Displaying items by tag: Tarmac

UK: The planning department of East Lothian Council in Scotland has granted planning permission to an upgrade of Tarmac’s Dunbar cement plant. The work will include building a new cement grinding mill, a new cement storage silo and a rail loading facility. The work will also include a shed, belt conveyors pneumatic pipelines and associated works.

In its supporting statement the company said that the new cement mill was necessary to produce new grades of cement required for modern construction and the cement market. The proposed mill will replace two existing mills on the site and is intended to be more energy efficient and quieter than the existing mills. It added that the plant would benefits from rail sidings on both the south and north side of the East Coast Mainline railway line. At present trains are fed only on the south side using adjacent silos where train capacity is already fully used. Additional products are exported by road.

UK: Tarmac plans to restructure the distribution model for its cement and lime division. Following a strategic review it will move to a regional model for both bulk and packed cement distribution, which have previously operated on a national basis. Tarmac’s own fleet operations will handle around 50% of bulk cement and 20% of packed cement distribution, supported by five regional distribution providers selected through a procurement process.

“Our supply chain and logistics operations are crucial to maintaining Tarmac Cement and Lime’s position as the UK’s market leader. The new regional transport operating model will provide enhanced resilience, flexibility, service, cost and safety for our customers, who trust us to deliver the products they need to realise major projects,” said Mike Eberlin, managing director at Tarmac Cement and Lime.

Tarmac Cement and Lime’s regional distribution partners will be engaged on new five-year logistics contracts effective from December 2018. They are Abbey Logistics (bulk cement – Scotland), Pollocks (packed cement – Scotland & North), Lomas Distribution (bulk and packed cement – Central), Wincanton (bulk and packed cement – South West), Stobarts (bulk and packed cement – South East) and Proctors (packed cement – Barnstone).

Tarmac’s Lime & Powders operation will remain fully subcontracted on a national basis to Lomas Distribution (bulk lime and powders and lime tippers) and RR Andrews (powder tipper operations).

There will be no change to customer order arrangements.

Hillhead 2018 is on this week and where better to capture a feel of the UK’s quarrying and construction industries? For those that don’t know, Hillhead is a biennial show that takes place in a quarry in Derbyshire. The show bills itself as the largest quarrying, construction and recycling event in the world. A large scale UK show gives us the opportunity to look at the local cement industry and we did exactly that in the June 2018 issue of Global Cement Magazine with Edwin Trout’s feature on the UK cement sector in 2017 and 2018. Following on from that article we’ll pick up a few threads.

Graph 1: Domestic cement production in the UK, 1996 - 2016. Source: Mineral Products Association (MPA).

Cement production in the UK fell by 5Mt/yr during the financial crisis of 2007 - 2008. Since then, as Graph 1 shows, production has been growing almost uniformly. However, it may have reached a plateau in 2017, with the major producers complaining about a weakened market due to Brexit uncertainty.

Main points from a news angle are the rise of the Breedon Group with its acquisition of Ireland’s Lagan Cement in April 2018, investments at Hanson’s Padeswood cement plant and Tarmac’s Dunbar cement plant and a fairly static market reported by the major producers. Alongside this, Ireland’s Ecocem opened a terminal in Sheerness in June 2017 and, more recently, has just inaugurated its slag grinding plant on the other side of the English Channel at Dunkirk.

The decision by Breedon to straddle an impending UK-European Union (EU) border seems wise with Hanson’s parent company HeidelbergCement actively blaming Brexit for market uncertainty in the UK. The rise of Ecocem, a slag cement grinder and distributor, also seems to suit the atmosphere with its smaller, more nimble operation than a clinker producer. It’s into this situation that Hanson is reusing a mill from Spain for its Padeswood project and Tarmac is buying its mill from Cemengal, a manufacturer known for making modular mills that can be moved after installation if so desired.

Banging on about Brexit, and indeed Brexit uncertainty, can’t last forever and once clarity appears then the building industry can focus on various pressing issues. One is the country’s lack of residential housing supply. One possible solution for this is a new national planning policy. The government finished a consultation period in May 2018 for the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) and industry bodies like the Mineral Products Association (MPA) have been making their views known. The MPA worries that that the proposed changes will weaken the mineral planning system and threaten the replenishment of aggregate and other mineral reserves. It argues that to secure the essential minerals required to build all those new houses the government needs an, “...efficient and effective mineral planning system with up to date plans, well-resourced planning departments and good data, which are prerequisites, as is appropriate capacity and capability in the ministry to ensure the system is planned, monitored and managed.” Detractors may point out that once the NPPF gets sorted we can all get on with the job of actually, like, building things but, as ever, the MPA has its part to play in the process.

Another indicator for the resumption of ‘business as normal’ might be the number of exhibitors at a trade show like Hillhead. The oranisers say that the exhibitors have grown by 10% in 2018 from 2016. With a heatwave forecast, the group stages of the football World Cup continuing and live demonstrations ongoing there are worse places to be to ponder the state of the industry. Come and find Global Cement at our stand (PC45) in the main pavillion at Hillhead 2018 and tell us what you think.

UK: Tarmac’s Women in Cement group has held its first networking event with colleagues from across the company’s cement and lime business coming together to discuss key industry challenges and opportunities. The event was attended by team members from the businesses supply chain and logistics, customer service, health and safety and cement plant teams. It included a range of discussion topics and presentations, from personal protective equipment (PPE) and welfare facilities to profiling role models and opportunities to attract more women to pursue careers at Tarmac and in the wider construction industry.

“It has been fantastic to bring together colleagues from across the business to share their experiences and continue our work to collaborate and drive positive change. We’re looking forward to building and broadening activities across Tarmac and continuing to encourage people from all age groups, genders nationalities and ethnicities to be part of the debate and help to define opportunities for development and progress,” said Johanna O’Driscoll, Tarmac’s finance director.

The Women in Cement group is one of a number of diversity and inclusion initiatives across Tarmac. The company has partnered with organisations including the Taylor Bennett Foundation, Skillforce and the Career Transition Partnership, which all focus on supporting people from diverse backgrounds into jobs.

UK: Spain’s Cemengal is supplying a 0.5Mt/yr Plug & Grind Vertical mill to Tarmac’s Dunbar cement plant. Work started in April 2018 and the project is expected to be completed by July 2019. The unit follows the Plug & Grind product line’s modular format and it includes a FLSmidth OK Mill 37.3. The mill will be used to grind clinker at the cement plant although the subsidiary of CRH may also use the mill to grind slag. The order is Cemengal’s first Plug & Grind Vertical in Europe.

UK: Tarmac has acquired full ownership of ScotAsh by purchasing the remaining 50% share of the company from Scottish Power. Tarmac will now take full ownership of ScotAsh, which it has operated since 1999, and will continue to operate the company under the ScotAsh name. ScotAsh manufactures products using recycled pulverised fuel ash (PFA) from power stations, which is used in the cement, aggregate and grout industries.

“Each year, ScotAsh supplies its range of sustainable, technologically advanced products to customers within the UK and global construction industry, including to Tarmac’s Dunbar cement plant for production of its Phoenix cement,” said Allan Everett, Ash business manager at Tarmac. He added that further integrating the company into Tarmac would help it to enhance expertise at both businesses, leverage the national supply and import capabilities for PFA and strengthening its product portfolio.

UK: Tarmac has been presented with Bronze Corporate Partner status by the Institution of Chemical Engineers (IChemE). A presentation was made at the company’s Tunstead cement plant.

The Bronze award from IChemE demonstrates a commitment by Tarmac’s cement and lime business to advance the profession through various activities. A IChemE Accredited Company Training Scheme (ACTS) currently runs from the site, and has five graduates enrolled across the business. The scheme provides engineers with practical skills training relevant to their roles at Tarmac, and puts steps in place in order for them to achieve Chartered Chemical Engineer status.

“We’re delighted to accept this status and absolutely recognise importance of working with organisations with a focus on science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) subjects. We strive across the whole of our business to provide training and development opportunities for our employees, and this is a fantastic opportunity to take this practice a step further with official recognition,” said Mike Eberlin, managing director of Tarmac’s cement and lime business.

UK: Tarmac has started using a small-scale liquid lime delivery vehicle to despatch Kalic and Kalic HS milk of lime consignments to smaller or harder-to-reach locations. The eight-wheeled vehicle can carry up to 18t of milk of lime and its shorter wheelbase makes it much more manoeuvrable than larger carriers. It also comes equipped with metering capabilities and adaptable nozzle to aid delivery. The vehicle will compliment Tarmac’s use of bulk tankers or 1t intermediate bulk containers (IBCs).

“Many of our smaller customers require small but regular deliveries of milk of lime as they often have limited storage available on site. Our new ‘milk round’ allows us to regularly deliver fresh top-ups in lower volume deliveries without customers being restricted to taking small deliveries in IBCs,’ said Tarmac Lime & Powders Logistics Manager Nick Thomas.

UK: Tarmac’s Aberthaw Cement Plant has opened a rail facility to despatch bulk cement. The rail depot will mean that trains will be used to transport cement in Wales for the first time in over 20 years. The yard is expected to replace 2500 annual truck movements on the local roads. Jane Hutt, the Welsh Assembly Member for Vale of Glamorgan, officially opened the facility.

“Reducing our road movements by 25% is a significant achievement and it puts us in an even better position to supply materials to our customers across Wales and the south west of England in a more sustainable way. The plant has been in operation for over 100 years and we employ 109 people, the majority of whom live within 10 miles of the site, so this development demonstrates our commitment to the Vale of Glamorgan,” said Aberthaw Cement Plant manager, Chris Bradbury.

UK: Tarmac has launched a cement-packing unit at its Tunstead cement plant in Derbyshire. The Haver and Boecker 10-spout Adams 2000 packing plant increases the plant’s packing capacity. The launch takes place on the site’s 50th anniversary of cement production. The plant will manufacture Tarmac’s range of plastic packed and tubbed cement products for merchant and retail customers. The plant will also be used to house the company’s new 12.5kg mixer bags that were launched earlier in 2016.

“This new plant is an exciting development for us. It enhances our existing UK-wide supply capacity, ensuring we continue to offer customers and end users superior packed cement products, service and supply. As a business with a strong culture of innovation, the plant will use some of our most pioneering developments, such as plastic packaging,” said Kevan Greenhalgh, Packed Business Manager for Tarmac’s Cement business.

The plant has created 23 new jobs at Tunstead, which employs around 450 people. It will also offer training opportunities for existing employees, through the use of the packing plant’s automated technology. The plant launch coincides with the recent upgrading of Tunstead’s rail freight infrastructure, part of Tarmac’s strategy to support sustainable delivery of materials, and cut transport CO₂ by 10% by 2020.