Displaying items by tag: Germany
Haver & Boecker launches Haver Service department
08 October 2015Germany: Haver & Boecker has launched a new service division in September 2015. Its aim is to bundle competencies and to increase the efficiencies of support services.
The newly-founded department, Haver Service, is based on four sectors: Spare Parts, Commissioning, Support and Assistance. "Every one of our customers should feel well-served. Service cannot be an empty word," said Alfons-Lütke-Cosmann, Head of Haver Service.
The Commissioning sector will organise the commissioning and assembly of machine and plants as well as complex reconstruction and calibration. It aims to increase the efficiency of commissioning. The Spare Parts sector will sell spare parts and implement online sales. The Assistance sector will support the customer for unplanned machine failures and acute technical difficulties. It provides a free 24/7 hotline and a remote service and will organise, depending on requirements, current site service calls. The Support column includes audits, maintenance, standard conversions, customer training and planned service appearances.
SPECTRO Analytical Instruments launches new brief on the use of ED-XRF Spectrometers for the field analysis of soil and sewage sludge
24 September 2015Germany: SPECTRO Analytical Instruments has launched a new application brief detailing the advantages of using energy dispersive X-ray fluorescence (ED-XRF) spectrometers to perform elemental analysis in the field on soil and sewage sludge samples.
Determining the best course of action when addressing a contaminated environmental site requires precise identification of the contaminating elements and a determination of the amounts present. Traditionally, this elemental analysis has been done in laboratories using inductively coupled plasma-optical emission spectrometry (ICP-OES), however, transporting soil and sewage sludge samples back and forth from the field to a laboratory adds considerable time and cost to the remediation process.
The new brief, 'Analysis of Soil and Sewage Sludge in the Field with a Portable ED-XRF Spectrometer,' describes new improvements in portable ED-XRF spectrometers that enable environmental professionals to rapidly characterise samples in remote areas with minimal preparation and with very high accuracy of analysis in environmental monitoring, geochemical prospecting and mining applications. The benefits versus laboratory-based elemental analysis include speed, precision, accuracy and cost-effectiveness.
The brief also outlines key factors to consider when comparing various portable ED-XRF spectrometers and their variations in performance, ease of use and suitability for the field analysis of soil and sewage sludge samples.
Ecuador: Gebr. Pfeiffer Inc, a subsidiary of Germany's Gebr. Pfeiffer SE, was recently contracted to supply a complete grinding unit to replace aging ball mills at the Hormicreto clinker plant in Ecuador.
The new grinding unit helps reduce energy consumption and improves the overall grinding efficiency, allowing the plant to increase production from a single mill. Gebr. Pfeiffer supplied the following components of the new grinding station:
• MPS 2500 BC swing mill with 'Lift and Swing' technology;
• SLS 2250 BC classifier;
• Bucket elevator;
• Reject conveyor belt;
• Chutes and divert chutes;
• Reject silo;
• Weigh feeder;
• Dedusting unit;
• Metal detector;
• Separator;
• Rotary locks;
• Bag filter;
• Mill fan;
• Ducting, expansion joints and dampers;
• HML 1250 Pfeiffer hot gas generator;
• MCC, control and instrumentation;
• Related engineering services.
Delivery of the grinding unit is expected to be complete by December 2015.
Germany/Italy: Italcementi's CEO Carlo Pesenti said that the acquisition of Italcementi by HeidelbergCement is expected to be completed in the first half of 2016, according to Dow Jones. September 2015 will be dedicated to speaking to European and national regulators to receive approval for the deal. Pesenti said that he will join the supervisory board of HeidelbergCement and plans to keep an active role in the company.
Lafarge Germany becomes Opterra with CRH buyout
10 August 2015Germany: Lafarge's assets in Germany, which were recently sold to Ireland's CRH as part of the LafargeHolcim merger, have been rebranded by CRH as 'Opterra.' The assets include two integrated cement plants and one grinding plant.
Italy: HeidelbergCement rushed to buy control of Italcementi after fears that Nigeria's Dangote Cement also showed interest in the Italian cement maker, according to PM News. It has been reported that Dangote did not make a formal offer for Italcementi.
Carl Franklin, head of investor relations at Dangote, said that the company did not comment on specific rumours, but said that "As a large company we examine all options for growth." HeidelbergCement has not commented on whether it had faced competition from Dangote.
According to unnamed sources, the talks between HeidelbergCement and Italcementi began four months ago.
Italcementi chief executive Carlo Pesenti told local media that the deal was 'bulletproof' and there was no space for counter offers. The only outstanding condition was clearance from antitrust authorities. "If it wasn't for the antitrust approval, the shares would have already changed hands," said an unnamed source.
Having already agreed to acquire a 45% stake of Italcementi, HeidelbergCement plans to obtain as many of the remaining shares as possible in the upcoming mandatory buy-out offer, then squeeze out the remaining shareholders and make Italcementi privately-owned.
Germany: HeidelbergCement has reported a double-digit rise in revenue and earnings as its sales volumes of building materials benefited from a continued market recovery in North America and the UK, offsetting concerns about weakness in Indonesia, according to Dow Jones.
Its net profit for the second quarter of 2015, which ended on 30 June 2015, rose by 16% year-on-year to Euro271m, while its operating income before depreciation grew by 15% to Euro752m. HeidelbergCement's revenue jumped by 10% to Euro3.64bn, fed by the weak Euro and low fuel costs. Excluding currency and consolidation effects, its revenue increased 0.4%.
"The sustained recovery in our mature markets, particularly in the UK and the US, has made a significant contribution," said CEO Bernd Scheifele. However, a delayed start of infrastructure projects in Indonesia, HeidelbergCement's key market in Asia, led to a decline in sales volume in the Asia-Pacific region.
On 28 July 2015, HeidelbergCement announced plans to take a 45% stake in Italy's Italcementi for Euro1.67bn. To reflect the positive impact of the deal, HeidelbergCement raised its mid-term targets. It now aims to generate more than Euro20bn in revenue by 2019, compared with the Euro17bn it had previously forecast, alongside an operating earnings of more than Euro5bn, compared with the Euro4bn it had previously forecast. For the entirety of 2015, HeidelbergCement has confirmed its guidance of a significant increase in revenue, operating income and profit.
Germany: HeidelbergCement has posted a 29% rise in core earnings in the first quarter of 2015 as it has benefited from a construction industry recovery in North America and the UK as well as low energy prices and the weak Euro. Operating income before depreciation (OIBD) was Euro299m and sales rose by 4% on a like-for-like basis to Euro2.84bn.
"Business development in the first quarter has strengthened our conviction in our outlook for 2015," said chief executive Bernd Scheifele. HeidelbergCement has reiterated its aim for significant improvements in 2015 sales, operating income and adjusted net profit thanks to strong demand in its core markets, the weaker oil price and Euro and efficiency measures.
HeidelbergCement also anticipates a significant decrease in financing costs due to the decline of net debt to Euro6.1bn from Euro7.8bn, following the sale of its building products business.
Europe: CRH has been approved by the European Commission as a purchaser of assets in the European Union from Lafarge and Holcim. CRH has also received from the European Commission the clearance for the acquisition of these assets. These divestments remain subject to the completion of the merger between Lafarge and Holcim, including a successful public exchange offering to Lafarge's shareholders and approval by Holcim's shareholders.
In France Holcim and Lafarge are divesting all of Holcim's assets, except for its Altkirch cement plant and aggregates and ready-mix sites in the Haut-Rhin region, and a grinding station of Lafarge in Saint-Nazaire. Lafarge's assets on Reunion island are being sold except for its shareholding in Ciments de Bourbon. All of Lafarge's assets are also being sold in Germany and Romania. Lafarge Tarmac assets in the UK are being sold with the exception of its Cauldon and Cookstown plants and certain associated assets. In Hungary all of Holcim's operating assets are being divested and it is selling its assets in Slovakia.
Germany: Uwe Väth has assumed control over operations of the Schenck Process Group, effective 1 April 2015. In this role, he will be responsible for global manufacturing, supply chain and purchasing and will report to Andreas Evertz, president and CEO. At the same time, he will become joint managing director acting from the company headquarters of Schenck Process GmbH, which plays the leading and coordinating role for all European countries as well as Russia and parts of Africa. Uwe Väth comes from the accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers.
The appointment reflects the enormous importance of operations for the Schenck Process Group. In the future, Horst Klein will take on responsibility as the vice president of purchasing and thus ensure continuity and further development. In this capacity, he will report directly to Uwe Väth.
"Thanks to his comprehensive expertise and many years of experience in the area of operations, Väth will intensively drive the development of the Schenk Process Group forward. Through his activities as a consultant at PricewaterhouseCoopers, he has already gained insights into our company, meaning that both sides can seamlessly build upon this cooperation. I'm very pleased to welcome him as part of the management team," said Andreas Evertz.
As a graduate engineer, Uwe Väth worked at PricewaterhouseCoopers AG in Frankfurt am Main for many years, where he had been a partner since 2011. He had also built up the strategy and operations division and oversaw projects together with his teams in the areas of purchasing, supply chain, production and tool manufacturing, quality and logistics. International customers that are active in the areas of industrial production, process industry and plastics processing were catered to.