Displaying items by tag: Germany

Germany: HC Trading and Interbulk Trading have merged their operations to form HC Trading, following the acquisition of Italcementi by HeidelbergCement. The merger will continue the group’s international trading activities, specialising in cement, clinker, coal and petroleum-coke by expanding the trade network and improving its position in the market. The total turnover of the new trading company will be around US$1.4bn.

“We trust that, by having an enlarged geographic reach as well as an expanded product portfolio, we will be able to further enhance our efficiency to better serve the market and our business partners,” said Emir Adiguzel, the chief executive officer of HC Trading. He added that the group intends to use idle capacity from former Italcementi plants to meet demands from import facilities in Africa, North America and South East Asia.

Germany: Siemens has obtained a cybersecurity certification from TÜV SÜD, a German inspection and certification organisation, for an automation system based on IEC 62443-4-1 and IEC 62443-3-3. As part of the certification TÜV SÜD tested and verified the security functions implemented in the Simatic PCS 7 process control system, a system that controls and monitors continuous manufacturing processes, such as those in cement plants. With this certificate, the company has documented its security approach to automation products showing integrators and operators some of its industrial security measures.

Simatic PCS 7 provides functions for industrial security including segmentation into zones and security cells, the security of access points and user authentication, secure communication, patch management, system hardening, virus scanners and whitelisting. The security measures and functions for Simatic PCS 7 contribute toward safeguarding plant operation and avoiding plant downtime and outage times.

Germany: Jens Michael Wegmann is standing down as CEO of Thyssenkrupp’s Industrial Solutions division with immediate effect and leaving the company. Wegmann accepted a golden bracelet for his wife from a Pakistani business partner, according to Reuters.

“I made a mistake which I greatly regret and I am now paying the consequences. I realise that my conduct in my dealings with a sales partner was not in line with Thyssenkrupp’s values and that I can no longer credibly drive the necessary changes at Industrial solutions. For this reason I am standing down as CEO of Thyssenkrupp Industrial Solutions – irrespective of legal issues and the findings of the on-going internal investigation. I would like to wish all employees the very best for the future and every success in the continuing implementation of the transformation,” said Wegmann in a statement.

Stefan Gesing, chief financial officer of Industrial Solutions, will assume Jens Michael Wegmann’s duties and serve as chair of the business area board on an acting basis. The group will decide on a permanent successor in a structured process.

Germany: The rating agency S&P Global Ratings has assigned a BBB-/A-3 company rating to HeidelbergCement. The classification in the Investment Grade is associated in particular with the strong business profile after the Italcementi acquisition and an improved creditworthyness. It attributed the decision to the strong market position and wide geographic diversification of HeidelbergCement following the acquisition of Italcementi.

“We are very happy about the positive rating decision by S&P,” said Bernd Scheifele, CEO of HeidelbergCement. “It is proof of the strong operating business of HeidelbergCement and the continuous improvement of our capital structure and cashflow in the last years. With the classification in the Investment Grade, we have achieved one of our core strategic targets. As a consequence, we are very well positioned to significantly enlarge our investor base and improve our financing conditions.”

S&P also upgraded the issuance ratings of Italcementi from BB/B to BBB-/A-3. The outlook on all ratings is stable.

Germany: HeidelbergCement has reported its first financial results following the completion of its takeover of Italcementi in mid-October 2016. Its revenue rose by 8% to Euro10.9bn in the first nine months of 2016 from Euro10.1bn in the same period in 2015. Its earnings before interest and taxation (EBIT) rose by 1.7% to Euro1.40bn from Euro1.38bn. However, its profit fell by 3% to Euro738m from Euro763m. The boost in sales revenue was attributed to the integration of Italcementi into the group but the drop in profits was blamed on higher taxes in North America.

Cement sales volumes grew by 21% to 73Mt from 60.6Mt. Although, on a like-for-like basis, with adjustments consolidation effects, this was reported as 2.5%. Particular growth was reported in the Western and Southern Europe territory due to the influx of new assets from Italcementi. The group’s sales revenue from cement grew by 12% to Euro5.24bn from Euro4.66bn.

Germany: The Supervisory Board of KHD Humboldt Wedag International has appointed Gerold Keune as chief executive officer. He replaces Johan Cnossen who resigned with immediate effect for personal reasons in March 2016.

Germany: Flexicon (Europe) has opened a new office to provide factory-direct engineering services and technical sales support to customers throughout Germany.

“The Aschaffenburg location will fuel Flexicon's rapid growth in the region by providing a dedicated German-language staff with full access to corporate resources," said Keith Bourton, Managing Director.

The Aschaffenburg office is headed by Christian Löchler, Regional Sales Manager. He holds an Engineering degree in Plastic Processing Technology from Fachhochschule Darmstadt (University of Applied Sciences), and possesses 20 years of experience in plastics processing, compounding and recycling, most recently as a Sales/Project Engineer for a consultancy specialising in gravimetric and volumetric dosing for granulates, powders and liquids. At Flexicon he will be responsible for building relationships with plant engineers, managers and other equipment specifiers in facilities that handle bulk solid materials across the mineral, food, pharmaceutical, plastics and general chemical industries.

Flexicon specialises in bulk handling equipment. Flexicon (Europe) is located in Whitstable, UK and is a fully owned subsidiary of Flexicon Corporation of Bethlehem, US. In addition to the Kent manufacturing location, Flexicon Corporation owns and operates manufacturing facilities in Brisbane, Australia and Port Elizabeth, South Africa, and maintains factory-direct sales offices in Barcelona in Spain, Santiago in Chile; and Singapore.

Germany: Netzsch Trockenmahltechnik, the dry products processing arm of Netzsch, has released details about its Smart Removal filter hose changing system, which combines the advantages of top and side removal systems in one product. The new system was developed to enable a filter hose change without tools, which could be carried out easily and rapidly, to cut costs. Additional focus was placed on reducing the residual dust content down to that of a top removal system. The new technology is designed to reduce mounting errors. Netzsch describe the mounting of the Smart Removal as up to 80% faster than previous side removal systems and that its low residual dust content is comparable to that of conventional Top Removal systems. The development was announced at the Powtech exhibition in Nuremberg in April 2016.

Vietnam/Germany: Loesche GmbH has won an order for a new cement grinding plant in Ha Nam. The customer is Xuan Thanh Cement Joint Stock Company, a private company group (est. 1976) in Vietnam with more than 30,000 employees. In December 2015, Xuan Thanh Cement decided to invest in a new cement line from FLSmidth. Germany's Loesche GmbH, however, was chosen for the delivery of the cement mills.

After Loesche had already supplied a vertical roller mill for the first cement line in the same plant, Xuan Thanh JSC placed the order for the construction of the new grinding plants with two cement mills with Loesche once again.

During the signing ceremony, Mr Nguyen Xuan Thuy, General Director of Xuan Thanh Cement JSC, thanked Dr Thomas Loesche on behalf of the Xuanh Thanh Group. The contracting partners discussed future developments and confirmed their interest in continuing to work together on a long term basis.
The challenge of this project for Loesche lies in the integration of the new grinding plants into a cement line which is presently under construction.

The key elements of the scope of supply are two cement mills type LM 56.3+3 CS. In addition to the two cement mills, Loesche is also supplying further plant components, from the fresh material supply, the product filter and the mill fan to the finished material transport to the product silos. Loesche Automatisierungstechnik GmbH will be the supplier for the electric part and the automation of the grinding plants. Two hot gas generators type LF 20 L are designed to provide the product moisture guaranteed in case of kiln standstill. An extensive engineering package provided by Loesche will conclude the scope of supply.

Xuan Thanh cement plant will thus be fitted with state-of-the-art equipment for low energy consumption and for reduction of emission values to European standards. The lead time for the entire package is eleven months. Commissioning is forecasted for the second quarter of 2017.

Germany: Vivek Bhatia has been appointed as the CEO of ThyssenKrupp Asia Pacific with effect 1 October 2016. He succeeds Stefan Schmitt, who will move to ThyssenKrupp AG as Head of Human Resources Strategy.

Bhatia, aged 38 years, has been Head of Strategy, Markets and Development at the Regional Headquarters in Singapore since May 2014. Prior to this he advised industrial businesses on their strategy and operations, as part of the Boston Consulting Group for several years. He earlier gained experience in the oil and gas Industry as part of Engineers India.