Displaying items by tag: Operation

Philippines: Petra Cement has concluded a manufacturing and sales agreement with industrial conglomerate Phinma Corp. Reuters has reported that the agreement gives Phinma Corp. operations control over Petra Cement’s Zamboanga grinding plant on the island of Mindañao.

Phinma Corp. is already active in Philippine cement production through its subsidiary Philcement, which operates the 2Mt/yr integrated Bataan cement plant in Central Luzon.

Türkiye: OYAK Çimento and Taiwan Cement Company (TCC)s’ joint venture says that it has successfully restarted one of its Turkish cement plants following an earthquake on 6 February. The Netherlands-based joint venture said that two further plants remained at a standstill due to a regional power outage.

Two major tremors, of magnitudes 7.8 and 7.5 on the Richter scale, originated near Gaziantep in Türkiye’s Southeastern Anatolia Region. TCC immediately activated its Employee Care Plan to assist and arrange aid for employees and their families, dispatching 100 emergency kits by courier.

On 8 February 2023, rescuers had reported that 9460 people had died in the catastrophe, 6960 in Türkiye and 2500 in Syria.

UK: RealWear has launched the world’s first voice-controlled head-mounted thermal camera. The new product combines the supplier's RealWear thermal camera and RealWear Navigator 500 headset with Teledyne FLIR's Lepton radiometry technology, enabling effortless capture of visible-spectrum and thermal imagery. Cement plant operators can then quickly identify temperature anomalies in mission-critical equipment like pumps, pipes, wiring and motors.

Chief Product Officer Rama Oruganti said “RealWear Navigator head-mounted devices, with a revolutionary modular design, continue to gain support with global 1000 companies as the new gold standard in assisted reality. The compelling option to add thermal image capture without occupying your hands in hazardous environments gives frontline professionals more real-time information to do their jobs safely and productively.”

Pakistan: Lucky Cement has engaged telecommunications provider Zong 4G to supply its communication services. Pakistan Press International News has reported that the partners expect the collaboration to enhance Lucky Cement's operationality by addressing any connectivity issues.

Lucky Cement executive director Noman Hassan said "By harnessing the power of connectivity, we can identify opportunities to enhance our business operations."

Egypt: Misr Cement Qena's board of directors has voted for the company to continue operating its Qena cement plant after the end of a management contract with Arab Swiss Engineering Company (ASEC) on 30 June 2022.

Misr Cement Qena reported an operating incomeUS$5.69m in the first quarter of 2022, up by 59% year-on-year from US$3.58m in the first quarter of 2021. Its net profit in the quarter rose by 74% to US$2.56m from US$1.47m.

Congo: The Société Nouvelle de Ciment du Congo (SONOCC) plans to resume production at its integrated Louteté plant in Bouenza from 31 January 2022. Plant manager II Xingtao made the announcement during a meeting with Antoine Thomas Nicéphore Fylla Saint Eudes, the Minister of Industrial Development and Promotion of the Private Sector, according to the Central African News Agency.

The minister called for the meeting because reportedly only one of the country’s integrated cement plants, FORSPAK Cement, is currently operational. SONOCC blamed the situation on a mechanical breakdown, the coronavirus pandemic and the slow arrival of an order from France. II Xingtao said that SONOCC was hoping to use limestone from Dangote Cement’s plant at Mfila to help alleviate the situation.

Dangote Cement estimated in October 2021 that the total market for cement in Congo was around 667,000t in the first nine months of the year. Its 1.5Mt/yr integrated plant in Mfila sold 357,000t of cement during the period, a rise of 33% year-on-year.

Kazakhstan: International Cement Group has resumed operations at its Almaty cement plant following its suspension of production due to political unrest.

The group said "To safeguard our employees and plant during the nationwide unrest, the company temporarily closed its cement plant located in the Almaty region of Kazakhstan." It added “As far as business is concerned, everything appears back to normal now, but last week we definitely did not know what was going to happen."

Colombia: Cementos Argos says that it uses simulation software for logistics at six of its port operations. The company explained that simulation helps to avoid delays in the rotation of resources and to optimise ships’ capacity.

International commercial advisor Alfonso Andrés Ibarra said “The simulator facilitates the decision-making process when delivering our material, since it allows us to evaluate different scenarios in advance to define the best alternative for loading the shipments. This way, time and costs are reduced, and our supply chain is optimised.”

Colombia: Dow Jones has named Grupo Argos in its Sustainability Index 2021, the company’s ninth time appearing in the ranking. It achieved its highest ratings in materiality, risk management, environmental reporting, climate change strategy, social reporting and human rights. The group said that the listing constitutes its recognition as the most sustainable cement company in the world. Its sustainable initiatives include offering collection of its used cement bags, supplying all the electricity for its Colombian operations from renewable sources and currently having three credit facilities linked to environmental, social and governance indicators.

Legal and sustainability vice-president Maria Isabel Echeverri said “At Argos, we are greatly satisfied with this result which places us as a world benchmark in sustainability and reassures our commitment to closing gaps and implementing best practices in social, environmental, financial and corporate governance matters. This drives us to continue moving forward in creating social value to build the dreams of housing and infrastructure for millions of people.”

Australia: Cockburn Cement has begun a US$152m upgrade of its Kwinana grinding plant. Business News has reported that the project will consolidate the company’s Kwinana and Munster grinding operations at a single 1.5Mt/yr plant. The company says that this will increase its production capacity by 36% and reduce its cement’s CO₂ emissions by 20%.

The company will manage operations at the plant directly. Managing director Nick Miller said "We've all seen through the Covid-19 outbreak that domestic manufacture of essential products such as cement and industrial lime becomes critically important. Reliability of supply has become a very important driver for decision makers." He added "We have turned away from a turnkey contract to a self-delivery model. Part of the self-delivery model is to access small to medium sub-contractors in the market, where we have seen better value in what is a very heated market."