Displaying items by tag: Research
Update on HeidelbergCement acquisition of Italcementi
13 April 2016HeidelbergCement released more detail on its plans to buy Italcementi last week. The main points were that Italcementi’s operations in Belgium will be sold, the Italcementi brand will be retained, its research and development (R&D) centre will assume responsibilities for the entire group and up to 260 job losses are expected in Bergamo. The integration plan is expected to be complete by 2020.
Following an update in HeidelbergCement’s preliminary financial results for 2015 in February 2016, this was more focused on the practicalities of taking over a company. Sales of assets in Belgium were expected from the moment the deal was announced in July 2015. Between them the two companies operate three of the country’s four cement plants, holding 73% of the market by cement production capacity. Selling up Italcementi’s Belgian subsidiary Compagnie des Ciments Belges will maintain the existing market balance. Once this is done, from a cement sector perspective, interaction from the European Commission on the deal should merely be a formality.
Interestingly, no plans to sell assets in the US were announced. This is more ambitious on HeidelbergCement’s part because the acquisition has far bigger implications in that country. Merging Italcementi’s Essroc subsidiary and HeidelbergCement’s Lehigh Hanson subsidiary will see HeidelbergCement become the new second largest cement producer in the US with around 16.4Mt/yr. LafargeHolcim had a relatively easy ride from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) having to sell two integrated cement plants, two slag grinding plants and a series of terminals. As HeidelbergCement will become the second largest cement producer it seems unlikely that the FTC will be too demanding. However, post-acquisition the cement producer will own cement plants within 75 miles of each other in Pennsylvania and in Maryland and West Virginia. The FTC may take exception to this but perhaps HeidelbergCement is trying their luck to see if it can get away with it.
The decision to retain Italcementi’s i.Lab R&D centre in Bergamo, Italy raises questions about what will happen to the Heidelberg Technology Centre (HTC) in Leimen, Germany. The focus here is on making Bergamo the ‘product’ R&D division for the entire group. i.Lab was opened in early 2012 to fanfare, based in a building designed by architect Richard Meier and it cost Euro40m to build. How this fits with HeidelbergCement’s existing Global R&D team at the HTC remains to be seen.
Job losses of up to 260 personnel at Bergamo are regrettable but hardly unexpected. It may not be much comfort for any staff members facing redundancy but this figure is well below the figures bandied about in the media in late 2015 of first around 1000 and then nearer 500. Another 170 personnel will also be offered relocation packages taking the impact of the reorganisation up to about 400 of Italcementi’s 2500 workforce in Italy.
Looking at the wider situation with the acquisition this week, HeidelbergCement announced a record contract for Norcem, its Norwegian subsidiary, to supply 280,000t of cement over three years for an infrastructure project. Then, Carlo Pesenti, the chief executive officer of Italcementi, was reported making comments about the business’ expansion plans in Thailand and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). Projects in Myanmar and Cambodia look likely once the acquisition is complete. Finally, the ratings agency Moody’s was drumming up attention for a market report by pointing out the implications for the multinational cement producers in India if a proposed rise in infrastructure spending gets approved. In summary HeidelbergCement and Italcementi are unlikely to benefit due to their southern Indian spread of assets and local production overcapacity.
HeidelbergCement may not be getting it all its own way but the acquisition of Italcementi remains on track so far. All eyes will be on how the US FTC responds to the deal.
New innovation centre for Cementos Argos
25 August 2015Colombia: Cementos Argos will open a new concrete and cement innovation centre on 26 August 2015. The US$9.8m centre was developed in alliance with the Colombian government and Universidad Eafit. Jorge Mario Velasquez, president of Cementos Argos, has stated that the centre will strengthen and add value to the company's production chain.
Lafarge considers research centre for Nigeria
26 November 2014Nigeria: Lafarge is considering opening its sixth research centre in Nigeria. It will be the sixth development laboratory in the network following those in France, China, India, Algeria and Brazil. Lafarge's prospective research and development director, Gilles Rochard, made the announcement on a press tour in France.
Lafarge opens fourth world research laboratory in Algiers
20 November 2013Algeria: Lafarge inaugurated its fourth laboratory dedicated to research in construction materials in Algiers on 18 November 2013. The Euro1.75m laboratory is the first such facility that the multinational cement producer has opened in Africa.
Luc Callebat, CEO of Lafarge-Algeria, described the laboratory as a "platform technology to coordinate and accelerate innovation to serve the needs of the Algerian construction market," during the inauguration ceremony. The project is intended to meet increasing demand for housing in terms of quality, cost and energy efficiency. The laboratory joins Lafarge's existing network in France, China and India.
Covering an area of 2290m2, the research laboratory includes control laboratories and research in cement, concrete, aggregates and building systems. The laboratory also organises specialised training in the construction industry.
Canada: Lafarge Canada, Natural Resources Canada, the Queen's Institute for Energy and Environmental Policy and Carbon Management Canada have announced that they are investing more than US$8m to develop the use of alternative fuels at Lafarge Canada's cement plant in Bath, Ontario. This multi-partner initiative intends to produce low-emission, low-carbon fuels from local supplies such as construction and demolition site debris (wood based), railway ties, and other energy containing materials that aren't presently recycled.
"We are delighted to bring this world-class demonstration initiative to the Canadian cement industry. We believe that this project is exactly in line with our mission of building better cities by lowering our carbon footprint, making use of local fuel supplies and creating local sustainable jobs," said Bob Cartmel, President and Chief Executive Officer in Eastern Canada for Lafarge Canada Inc.
According to figures released by Lafarge, the Canadian cement industry currently emits about 3.8% of the country's carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions and about 30 - 40% of those emissions are due to fossil fuel use.
Carbon Management Canada (CMC), a network of Centres of Excellence that supports research to reduce CO2 emissions, is providing a US$400,000 grant over three years to a research team working on the project. Natural Resources Canada is awarding US$2.68m to Lafarge Canada to construct a full-scale demonstration plant. Other project partners include Pollution Probe, WWF Canada, Queen's University, the Cement Association of Canada, Mesa Bioenergy, Scott Environmental and Rail Link, a Metis company.
Lafarge produces Aether clinker for first time
16 January 2013France: Lafarge has announced that it has completed a industrial-scale trial to make Aether®, its new generation clinker formulated for lower carbon cements and has 25-30% lower CO2 emissions than normal clinker.
The trial mobilised a team of around 100 people over a 10-day period at the group's plant in Le Teil, France. It allowed the production of 10,000t of Aether clinker and, according to a Lafarge press release, confirmed the feasibility of industrial-scale production using traditional raw materials.
The result of several years of research by Lafarge's research and development teams, the new clinker offers similar properties to OPC and can be produced in traditional cement plants after minor process adjustments. However, it has a lower overall environmental footprint, which is derived from having a lower limestone content in the raw mix, a kiln temperature in the region of 1300°C and lower-energy grinding.
Following sustained CO2 emission reductions since the early 1990s, Lafarge says that the Aether project will help it to reduce CO2 emissions per tonne of cement by 33% by 2020, one of its Sustainability Ambitions 2020 targets.
The first Aether products will be launched in 2014.
US$500m Lafarge investment in Brazil
14 January 2013Brazil: The French building materials giant Lafarge has announced a US$500m investment plan in Brazil. On 11 January 2013 Bruno Lafont, group CEO, announced the five year investment in a civil construction research centre in the country at a meeting with the Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff. The move follows a number of asset sales by the group.
The Brazilian research centre will be the group's fifth outside France. The others are in the Netherlands, China, Algeria and India. In the past five years Lafarge has invested US$1bn in Brazil.
Italcementi opens Euro40m research centre
18 April 2012Italy: Italcementi has inaugurated its new research centre, i.lab, costing Euro40m near Bergamo in northern Italy. Once complete the centre, which was designed by US architect Richard Meier, will cover 23,000km3 and will employ 1300 researchers.
Italcementi will focus the research on the development of new building materials and on the use of renewable and reusable raw materials. The centre will also research special products such as 'pollution' cement.
In 2010, Italcementi's ITCLab received the European Greenbuilding Award of the European Commission for energy efficient construction and now the centre can also boast Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design platinum certification. The centre allows energy saving of up to 60% compared to traditional buildings, director general Giovanni Ferrari said.