Displaying items by tag: Germany

Germany: CRH has agreed to sell one integrated cement plant and one grinding plant in Germany to an unnamed party. These assets were purchased as part of a group of sites acquitted by CRH from LafargeHolcim in 2015. The transaction is subject to approval by the German Competition Authority (Bundeskartellamt). No exact value for the transaction has been released but the Irish building materials company has placed a sale including these assets and others including a clay business in Northern Europe and a concrete business in Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg for Euro400m. CRH currently operates two integrated cement plants in Germany at Wössingen and Karsdorf.

Germany: Haver & Boecker plans to launch its Quattro System Monitoring product at the Interpack 2017 exhibition, taking place at Düsseldorf in May 2017. The mineral processing and packaging technology company will also feature its newly developed Roto-Packer RVT packing system and Elementra inline packer. Its subsidiary Newtech Bag Palletizing will also be present at the event with its Terram 1000 palletizer.

The Quattro System Monitoring is a ‘smart system’ that allows real-time production and maintenance information on packing machines can be viewed on a variety of devices either locally or remotely via a secure connection. The company says that the system, ‘allows machines to be operated more profitably and processes to be laid out and planned more intelligently.’ The product can also be retrofitted to existing machines.

Haver & Boecker will also be running a parallel event at its headquarters in Oelde in May 2017 to invite customers to live machine demonstrations.

Egypt: Hoffmeier Industrieanlagen has delivered a ball mill to Misr Beni Suef Cement. The mill has a diameter of 6m, a length of 17.3m and its weighs 190t. The installation of the mill will start in April 2017 and is to be commissioned by the end of the year. Hoffmeier will also support the customer with its installation knowledge during the assembly phase. The German engineering company produces industrial heavy machinery including tube mills and rotary kilns.

Germany: HeidelbergCement’s sale revenue, volumes and profits have all been boosted by its acquisition of Italcementi in 2016. Preliminary figures for the group show that its revenue rose by 13% year-on-year to Euro15.2bn in 2016 from Euro13.5bn in 2015. Its cement sales volumes rose by 28% to 104Mt from 81.1Mt and its operating income rose by 7% to Euro2bn from Euro1.85bn. The group said that 2016 had been its best year since the financial crisis in 2008. However, on a pro-forma basis, taking into account the contributions of Italcementi in 2015 and 2016, the group’s sales revenue fell slightly and cement sales volumes and operating income rose far less steeply.

“The year 2016 was an important milestone for HeidelbergCement,” said Bernd Scheifele, chairman of the managing board. “With the acquisition of Italcementi, we made a big leap in growth and achieved the best operating income since the financial crisis. The integration of Italcementi is well under way and offers significant earnings potential resulting from the implementation of identified synergies.”

By region, HeidelbergCement’s Western and Southern Europe division reported rising sales volumes of cement but falling revenue and operating income. Improving markets in Germany and the UK were offset by weak demand in Italy, France and Spain and the falling value of the British Pound versus the Euro. By contrast revenue, cement volumes and operating income were all up in the Northern and Eastern Europe-Central Asia area with a particular emphasis in Norway. Notably, demand growth was also reported in Russia driven by markets in Moscow and St Petersburg. In North America financial figures rose in 2016 but revenue fell in the last quarter of the year. Strong sales were recorded in the north and south of the US but a drop in sale volumes was noted in the Canadian Prairie provinces due to falling oil production. In the group’s Asia area sales volumes rose but revenue and operating income fell in 2016 due to a ‘significant’ fall in prices in Indonesia and Thailand. Finally, in the Africa-Eastern Mediterranean Basin the market picture was mixed with small increases in sales volumes, a drop in sales revenue and a slight increase in operating income due to increased market competition in Sub-Saharan countries.

Germany: Langley Holdings, the UK-based owner of Claudius Peters, has reported that its subsidiary’s revenue fell by 14% year-on-year to Euro106m in 2016 from Euro124m in 2015. Claudius Peters’ orders on hand rose by 13% to Euro50.3m from Euro57.7m. The plant engineering manufacturer noted that the industries it serves, including cement and gypsum, remain at a ‘low point’ in their business cycle and that capital investment is low.

“The division’s order intake did improve in the final quarter and with commodity prices coming off the bottom there are signs that the climate is improving, although it is too early to call a recovery. In all, the results were satisfactory in a still much subdued sector,” said Langley Holdings chairman Anthony J Langley. He added that poor markets in Brazil and Russia affected the division’s results. However, Claudius Peters China performed ‘quite well’ due to export projects with Chinese contractors and divisions in France, the US, UK, Spain and Italy did well.

Germany: Heribert Breuer has retired as the managing director of Allmineral. Breuer was one of the founders of the company in 1988 and he worked for it since then helping to integrate the company into Hazemag. He will be succeeded by Marco Steinberg.

Steinberg previously worked as the Vice President Global Sales & Marketing for MBE Coal & Minerals Technology, which was previously known as KHD Humboldt Wedag Coal & Minerals. His focus in the new position will be to expand the product portfolio of the subsidiary and build on technological advances.

Allmineral manufactures customised processing plants for the raw materials industry. More than 750 installations designed in Duisburg for dry and wet processing of primary and secondary raw materials are currently operating reliably and efficiently around the world.

Germany: Menzel Elektromotoren celebrates its 90th anniversary in 2017. Kurt Menzel originally founded the manufacturer of industrial electric motors on 7 September 1927. Despite turbulent events in its early years including the economic depression in the 1930s, bomb damage during World War Two, its subsequent dismantling by the Soviets and the Berlin Blockade, the company continued operating in Berlin. Kurt Menzel’s grandson, Mathis Menzel, runs the company today.

US: Germany’s Takraf has acquired the Material Handling Systems business of FMC Technologies (FMC MHS) based in Lansdale, Pennsylvania. FMC MHS provides material handling solutions to a variety of industries including mining, minerals, power and food. It also manufacturers a line of proprietary equipment for rotary drying and cooling of various materials. FMC MHS will be integrated into Takraf’s US business, located in Denver, Colorado and it will retain its office presence in Lansdale. No value has been released for the transaction.

“This acquisition brings with it a number of advantages that we seek to leverage. We identified a need to add to our equipment portfolio and this opportunity enables us to realise our strategic goals – to strengthen our position in the lighter material handling business and reinforce our growth strategy,” said Frank Hubrich, chief executive officer of Takraf. He added that FMC MHS’ product portfolio will enable the company to provide a range of equipment catering to smaller volumes and integrated in-plant conveyor solutions.”

Germany: Schenck Process has launched a smartphone application (or app) that can measure the performance of vibrating machines. A smartphone running the ‘vibe2know’ app can be inserted into a proprietary mount and attached to the equipment being monitored. The app then immediately measures vibratory amplitude, frequency, oscillating angle and operating speed, and enables the user to visualise the vibrating machine’s motion pattern.

The idea for the app came from a Schenck Process employee in the company’s in-house Research & Development department, which was taken up and implemented by the future lab. Schenck employees around the world were then asked to suggest their ideas for the brand name.

“I am thrilled with vibe2know, it is a good example of how our established development team and future lab complement one another within our company. Our speed in achieving this project and getting a product to market is exactly why we set up our future lab. This sets a great precedent for future projects,” said Andreas Evertz, president and chief executive officer of Schenck Process.

Germany: Erik Bach has been appointed the Vice President of the Minerals Processing division at Hazemag. His focus will be on the technology leadership for established products, the consistent completion of the product portfolio and the expansion of the company’s markets. Bach, aged 43 years, has previously worked for FLSmidth.