Displaying items by tag: Germany
HeidelbergCement reports ‘good start to 2020’
07 May 2020Germany: HeidelbergCement has reported a fall in first quarter revenues by 7% year-on-year in 2020, to Euro3.93bn from Euro4.24bn. Revenues fell by 6% in Western and Southern Europe and by 10% in the Asia-Pacific region, but rose by 11% in North America, by 2% in Northern and Eastern Europe and Central Asia and by 3% in Africa-Eastern Mediterranean Basin.
HeidelbergCement Managing Board Chair Dominik von Achten said that, after year-on-year sales increases across all business lines, “from mid-March our sales volumes were significantly impaired by the effects of the coronavirus pandemic, such as state-imposed production downtimes and construction stoppages on major infrastructure projects.” Total cement and clinker sales over the period were 27.7Mt, down by 3.0% year-on-year from 28.6Mt.
Thanks to its COPE coronavirus action plan, HeidelbergCement says that it has reduced 2020 spending by Euro1.0bn. It says that it has Euro5.7bn of financial liquidity.
Australia/New Zealand/US: Ireland-based James Hardie has announced the planned closure of three of its fibre cement board plants. The Cooroy, Queensland plant in Australia, Summerville, South Carolina plant in the US and Penrose, Auckland plant in New Zealand will close permanently in mid-2020, resulting in a total of 375 job cuts. The NZ Herald newspaper has reported that the decision to shut the plants came about due to the impacts of the coronavirus outbreak on the global economic situation. James Hardie will now supply the New Zealand market from its Carole Park, Queensland and Rosehill, New South Wales plants. James Hardie also closed its Siglingen, Baden-Württemberg plant in Germany on a temporary basis, ‘in order to better match supply and demand in the European market.’
James Hardie revised its 2020 profit forecast to US$355m, down by 4.1% from US$370m.
Germany: Pursuant to a sales agreement dated December 2019, Voith Group acquired a majority share in ELIN Motoren on 30 April 2020. Elin Motoren CEO Wolfgang Landler said, “ The future cooperation between the two companies will allow us to offer significant added value. Together we can develop system solutions and especially technologies in digitalisation. We are looking forward to the cooperation with Voith.”
Thailand: Germany-based KHD Humboldt Wedag has reported the successful commissioning of a new Comflex grinding line at Siam City Cement’s Plant 1 in Saraburi. The line replaces two ball mill circuits, maintaining a production capacity of 350t/hr with a 40% lower energy consumption. The Comflex comprises a roller press, RPM18–200/180 static coarse material separator, VS620 static fine material separator, LS8600 system fan, HKSK 236/346 and four product separation cyclones. KHD says that Siam City Cement awarded it the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract because of the system’s low specific power consumption of 13.36kWh/t, compared to over 21kWh/t in the previous system.
Flender announces upcoming Australian facility
29 April 2020Australia: Germany-based Siemens subsidiary Flender has published plans for a drives production plant in the Tonkin Highway Industrial Estate, West Australia. The plant will serve the gear needs of the energy, minerals and cement industries. The unit is equipped with a 1.5MW test bench capable of testing drive systems of up to 6.6kV. Flender Australia chief executive officer (CEO) and managing director Kareem Emara said, “Western Australia has been an excellent market for us in the recent years. It’s only natural for us to reinvest in this key market and be where our customers are to offer them the combined brains trust of over 50 facilities worldwide through this new state-of-the-art centre.”
Germany: Lubricants specialist Fuchs has announced its collaboration with chemicals company BASF in performing a cradle-to-grave analysis of different mineral oil hydraulic fluids that takes into account all environmental and economic aspects of their lifecycle. The study concluded that high performance multigrade hydraulic oil (HVLP) has a lower environmental impact and lower overall cost than monograde hydraulic oil (HLP). Fuchs said, “This advantage is mainly based on an improved diesel fuel economy throughout the use phase - primarily due to improved volumetric fluid efficiency, lower friction and lower fluid mass circulation ratio.”
Fuchs and BASF both supply lubricants and chemical products to the cement industry.
Geminor dispatches first rail-only RDF delivery
27 April 2020Sweden: Norway-based Geminor received a batch of refuse-derived fuel (RDF) produced at its Braunsbedra plant in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany for use at Scandinavian cement plants on 23 April 2020. The shipment was Europe’s first international shipment of RDF by rail, without the use of trucks. Geminor plans for the 110t delivery to be the first of many on the 50,000t-capacity line. Geminor CEO Kjetil Vikingstad said, “Since transport by ship is only effective within a radius of 200km from a port, central Germany becomes a natural starting point for
transport by train. This is the beginning of extensive waste transport by train in
Europe.”
Demand down as production partially resumes in India
24 April 2020India: Both Germany-based HeidelbergCement and Aditya Birla subsidiary UltraTech have responded to the government’s partial lifting of the coronavirus lockdown for rurally-located continuous industries by resuming ‘partial operations in some production facilities.’ Orient Cement subsidiary CK Birla said, “We are in the process of partially resuming our operations at our plants in Karnataka and Maharashtra.” Producers require the permission of the relevant state government to restart plants. In Telangana, where the government has not lifted the lockdown, CK Birla’s facilities remain shut.
The Economic Times newspaper has reported that ‘limited transportation facilities, higher than usual inventory and stricter rules regarding labour safety’ have added a note of caution to resumed operations. Shree Cement managing director Hari Mohan Bangur said, given the continuation of restrictions on construction in cities, “We expect just 10% of normal consumption, with hopes of a gradual increase.”
HeidelbergCement launches short-time working
21 April 2020Germany: Staff of HeidelbergCement in Germany will be employed on a ‘short-time’ basis, with hours reductions of up to 100%. HeidelbergCement says that it agreed upon the measure with employee representative bodies.
HeidelbergCement’s supervisory board and management board members have waived 20% of their fixed salaries in the second quarter of 2020 due to the financial impacts of the coronavirus outbreak.
Germany: Gebr. Pfeiffer has launched a range of webinars and individual analysis and advice sessions in order to support cement producers preparing for start-up after the global coronavirus crisis. The services include webinars about vertical roller mill grinding and the Gebr. Pfeiffer MVR roller mill range and ready2grind modular system, as well as individual remote inspections. Gebr. Pfeiffer is also offering individual start-up support sessions.