Displaying items by tag: FLSmidth

Denmark: FLSmidth has announced details of the business improvement initiative it gave forewarning of in late 2019. The cement technology supplier is sacking 500 staff. Its most recent Annual Report stated that it had 11,368 staff at the end of 2018, meaning that around 4.4% of employees will lose their jobs. 80 of these redundancies will effect employees at its Copenhagen headquarters, with the remainder impacting personnel at operations across the globe. “Despite a healthy pipeline, this is an unfortunate yet necessary action given the weakening market for large capital investments in 2019 and our ongoing efforts to improve internal efficiency,” said FLSmidth CEO Thomas Schulz.

Denmark: FLSmidth’s chief financial officer (CFO) Lars Vestergaard has agreed with the board of directors to resign from the company, effective immediately. FLSmidth has stated as the reason for the change a need for ‘a different set of competences to strengthen our organisation and execute long-term financial targets.’ It thanked Vestergaard for his commitment and dedication in helping FLSmidth achieve milestones in ‘creating a stronger and more focused organisation. FLSmidth Head of Group Reporting and Compliance Naja Barrisøe supersedes Vestergaard as interim CFO until the newly appointed CFO joins the company on or before 1 July 2020.

Bangladesh: Mohammed Amirul Haque, the managing director, of Premier Cement, says that the company has built two more units at Narayanganj and Chattogram for around US$150m. He said that upgrade has increased the company’s production capacity to 5.2Mt/yr from 2.4Mt/yr, according to the Daily Star newspaper. The new units are currently at the trial stage. Vertical roller mills (VRM) supplied by Denmark’s FLSmidth will be used to attain production rates of 460t/hr and 270t/hr at the new plants in Narayanganj and Chattogram respectively.

The expansion plans were initiated in 2017. At present the country has a cement production utilisation rate of 57%. Bangladesh’s per capita cement consumption is around 181kg. It is expected to increase to 220kg by 2020.

Denmark: FLSmidth has recorded a third-quarter profit of Euro25.4m in the three months to 30 September 2019, up by 17% year-on-year from Euro21.7m in the corresponding period of 2018. Its revenue over the period rose by 9.3% to Euro634m from Euro580m. FLSmidth CEO Thomas Schulz noted the delivery of supply operations to the cement industry on expected profitability.

UK: The Global Cement and Concrete Association (GCCA) has launched ‘Innovandi,’ a research network between industry and scientific institutions. The network intends to research the areas of process technology, including the impact of co-processing, efficiency of clinker production and implementation of CCUS/ technologies, and products. This will include the impact of clinker substitutes and alternative binders in concrete, low carbon concrete technology and improve the understanding of CO₂ reduction through re-carbonation.

“Our industry is fully committed to taking action to reduce CO₂ emissions. As such, Innovandi is an industry led initiative and will bring together the best minds from all corners of the cement and concrete world, academia and business. Together we will truly collaborate on a global scale and use our expertise to find new ways of working and developing effective innovations,” said Benjamin Sporton, the chief executive officer (CEO) of the GCCA.

24 companies from the cement and concrete industry, including cement and concrete manufacturers, admixture specialists and equipment suppliers, have committed to the initiative, with scientific institutions and additional companies set to join as its work begins work. These include Buzzi Unicem, Cementir Holding, Cementos Argos, Cementos Molins, Cementos Pacasmayo, Cemento Progresso, Cemex, CNBM, Chryso, CRH, Dalmia Cement, FLSmidth, Grupo Cementos de Chihuahua (GCC), GCP Applied Technologies, Mapei, HeidelbergCement, LafargeHolcim, Nesher Israel Enterprises, SCG Cement, Titan Cement, Refratechnik Cement, Sika Technology, Subote New Materials and Votorantim.

As part of the new initiative, the GCCA also intends to establish an annual Innovandi global conference to promote collaboration on innovation and research in the sector.

Pakistan: Power Cement has shutdown the older production lines at its integrated Nooriabad plant due to falling demand and prices. Chairman Nasim Beg said that the old lines were shut because they were ‘inefficient’ and not competitive under present conditions, according to Bloomberg. The plant had a production capacity of around 3150t/day from its older lines. In July 2019 it completed the installation of a new 2.46Mt/yr clinker line supplied by Denmark’s FLSmidth.

Denmark: FLSmidth’s order intake for its cement business grew by 29% to Euro604m in the first half of 2019 from Euro469m in the same period in 2018. It said this was mainly due to ‘strong’ order intake in the first quarter of 2019, which included two large cement orders, together worth around Euro120m. The second quarter also included a larger order worth Euro45m. The division’s revenue rose by 7% to Euro548m and its earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) remained stable at Euro28.4m.

Kenya: Savannah Cement is set to complete US$50m upgrade to its grinding plant at Athi River by the end of 2019. It is installing a second 1.2Mt/yr mill at the unit supplied by Denmark’s FLSmidth, according to the Kenya Broadcasting Company. Contractors are also installing belt conveyors, storage silos, a packing plant and dust filters as part of the new vertical roller mill line.

The cement producer made the announcement at an event celebrating its seventh anniversary. The existing mill at Athi River has a production capacity of 1.2Mt/yr.

Pakistan: Power Cement says it has completed the procurement and installation of machinery on the new third production line at its Nooriabad plant. This includes a 2.46Mt/yr clinker line and a 2.72Mt/yr cement and dispatch line. The equipment was ordered from Denmark’s FLSmdith. The cement producer says the upgrade has made it the largest in southern Pakistan with a total clinker production capacity of 3.42Mt/yr and a cement capacity of 3.73Mt/yr.

Poland: FLSmidth MAAG Gear has successfully tested a MPU/274G type gear unit at its Elblag production plant. The product is intended for JK Cement’s new cement grinding plant in Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh. Shipping is scheduled for late June 2019. No value for the order has been disclosed.