Displaying items by tag: Germany

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.

Germany: HeidelbergCement’s sales revenue has fallen slightly by 1% year-on-year to Euro6.41bn in the first half of 2016 from Euro6.47bn in the same period of 2015. This was blamed on consolidation and exchange rate effects. Otherwise, profit rose by 46% to Euro354m from Euro242m. Clinker and cement sales volumes rose by 2.9% to 39.9Mt from 38.8Mt.

“In operational terms, the second quarter of 2016 was the best since the financial crisis and thus continued the positive trend of the previous year,” said Bernd Scheifele, Chairman of the Managing Board of the company. “The positive market environment in our mature markets and the recovery of demand in Eastern Europe made a significant contribution. We were able to raise the margins in operational terms in all business lines thanks to our margin improvement programmes and price increases in core markets. Furthermore, we have benefited from declining fuel costs.”

The group’s cement sales revenue fell by 3% to Euro2.92bn from Euro3.01bn. Its Northern and Eastern Europe-Central Asia and Africa-Eastern Mediterranean Basin areas both reported falling revenue from cement sales. However, the Asia-Pacific area saw its cement sales fall by 11% to Euro675m. Sales in North America partially offset this, with cement sales volumes growing by 4.7% to 5.9Mt from 5.6Mt.

HeidelbergCement reported that its acquisition of Italcementi is well on track with the subscription period for a mandatory tender offer to the remaining shareholders of Italcementi set to end on 30 September 2016. The entire takeover transaction is expected to be completed in the second half of 2016. HeidelbergCement also said that it had received ‘high’ interest for its assets on sale in the US. Binding offers are expected in the first half of August 2016.

Germany/Norway: Germany’s Berthold Technologies has acquired the Norwegian company Sensor Technology (S-Tec). S-Tec is a specialist for nucleonic gauges with experience in the oil and gas industries. Its products and the close cooperation with major customers and research institutes will continue. Berthold Technologies is a supplier of radiometric instruments for process control.

Germany: HeidelbergCement has released its seventh Sustainability Report so far. Highlights from the report include a reduction of specific net CO₂ emissions by 22% to 606kg/t of cement (compared to 1990 levels) and a decreased clinker factor of 75%. However, specific emissions for NO_x, SO₂ and mercury all rose slightly from 2014.

“The numbers show what kind of progress HeidelbergCement made in 2015,” said Bernd Scheifele, CEO of HeidelbergCement. “We have also substantially intensified our commitment to the development of technologies to use CO₂ as a resource, and we have entered into very promising cooperative research projects. This puts us at the forefront of the movement in the cement industry.”

The 2015 report is also the first to present data on water management, following the implementation of industry indicators for water reporting at all cement plants in 2013 and 2014.

Germany: Michael Höllermann and Johan P Cnossen are to join the management board of the Industrial Solutions division of ThyssenKrupp with effect from 1 August 2016. Höllermann, aged 51 years, CEO of the Regional Headquarters South America since 2012, will be the new Chief Human Resources Officer (CHRO). Johan P Cnossen, aged 56 years, who joined Industrial Solutions on 1 May 2016 as head of the transformation office for the implementation of ‘planets’, will hold the new position of Chief Operating Officer. The appointments are part of the ‘planets’ program reorganisation of the group’s Industrial Solutions business area.

With the appointments, Jens Michael Wegmann, CEO of the Industrial Solutions business area since 15 October 2015, has now filled all board positions. The new CFO, already in place since 1 June 2016, is Stefan Gesing. Also on the board is Dr Hans Christoph Atzpodien, who will focus on the management of Marine Systems.

Germany: Stefan Puntke has become the managing director of Refratechnik Cement, replacing Wolfgang Tabbert. Puntke’s previous role has been taken by Christian Meyre, effective from 1 June 2016. The announcement was made at the 14th REFRA-Kolloquium held on 31 May to 3 June 2016 in Berlin.

Tabbert has worked for the company for more than 30 years, five of them as sales manager and 13 years as managing director. He will continue to act as consultant for Refratechnik Cement for a period to ensure a smooth transfer of responsibilities.

Meyre holds management experience in the international cement industry, particularly in North America.

Germany: Möllers Group has opened a new training academy at its headquarters in Beckum. The 1250m² facility cost Euro3m and it took nine months to build. It will start training operations in June 2016. The official opening of the site took place on 31 May 2016.

Germany: ThyssenKrupp is reorganising its Industrial Solutions business area, its division responsible for engineering and construction. It aims to modernise its management structure by focusing on customers and business fields along with integrating the Marine Systems and System Engineering units more closely. The new position of chief operating officer will be created on the business area board for this. In addition, Johan P Cnossen will join the leadership team of Industrial Solutions to aid the reorganisation.

The new structure will be implemented at the start of the new fiscal year on 1 October 2016. Industrial Solutions will then have eight business units: Industrial Specialties, Mining Technologies, Cement Technologies, Electrolysis & Polymers Technologies, Fertilizer Technologies, Services, Marine Systems and System Engineering.

As part of the changes ThyssenKrupp’s plant technology business will be simplified by removing a layer of management. In addition the transformation program will hasten the integration of the company’s plant engineering businesses including Uhde, Polysius and Fördertechnik. Under the roof of Thyssenkrupp Industrial Solutions a uniform network structure is now being created that will make it possible to share expertise and capacities across all business units and also integrate Marine Systems and System Engineering more closely.

Germany: HeidelbergCement has announced its results for the first quarter of 2016. While its revenue was completely flat at Euro2.8bn, cement volumes rose from 16.8Mt in the first quarter of 2015 to 17.6Mt in the first quarter of 2016. However, the group maintained an operating loss of Euro72m, albeit a significant improvement on the Euro123m lost a year earlier. HeidelbergCement’s net debt was down by Euro237m to Euro5.9bn.

The group highlighted improving demand in the US as among the reasons for its improved performance. Cement volumes increased by 6% year-on-year in each of the two years to March 2016. Revenue in the US and Canada was Euro714m, a rise of 14.6% year-on-year. Net income for the region was Euro24m, a turnaround from a loss of Euro18m in the first quarter of 2015.

In Western Europe, positive cement sales trends were led by Germany and the UK, with the Netherlands and Belgium also contributing well. Cement sales in the region were up by 3.1% year-on-year for the quarter to a total of 3.4Mt. Volumes were also up in Scandinavia (1.7% year-on-year), Eastern Europe (6.6%) and in the group’s Central Asia, Russia and Ukraine region (0.7%).

In Western and Southern Europe revenue was down by 2.1% to Euro683m. The region, however, saw a loss of Euro8m for the quarter. Cement sales revenue improved by 1.8% to Euro290m, against a backdrop of falling aggregates, ready mix and asphalt revenues.

In North and Eastern Europe and Central Asia, cement volumes were 2.9% up year-on-year to 3.9Mt. Revenue for the region was Euro420m, a rise of 9.7% year-on-year, with cement revenues up nearly 7% to Euro225m. The group’s net loss in this region increased marginally, to Euro28m from Euro25m a year earlier.

In the group’s Asia-Pacific region, Indonesia saw better market conditions, driven by the arrival of new infrastructure works. India saw moderate increases in volume and Australia also improved. China saw lower prices and sales volumes. The total volume of cement sold in the region during the quarter was 5.8Mt and the region’s revenue was Euro637m. This generated a profit of Euro120m, a 18.8% decline on the preceding year’s profit of Euro148m.

In Africa and the Eastern Mediterranean Basin cement volumes were virtually flat at 1.9Mt. Total revenue was slightly down from Euro252m in 2015 to Euro240m in the three months to March 2016. Revenues from cement-based operations were down by 8.7% to Euro177m.

Excluding exchange rate and consolidation effects, HeidelbergCement now expects a moderate increase in revenue and a high single to double digit increase in operating income and before non-recurring effects profit for the financial year. The company also expects increases in sales volumes of cement, aggregates and ready-mixed concrete.

Germany: ThyssenKrupp Industrial Solutions has received a contract from HeidelbergCement to supply a new cement clinker production line. The 4500t/day line will be built at the Schelklingen cement plant in Baden-Württemberg as a replacement for an existing older production line. Start of production is planned for spring 2018.

“Although most of the cement contracts we have been awarded recently have been to build new production capacities in growth regions, this order shows that there is also demand in Europe to modernize and expand existing facilities. Our highly efficient technologies, which we continually improve together with our customers, guarantee maximum reliability and allow producing innovative products in an economical and environmentally friendly way,” said Lothar Jungemann, CEO of the Cement operating unit in the Resource Technologies business unit of ThyssenKrupp Industrial Solutions.

For the new kiln line ThyssenKrupp Industrial Solutions will supply components including a five-stage, single-strand DOPOL preheater, a POLRO rotary kiln with a POLGUIDE drive system and a POLYTRACK clinker cooler with roll crusher. The design of the calciner used in the preheater is intended to allow high fuel burnout with low nitrogen oxide emissions. The POLYTRACK cooler also features a highly efficient heat recovery system that minimizes fuel input.