Displaying items by tag: management

Pakistan: The deputy general manager and a plant engineer of a cement plant in Iskandarabad died after being shot by a colleague on 18 October 2023. The shooter was a chemical engineer at the plant, who shot the men after ‘flaring up’ in a meeting. Emergency services took a third victim, an engineer, to hospital for treatment. The Dawn newspaper has reported that police are investigating the tragedy, including the matter of how the shooter managed to enter the plant armed.

Oman: Tarek Talaat has moved from Egypt-based Misr Cement Group to Raysut Cement, where he takes over the role of CEO. He was previously managing director and CEO of Misr Cement Group. Before that, he held leadership positions across Europe, Egypt and the Middle East at Holcim, Arabian Cement Company and Ras Al Khaimah White Cement. Raysut Cement called Talaat the ‘standout’ choice for the CEO position, due to his vision, strategic mindset and proven turn-around experience. Tarek holds a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from Cairo University and studied financial management at INSEAD University in France. He has a Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree from the Swiss Business School, Zurich, in Switzerland.

Raysut Cement said “With Mr Tarek at the helm, we are confident that Raysut Cement will continue to thrive and reach new heights. His leadership will be instrumental in guiding the company through the ever-evolving landscape of the cement industry.”

Reuters has reported that Talaat’s resignation as managing director of Misr Cement Group will take effect on 12 October 2023.

France: Cemex France has supplied 900m³ of its white architectural concrete to the site of Vitesco Technologies’ upcoming Toulouse campus in Occitanie Region. The producer also supplied pumping services and managed the project through its Cemex Go digital platform. It said that the campus aims to achieve High Environmental Quality (HQE) certification for its environmental and energy performance, while ensuring acoustic, hygrothermal and visual comfort for occupants.

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."

Slovenia: Salonit Anhovo suspended production from 20 April 2020 to 4 May 2020. SeeNews has reported the reason for the suspension as a lack of demand from its usual Italian and Slovenian markets amid the ongoing coronavirus crisis. Salonit Anhovo management board member Dejan Zwitter said, "We expect domestic sales to stabilise as the government is providing incentives for construction activities."

The company will continue to serve its customers with deliveries of it products.

China: The China Building Materials Federation and the China Silicate Society have named Hauxin Cement as the winner of the Science and Technology Award 2019 for its digitisation project. The project, entitled ‘Development and Innovation of a Cement Enterprise Operation Digital System,’ aims to modernise management at a pan-business level by using monitoring and analysis, intelligent logistics and a service centre system across 11 different software platforms. 39 Huaxin-affiliated companies currently use the product.

Georgia: Germany-based engineering, management and consultancy firm Sustained Visions has announced its appointment by German Cement Georgia for provision of concept development and project management services at its upcoming Kaspi plant. German Cement Georgia plans to commission the plant in early 2020.

Bangladesh: The Institute of Cost and Management Accountants of Bangladesh (ICMAB) has presented its Best Corporate Awards 2019 to 34 companies across 12 categories. The cement award winner was LafargeHolcim Bangladesh for its ‘excellent corporate governance.’ HeidelbergCement Bangladesh came second and Premier Cement Mills third.

Mexico: Cemex Ventures has partnered with BCG and Tracxn to launch a list of 2019’s global 50 ‘most promising’ construction start-ups. Assessment categories were technical innovation, project management and sustainability. Companies like the UK’s Cloud Cycle, a concrete management platform provider, and the US’s Concrete Sensors, which provides remote concrete strength, temperature and relative humility measurement solutions, typify the promising developments in how the construction industry uses its cement.

Switzerland: LafargeHolcim has changed its management structure to make it more market focused. It has appointed Marcel Cobuz as the head of its European region and René Thibault as the head of its North American division. Two of the group’s global business functions, Performance & Cost and Growth & Innovation, will be merged into a new corporate department, Growth & Performance, under one leadership. Further changes will be made to the reporting of its regions with the addition of Mexico to its Latin America region, the addition of Australia and New Zealand to Asia and its Chinese and Trading divisions will now report directly to the group’s chief executive officer (CEO).

“Establishing a market-focused management organisation is an important step towards generating an attractive growth profile and taking the company to its next level of performance,” said CEO Jan Jenisch. “The strengthening of the profit and loss responsibility of the countries and the simplification of global business functions will create a leaner and more agile operating model. Countries will be fully empowered and accountable for market strategies, cost discipline and results. The new organisation will be complemented by a strengthened performance management system focusing on growth, cash conversion, capital efficiency and people development.”

The group’s 30 largest country organisations will directly report to the Executive Committee and the global business functions will be merged under one leadership. As a result of these changes, the Executive Committee will be reduced to nine members. All of the management changes will take effect from 1 January 2018.

Marcel Cobuz, aged 47 years, has been appointed as Head Region Europe and a member of the Executive Committee. He succeeds Roland Köhler, who has decided to retire. Cobuz, a Romanian and French citizen, joined LafargeHolcim in 2000. He has held various operational roles in six different countries and has been country chief executive officer (CEO) in Indonesia, Iraq and Morocco.

Köhler will retire at the beginning of 2018. He has worked for LafargeHolcim and its predecessors for more than 30 years and has been a member of the Executive Committee since 2010, most recently as the Head of Europe, Trading and Oceania. Köhler will continue to support LafargeHolcim as chairman of the LafargeHolcim Foundation for Sustainable Construction. He will also continue to represent the group as a non-executive director in local subsidiaries of the company.

René Thibault, aged 51 years, was been appointed as Head Region North America and a member of the Executive Committee. He succeeds Pascal Casanova, who has decided to pursue opportunities outside of the group. Thibault, a Canadian citizen, joined LafargeHolcim in 1989 and has held various roles in France and Canada. He has been the CEO of Western Canada since 2012.

Urs Bleisch, currently Head of Performance & Cost and Member of the Executive Committee, has been appointed Head of Growth & Performance. Gérard Kuperfarb, Head of Growth & Innovation, has decided to pursue a career outside the group.

Finally, the group’s new chief financial officer (CFO), Géraldine Picaud, will take over the role on 3 January 2018, earlier than the February 2018 date that was originally announced.