Displaying items by tag: Germany

Germany: Karl-Heinz Fiegenbaum has retired from Schade Lagertechnik. During a career spanning 47 years he became the managing director of the company in July 2011 with responsibility for the sales and commerce. Christoph Seifert, who joined the business as its Technical Managing Director in February 2015, will succeed him. Klaus Paul, who joined the company in March 2017, will become the new Technical Managing Director.

Germany: HeidelbergCement’s cement sales volumes have struggled to grow in the first half of 2017 following its acquisition of Italcementi. Its sales volumes rose to 60.7Mt year-on-year in the first half of 2017 from 39.9Mt in the same period in 2016. However, on a pro forma basis its sales fell by 1% with falling sales noted in its Asia-Pacific region. The group blamed its poor performance in the second quarter of 2017 on reduced working days, bad weather in the US and a late Ramadan period that reduced selling days in Indonesia.

“In the light of the difficult general conditions, we achieved a good result in the second quarter,” said Bernd Scheifele, chairman of the managing board. “We were able to almost offset the effect of higher energy costs, bad weather conditions, fewer working days, and increased competition in some emerging countries. The synergies from the Italcementi acquisition are clearly visible in the results.”

The group’s sales revenue rose by 31% to Euro8.39bn from Euro6.41bn although it only rose by 1% on a pro forma basis. Its earnings before interest and tax rose by 6% to Euro776m from Euro728m.

By region cement sales rose in all regions on both a consolidated and pro forma basis except for Asia-Pacific. Here, cement and clinker sales fell by 3.1% once the newly acquired Italcemeni assets in India and Thailand had been excluded. A particular decline was recorded in Indonesia due to the timing of Ramadan in June 2017 and reduced demand for residential housing. Elsewhere, the US market was hit by poor weather, although the housing market remained promising. In the group’s Africa-Eastern Mediterranean, the group reported issues in Egypt but strong increases in cement sales were reported as new production capacity started in Togo, Tanzania and Burkina Faso.

Germany: Schmersal Group has entered into a sales partnership with ScanMin Africa to extend its range of system solutions for the bulk goods industry. Schmersal will add spectral analysis and measurement systems for bulk goods on conveyor belts to its range of integrated system products. ScanMin Africa will distribute safety products made by Schmersal.

“We can now offer extended system solutions that contribute to our customer’s ability to produce more productively and profitably in bulk goods conveying and also the downstream processes,” said Udo Sekin, Business Development Manager Heavy Industry within the Schmersal Group.

Germany’s Schmersal Group develops and produces a range of about 25,000 different switchgear and control devices. South Africa’s ScanMin Africa specialises in the manufacture and distribution of on line process analysers.

Germany: Currax has added Siemens Simatic S7 controller systems to its drive portfolio under the IDS Digital brand. A variety of CPU models are available in several classes of performance in its product groups. Currax also intends to offer Simatic Human Interface (HMI) systems for compatible controller systems in the future.

Germany: Lechler has won third prize at the Baden-Württemberg Environmental Technology Award 2017. The nozzle and spray system manufacturer entered the ‘Technology for the Reduction, Treatment and Separation of Emissions’ category with its VarioClean - NOx denitrification system.

Germany: Bernd Scheifele, the chairman of HeidelbergCement, has admitted that his company needs to take action to improve its overall sustainability management following its acquisition of Italcementi. Following the purchase both its specific gross CO₂ emissions per tonne of cementitious material and its alternative fuels mix fell. However, specific emissions of NO_x and SO_x fell, although specific dust emissions rose in the reporting period. The cement producer also improved accident frequency despite increasing its workforce to 15,781 in 2016 from 9560 in 2015.

Germany: The Siemens Mechanical Drives unit will rebrand for the market as Flender, a wholly owned subsidiary based in Bocholt, on 1 October 2017. The reorganisation is intended to give the unit a ‘sharper’ business focus. Its branches around the worldwide will also be rebranded. The new setup is expected to be completed by mid-2018.

“Flender is our strong brand with a tradition more than a century old, and we’ve always done business under the name. At this year’s Hannover Messe, we highlighted Flender even more brightly, and made quite a splash with our stand-alone fair booth for gear units and clutches. Eventually all the unit’s activities worldwide will be gathered under Flender,” says Stefan Tenbrock, chief executive officer (CEO) of Siemens Mechanical Drives.

The future Flender builds components for mechanical drive technology, producing at eight locations with more than 6000 employees around the world. Its product range embraces a broad portfolio of gear units and clutches, drive applications and associated services. It serves industries including cement production, wind power, marine shipping, and conveyor and lifting technology.

A Friedrich Flender AG was founded in Düsseldorf in 1899, originally making wood pulleys. Subsequently the company developed into manufacturing gear products. Siemens took over Flender in 2005 and integrated the company into its corporate group as a unit for mechanical drives. In February 2017 the company announced that it would reorganise Mechanical Drives as a stand-alone entity within Siemens.

Germany: HeidelbergCement and Aachen University of Applied Sciences (RWTH Aachen) have started a three-year research project ‘CO2MIN’ that started on 1 June 2017 examining the absorption of CO₂ from flue gas by olivine and basalt. The intention is that the carbonised minerals could be used as a value-added additive in the production of building materials. HeidelbergCement and RWTH are supported by the Potsdam Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies (IASS) and the Dutch start-up Green Minerals. The Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) is funding the project with Euro3m.

"We are already reducing the CO₂ emissions of our plants very successfully by using alternative fuels and raw materials and by optimising the efficiency of our kilns," said Jan Theulen, Director of Alternative Resources at HeidelbergCement. He added that binding CO₂ in minerals was one approach the company was exploring to reduce its emissions further.

In the first year the research project will focus on the investigation of different minerals in small-scale experiments. The carbonation of the most suitable minerals will then be tested under process conditions in the second year. The experiments will be conducted by the institute of Process Metallurgy and Metal Recycling (IME), which is the coordinator of the RWTH group. Life-cycle assessments (RWTH) as well as analyses of economic aspects and social acceptance (IASS) complete this project phase. In the third year, marketability and acceptance will be further optimised through intensive cooperation with customers.

Belgium: The European Commission has cleared a proposed merger between Brazil’s Magnesita and Austria’s RHI Group subject to the divestment of a number of production sites in Europe. Magnesita is required to sell its plant in Oberhausen, Germany along with its Oberhausen business in the European Economic Area (EEA). RHI is required to sell its dolomite business in the EEA including plants in Maroni, Italy, and Lugones, Spain. Magnesita and RHI said they are speaking to potential buyers at present.

“With today’s milestone, we have come significantly closer to the planned merger with Magnesita – and thus a globally leading company in the refractory industry which optimally combines the strengths of both companies,” explains Stefan Borgas, chief executive officer (CEO) of RHI and designated CEO of the future RHI-Magnesita Group.

Outstanding approvals required to complete the merger include that from the Brazilian Antitrust Authorities and the approval of the cross-border merger, of RHI AG with its subsidiary RHI MAG NV in the Netherlands, by the RHI General Meeting.

Germany: SKF has inaugurated its new Sven Wingquist Test Centre in Schweinfurt. The unit had an investment of Euro40m. SKF says that the centre is the first in the world that is able to test large-size bearings under actual operating conditions.

The Sven Wingquist Test Centre has two testing rigs. One rig will be used for testing bearings used in other industrial sectors, including mining, construction, steel manufacturing and marine transport. The other is designed for the testing of wind turbine main shaft arrangements. Combined with SKF’s diagnostics, condition monitoring and simulation methods, these rigs are intended to help reduce testing and product development lead-times and provide more information into bearing performance.

The test centre has received funding from the Bavarian Ministry of Economic Affairs, Media, Energy and Technology and the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Construction and Reactor Safety.