexico: Cemex has joined a partnership for the development of OpenBuilt, a digital platform aimed at connecting supply chains for the construction industry. The initiative is intended to increase the safety and sustainability of construction practices. Companies using the system will be able to securely connect their current technology and digital platforms to partners, suppliers or subcontractors in their supply chain via a single integration hub. The platform will be developed on the Red Hat OpenShift hybrid cloud platform and run on the IBM Cloud.

Chief executive officer Fernando Gonzalez said "OpenBuilt is a strategic initiative that will help integrate the construction value chain by increasing productivity, innovation, and collaboration." He added "We are constantly seeking to provide a superior experience to our customers through the innovative use of digital technologies."

US: The Portland Cement Association (PCA) has received the 2021 Energy Star Partner of the Year award from the US Environmental Protection Agency and the US Department of Energy. It is the second year in a row the association has been recognised in this way. Each year, the Energy Star program recognises a group of businesses and organisations that have made outstanding contributions to protecting the environment through superior energy achievements.

“The PCA and its members are proud to be recognised for continuously improving energy efficiency to reduce emissions,” said PCA President and chief executive officer Michael Ireland. “The cement and concrete industry is leading the way towards a more sustainable future as PCA and its members are developing an industry roadmap across the entire value chain to reach carbon neutrality by 2050."

In addition to PCA’s Partner of the Year recognition, two PCA member companies, CalPortland and Cemex USA, earned corporate Partner of the Year awards and 13 US cement plants earned Energy Star certification for superior energy performance in 2020.

France: Mexico-based Cemex has signed an agreement to buy assets in Paris metropolitan area. The new acquisitions consist of two aggregates quarries and a rail platform. The assets previously belonged to Ireland-based CRH subsidiary Equiom Granulats. The purchase is expected to be completed during the second quarter of 2021.

Europe, Middle East, Africa and Asiaregional president Sergio Menendez said, "This acquisition will allow us to better serve our customers by integrating and complementing our portfolio to provide a comprehensive and sustainable offering, directly aimed at the rapidly growing needs of the North Paris Metropolitan Area." He added "This is a clear example of the efforts that we are doing to foster earning before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation growth by investing in key high-growth urban centres worldwide."

US: Cemex USA, part of Mexico-based Cemex, has won a contract to supply 90,700t of cement and 153,000m³ of concrete for the latest phase of construction of the Houston Grand Parkway. The cement and concrete will help build the road’s I-1 and I-2 sections. The ring road around Houston is the longest of its kind in the US. Cemex USA will provide a portable central mix plant for the project.

Texas regional president Scott Ducoff said “Cemex USA is proud to be part of an iconic infrastructure project in our headquarters city of Houston, and one that will help ease traffic and improve local travel for commuters.” He added “Completing the Grand Parkway is a significant endeavour and opportunity for us to continue to innovate how we efficiently and effectively deliver our best-in-class materials to meet the demands of inspiring projects such as this one.”

Mexico: Cemex has hosted Mujer Construrama, a conference and workshop series hosted by female leaders in construction. 320 participants attended the event. The group said that it reinforced its commitment to gender equality, as a signatory of the UN Women and UN Global Compact’s Women’s Empowerment Principles, promoting equality in the workplace, marketplace, and the community. It added that women’s empowerment benefits individuals and society, allowing for economic and social improvement and healthy competition. Construrama is the largest retail building materials distribution network in Mexico, with 2100 stores. Women lead approximately 30% of the stores.

France: Hoffmann Green Cement’s consolidated net revenue fell by 19% year-on-year to Euro504,000 in 2020 from Euro620,000 in 2019. Net loss was Euro6.12m, up by 41% from Euro4.34m. Loss in earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) more than doubled to Euro4.13m from Euro1.85m. During the year, the group began construction of its second cement plant, in Vendée, France.

Co-chairs Julien Blanchard and David Hoffman said, “We are happy with what we achieved at Hoffmann Green in 2020, in spite of the pandemic. We signed numerous technical and commercial collaboration contracts with key players in the construction sector such as Groupe GCC, KP1, Cemex and Eiffage Génie Civil, taking our order book to over 190,000t to date.” They reconfirmed the target of a 3% French cement market share by 2025/2026, adding, “The commercial dynamic continues at the beginning of 2021 with the signing of contracts with Ouest Réalisations for the construction of housing, and EdyCem to develop low carbon footprint concretes.”

Blanchard and Hoffmann called 2020 ‘the year of increasing production volumes,’ adding that the group expects on-going and future environmental legislation in all its regions to bolster demand.

Australia: Calix has reported the completion of a pre-front-end engineering and design (FEED) study of its Leilac-2 carbon capture and storage (CCS) study. Germany-based HeidelbergCement, Mexico-based Cemex and Portugal-based Cimpor assessed the study. The milestone clears the technology for industrial scale implementation at HeidelbergCement’s Hannover integrated cement plant in Germany. The installation aims to capture 100,000t/yr of CO₂ at an installation cost of Euro23m (+/-30%). The final investment decision will follow after the completion of FEED in early 2022.

Mexico: Cemex has presented a comprehensive analysis of it strategic vision, operational performance, corporate governance and value creation in 2020 in its integrated report for the year. During the year, the group developed and implemented over 50 new hygiene and safety protocols against the Covid-19 outbreak, achieved zero fatalities and lost-time injuries across 96% of its operations and led remote operations with its Cemex Go digital platform, which accounted for 61% of global sales in 2020. Cemex announced its Climate Action strategy in February 2020, defining a global target of a 35% reduction of CO2 emissions per tonne of cementitious product by 2030. It also established an ambition to deliver net-zero CO2 concrete to all its customers globally by 2050.

At 31 December 2020 it had already achieved a 35% emissions reduction across its European operations and became the first cement producer to set a 55% reduction target in line with the European Commission’s new goal for member states. The group co-processed 2.7Mt of waste for use as alternative fuel (AF) across 91% of its cement plants, replacing 1.6Mt of coal at a substitution rate of 25%. The producer classified 29% of its cement business’ power consumption as ‘clean,’ with 100% renewable power supply across cement, concrete, and aggregates operations in Poland and the UK. The year also saw the global introduction of Vertua low carbon and net-zero CO2 products. Vertua Ultra Zero is the first net-zero CO2 concrete.

Cemex continues to operate under its Operation Resilience medium-term plan. The plan aims to promote growth, sustainability, and financial resilience. The company has amended its bank debt under its facilities agreement, which incorporates green metrics, and strengthened its social impact strategy to reinforce community initiatives. Group activities positively impacted more than 23 million people on an accumulated basis, contributing to the achievement of the UN Sustainable Development Goals, according to the producer.

Chief executive officer Fernando Gonzalez said, “2020 was undoubtedly a very challenging year, with Covid-19 abruptly upending every aspect of our lives and disrupting every industry worldwide.” He added, “Sustainability remains one of our top priorities, and our Climate Action strategy makes us confident in our ability to achieve our targets and aspirations.”

Guatemala: Mexico-based Cemex subsidiary Cemex Latam Holdings plans to install a new 1000t/day horizontal ball mill and support infrastructure including a dust collector and 3000t silo at its Puerto de San José grinding plant in Escuintia. Central America Data has reported the value of the work as US$16m.

Germany: Mexico-based Cemex subsidiary Cemex Zement has set up an innovation acceleration partnership called Carbon Neutral Alliance to support its work to achieve net zero CO₂ emissions at its Rüdersdorf cement plant by 2030. The association will work to develop industrial-scale demonstration projects in line with the company’s Future in Action programme. Its scope will include carbon capture and storage (CCS), the transformation of captured CO₂ into building materials, synthetic fuels and green hydrocarbons, hydrogen production and waste heat recovery (WHR). Cemex plans to share the knowledge gained by the alliance across its global cement network.

Managing director and Rüdersdorf plant manager Stefan Schmorleiz said, "It is expected that CO₂ will be further processed to convert to new forms of energy and materials for use locally by industrial, residential, and transport sectors. Together with our partners, we will take feasibility studies through to economic solutions to decarbonising cement production.”