Displaying items by tag: Germany
Germany: Poor weather in the US and rising energy prices have reduced HeidelbergCement’s earnings so far in 2018. Its result from current operations before depreciation and amortisation (RCOBD) fell by 7% year-on-year to Euro2.23bn in the first nine months of 2018 from Euro2.41bn in the same period in 2017. Despite this, its revenue rose by 3% to Euro13.4bn from Euro13bn and its sales volumes of cement grew by 4% to 97Mt from 93.5Mt. By region, revenue rose in all regions except for North America, but RCOBD fell in Western and Southern Europe, North America and Asia-Pacific.
“Improved financial costs and lower taxes overcompensated weaker than expected results from current operations due to significant rainfalls in our core markets in the USA as well as a higher than planned energy cost inflation,” said Bernd Scheifele, chairman of the managing board of HeidelbergCement. He added that, “Due to the weaker operational development, we had to partially adapt our outlook for 2018. As a countermeasure we have initiated an action plan with focus on three levers: portfolio optimisation, operational excellence as well as cash flow and shareholder return.”
Aixergee holds seminar on production optimisation
02 November 2018Germany: Aixergee has held its annual workshop-seminar on process optimisation for cement producers. The two-day event took place in Aachen in early October 2018. It covered improvements in the cement production process, including production increases, emissions regulations, alternative fuel burning and related topics. Aixergee uses a modelling toolbox from over 200 optimisation projects it has been involved with and a particular focus was on methods such as CFD (computational fluid dynamics), flowsheet simulation and data analysis.
Haver & Boecker restructures sales division in Germany
29 October 2018Germany: Haver & Boecker has restructured its domestic sales division and all national activities into Haver & Boecker Deutschland. The new company started operation in July 2018 based at its headquarters in Oelde. Burkhard Reploh, formerly the head of the Building Materials and Minerals Division at Haver & Boecker, leads the subsidiary.
"The German customers are rather special. With their technical enthusiasm, these customers in particular inspire many of our innovations. Therefore we aim to further intensify our activities in Germany and as a result have founded a company which focuses exclusively on the requirements of our German customers,” said Florian Festge, managing partner of Haver & Boecker. He added that the restructuring is intended to strengthen the German market, which is the group’s largest single market, even considering its export share of 75%.
Haver & Boecker Deutschland represents the entire product and service range of Haver & Boecker and the technology brands of Haver & Boecker Niagara, IBAU Hamburg, Sommer, Feige Filling Behn, Behn + Bates and Newtec. This includes machines, systems and service products in the field of processing technology, silo technology, mixing, filling and packing technology as well as palletising and loading technology and automation in the cement, construction materials, chemicals, food and processing sectors.
Refratechnik forms joint venture with Haicheng Guotian Mining and Yingkou Jinlong Refractories
29 October 2018China: Germany’s Refratechnik has signed a joint venture contract with Haicheng Guotian Mining and Yingkou Jinlong Refractories for the production of high-grade caustic calcined magnesia (CCM) and dead burned magnesia (DBM) at a new plant at Pailou near Haicheng in Liaoning. Yingkou Jinlong Refractories is a long-standing partner of Refratechnik in China and Haicheng Guotian Mining is an existing CCM and DBM producer in Haicheng with long-term secure access to magnesite ore.
Construction of the new plant has started and production at the site is scheduled to begin in 2019. The unit will manufacture 0.1Mt/yr of DBM and over 0.1Mt/yr of CCM. The joint venture is intended to secure supply for Refratechnik’s worldwide refractory production and to diversify and strengthen its international industrial minerals business.
Aucotec lays foundation stone for new head office
29 October 2018Germany: Aucotec is building a new head office near its current site in Hanover. The new 3700m2 office has an investment of nearly Euro12m and is planned for opening in February 2020. However, it is located outside the state capital in neighbouring Isernhagen. The decision to expand the head office follows continued growth at the company and its subsidiaries in Europe, Asia and the US.
KHD to upgrade Thomas Zement grinding plant in Erwitte
24 October 2018Germany: KHD has been awarded a contract to upgrade Thomas Zement’s grinding plant in Erwitte. The engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract includes process, mechanical, electrical and civil engineering services.
Mechanical and electrical equipment supply includes a roller press for raw material grinding, a static v-separator, an SKS dynamic separator and a KHD HKF process fan.
The deal also includes structural steel supply, erection and installation services for mechanical and electrical equipment as well as structural steel and supervision services for erection, installation and commissioning. KHD is also responsible for the tie-in of the new equipment to the existing raw material and product transport, as well as gas handling and treatment systems.
The erection and installation of the new grinding plant will be carried out during operation of the production line followed by a minimal possible switch over period. No value for the deal has been disclosed.
HeidelbergCement warns of slower earnings so far in 2018
18 October 2018Germany: HeidelbergCement has warned that its result from current operations before depreciation will be lower than expected so far in 2018 due to poor weather in the US and rising energy costs. It maintained that its sales volumes and revenue for the first nine months of 2018 would be ‘within expectations.’ The building materials company also reassured investors that its group share of profit for 2018 would also be as expected. It will release its results for the third quarter of 2018 on 8 November 2018.
Pietro de Michieli appointed managing director of Aumund
17 October 2018Germany: Pietro de Michieli has been appointed as the managing director of Aumund. He assumed the role at the start of September 2018 and will focus on equipment sales, spare parts and after sales service.
Previously, de Michieli was the managing director of OMG MGM Cranes, part of Bedeschi Group. Prior to that he was chief operating officer of Bedeschi and a member of the board of directors responsible for the business unit bulk handling, marine logistics and mining and minerals, with a particular focus on sales, marketing, design, manufacturing, purchasing and project management.
Earlier in his career he was projects director with Endeco Engineering Design Construction and project manager at Danieli. He holds a doctorate in electro-mechanical engineering from the University of Padua, Italy.
Since January 2018 de Michieli has been a member of the board of directors of PEMA (Port Equipment Manufacturers Association), a forum and public voice for the global port equipment and technology sectors. He will support a bid for membership of PEMA by the Aumund group of companies.
HeidelbergCement planning to expand quarry for Paderborn plant
05 October 2018Germany: HeidelbergCement is planning to expand the Atlas quarry of its Paderborn plant. The quarry area will be increased by nine hectares, according to the Neue Westfälische newspaper. The company says that the expansion is necessary to support the supply of raw materials to the plant. It has organised an information forum for local residents.
VDZ president Christian Knell warns of cost of climate change mitigation to cement industry
27 September 2018Germany: Christian Knell, the president of the German Cement Works Association (VDZ), has warned that meeting climate change goals was leading to ‘considerable’ costs for the cement industry. He said that ‘suitable boundary conditions would have to be created’ for climate change issues and noted that on-going trends in European emissions trading and the ‘rapidly’ increasing price of CO2 were leading to mounting costs. “To be able to realise our efforts in terms of climate protection and at the same time not lose competitiveness, we need research policy-related support for our investment in breakthrough technologies and the corresponding demonstration projects,” said Knell.
Knell made the comments during the opening ceremony of the 8th International VDZ Congress 2018 in Duesseldorf. He identified climate protection and digitalisation as key issues for the future of the industry.