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Displaying items by tag: Germany
New VRM orders announced by Pfeiffer
12 September 2012Germany: Gebr. Pfeiffer SE has announced new orders for vertical roller mills (VRM) in Poland and Malaysia.
Pfeiffer has won the contract to supply a MPS 3070 BC VRM for grinding 46t/h of blast-furnace slag for the Odra works in Opole, Poland.
At the plant it is intended that slag ground to 3800cm²/g Blaine will be used as an additive to the cement. The VRM will feature a main drive with an output of 1350kW for a production rate of 46t/hr. Exhaust gases produced by the clinker cooler will allow the slag to be dried from a 9% feed moisture level down to below a 1% residual moisture level while being ground in the mill. The design of the mill will also make it possible to grind as much as 45t/hr of Ordinary Portland Cement to a fineness of 3500cm²/g Blaine.
In Malaysia Pfieffer has won a contract from KHD Humboldt Wedag for the construction of a 5000t/day plant. KHD is acting as a general contractor for an order from Straits Cement, a subsidiary of the Malaysian YTL Group.
Pfieffer is to supply the VRM for grinding cement raw material and coal. A MPS 4750 B raw mill is to be set up which can handle a capacity of 300t/hr of cement raw material ground to a product fineness of 12% R 90µm. The coal mill of the type MPS 2800 BK will be capable of grinding 35t/hr of coal.
Haver Technology Days takes place successfully
12 September 2012Germany: 350 customers, representatives and employees of the Haver Group from Germany and other countries have attended the Haver Technology Days event on 27 – 29 August 2012 at the A2 Forum in Rheda, Germany.
The conference informed guests about strategic and technical innovations in the company, discussed international industry trends and presented the Haver Group generally to delegates. The event also celebrated the family-owned company's 125-year anniversary.
Germany: Dr Michael Mutz has been appointed as the new head of division, Minerals & Mining, at Aumund Fördertechnik GmbH in Rheinberg.
"We are thus strengthening the team and we are advancing the business segment expansion in this prospering market," commented Aumund managing director Jörg Hoffmann on the appointment.
The 41 year-old from Westphalia, Germany comes from a mining family and has continued the family tradition, studying geology specialised in the exploration of solid mineral raw materials, oil and gas. Mutz started out with various mining prospecting projects, including Roland Berger and CPRM, the Brazilian state geological service.
After many years' activity in iron ore mining in Brazil (ThyssenKrupp) Mutz graduated from the Technical University of Clausthal in geology. His experience in the machinery and equipment business started in 2006 at Hazemag & EPR where he headed-up international sales and coordination of key accounts from 2008.
"The good reputation of the Aumund Group and the decades of successes in the cement, power and metallurgy sectors are a solid foundation to also gain a foothold as a supplier in the very service-oriented mining business," said Mutz.
Mutz has been in post at Aumund since April 2012.
Price increases bolster HeidelbergCement profits in Q2
01 August 2012Germany: Price increases and cost cutting at HeidelbergCement have halted a slide in cement margins and put the German cement producer on track to reach its 2012 targets.
HeidelbergCement's operating income before depreciation (OIBD) for the quarter ending 30 June 2012 rose by 7% to Euro698m from Euro651m in the same quarter in 2011. Its revenue rose by 11% to Euro3.78bn from Euro3.39bn. The company's efforts to chip away at its cost base, easing energy costs and price increases pushed through in 2012 have all helped HeidelbergCement post a 0.2% improvement in cement margins following steady declines in 2011 and early in 2012.
"We will do everything in our power to continue this positive trend in the second half of 2012," said chief executive Bernd Scheifele in a statement.
Demand for cement has remained robust in North America and Asia, prompting HeidelbergCement to affirm its outlook for a third consecutive year of growth in sales and operating profit. HeidelbergCement has also benefited from a slide of the euro against the US Dollar in the second quarter, which helped boost group revenue growth by 5 percentage points to 11.4%. Net profit was up by 16% to Euro184m.
Cement sales volumes benefited from strong demand in North America and Asia but sales declined in Europe due to decline in infrastructure spending. In western and northern Europe cement and clinker sales volumes fell by 5.1% in the first half of 2012 to 10.2Mt from 10.8Mt in 2011. In eastern Europe and central Asia cement and clinker sales volumes increased by 3.0% to 7.8Mt from 7.6Mt. In North America cement sales grew by 16.7% to 5.4Mt from 4.7Mt. In Asia-Pacific cement and clinker sales grew by 9.5% to 14.8Mt from 13.6Mt.
HeidelbergCement predicts that cement volumes in North America will rise by 8-11% in 2012, compared with a previous forecast of 4-7%. Sales in western and northern Europe could decline by as much as 2%. The company has slashed its global outlook for volumes to 4-6% growth, down from 6-9%, as its assessment of eastern Europe and Africa deteriorated.
"The growth in sales volumes, due to the additional capacities and a more or less significant increase in demand in Russia and central Asia, is being somewhat muted by the latest decline in demand in Poland and the Czech Republic," said HeidelbergCement.
New board member at HeidelbergCement
11 July 2012Germany: HeidelbergCement AG has announced the appointment of Prof Dr Marion Weissenberger-Eibl as a member of its supervisory board following the resignation of Dr Ing Herbet Lutkestratkotter for private reasons.
"We are pleased that, in Prof Dr Marion Weissenberger-Eibl, we have succeeded in attracting a well-respected top German engineer as a new member of our supervisory board," announced Fritz-Jurgen Heckmann, Chairman of the supervisory board of HeidelbergCement AG. "She is very well-connected in the fields of business, science, and politics. Her extensive experience and expertise in the areas of innovation research, renewable energies, demographic development, sustainability and knowledge management will be a valuable addition."
Germany: Tomasz Czop, former Purchase Director of Ożarów Cement Poland (CRH Group) is now leading business development at MVW Lechtenberg & Partner, the German consulting firm for the implementation of alternative fuels from biomass and useable wastes in the cement industry.
As a former member of the management board of the Polish subsidiaries of Ireland's CRH he was directly responsible for the whole procurement of all business units in Poland and Ukraine. Within MVW Lechtenberg he will lead the business unit of alternative fuels and raw materials trade which is currently focused on the supply of refuse derived fuels for the cement and power generating industry in northern and eastern Europe.
Otto Jung retires from Gebr. Pfeiffer
27 June 2012Germany: Dipl.-Ing. Otto Jung will retire from Gebr. Pfeiffer SE on 30 June 2012 after nearly 40 years with the company. Dr.-Ing. Robert Schnatz will take over Jung's technical responsibilities on the executive board.
Jung started his career as a development and project engineer. In 1988, he became head of the projects and sales department processing and then in 1996 he was appointed to the Executive Board of Gebr. Pfeiffer SE, a position he held for 16 years. During this time a number of innovateive new projects were launched for the cement industry.
Intensiv-Filter files for insolvency
13 June 2012Germany: Intensiv-Filter & Co KG has submitted an application for insolvency. The application was submitted on 31 May 2012 to the district court of Wuppertal, Germany. Dr Marc d'Avoine was appointed as the temporary insolvency trustee.
Initial plans are to re-start ongoing projects as quickly as possible. To aid re-capitalisation, d'Avoine has implemented efficiency improvement measures and continued technological advancements at the firm. In addition the sales department has, in spite of the insolvency, managed an order boom for the manufacture of machines and plants.
Intensiv-Filter group operates worldwide with around 400 employees. For 90 years it has been a leader in dust removal technology.
Loesche and A TEC enter into close cooperation
17 May 2012Germany/Austria: In a move that affects two major cement industry suppliers Loesche GmbH of Germany, the market leader in dry-grinding technology, and pyroprocessing specialist A TEC Holding GmbH of Austria have entered into a close cooperation agreement. The companies say that it is a mutually-beneficial move and both are convinced that they can jointly provide an even stronger and better support to clients in the cement industry. However, the core business of both companies will remain unchanged.
The companies said that the cooperation, combining technologies and sales organisation, opens new interesting opportunities for certain types of projects, for example combined upgrading projects including grinding circuits and pyroprocess optimisation. The cooperation also generates attractive synergies for both companies. They added that research and development and joint technology developments will provide new and innovative solutions to solve the issues of the cement production market in the future.
HeidelbergCement increases revenue in Q1
04 May 2012Germany: HeidelbergCement (HC) has released its financial results for the first quarter of 2012, which show a mixed overall performance. Group revenue improved by 8% to Euro2.8bn, with a 5% increase in cement sales volumes despite colder winter weather in mainland Europe.
HC reported strong growth in its North American operation, where it described the early signs of an economic recovery that had been helped by a relatively warm winter. It also highlighted strong developments and further potential in Asia, especially in Indonesia.
The group's operating income before depreciation (OIBD) decreased by 16% to Euro214m, adversely impacted by increased energy, freight and maintenance costs. It partly recovered some of its margin by the implementation of price increases.
The company reported that its three-year FOX 2013 programme for financial and operational excellence led to an improvement in cash flow of Euro39m in the first quarter of 2012. The company says that it is well on track to achieving the targeted improvement of Euro850m over three years, saving Euro384m in 2011 alone.
"The development of demand in the first quarter confirmed our outlook for the 2012 financial year," said Dr Bernd Scheifele, chairman of HC's board. "In view of high energy costs, we will unabatedly continue our efforts to reduce costs and improve efficiency under the FOX 2013 programme and increase prices in our markets in a consistent way."
"Deleveraging remains the highest priority for us in order to regain our investment grade rating," continued Scheifele. "Thanks to our advantageous geographical positioning in attractive markets in both emerging and industrialised countries... HeidelbergCement is excellently positioned to benefit over-proportionally from the continued economic growth."