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Holcim Switzerland promotes family life 15 October 2019
Switzerland: Holcim Switzerland has ratified a new collective labour agreement (CCL) with two unions. Finanznachrichten has reported that under the new arrangement the company’s 570 employees will be able to receive two weeks’ paid paternity leave. Lena Frank, head of personnel negotiations, stated that “the compatibility between work and family is central to equality. The new regulation is therefore an important step forward.”
India: Dalmia Bharat Cement will invest US$492m in projects to expand its cement production capacity by 8Mt/yr to 34Mt/yr from 26Mt/yr. The sum includes a consolidated investment of US$422m in brownfield developments in Eastern India to increase integrated capacity at its Rajgangpur plant in Odisha by 3.0Mt/yr, and at its Kasba plant in West Bengal by 2.7Mt/yr, to 6.6Mt/yr and 4.0Mt/yr respectively. The expansion is scheduled for completion by March 2020.
Holcim Croatia buys Readymix Croatia 14 October 2019
Croatia: Holcim Croatia has purchased Readymix Croatia for an undisclosed sum. The subsidiary of LafargeHolcim said that the acquisition would allow it to invest in a fourth quarry in the local market located at Vranje near Lupoglav, Istria. Its aggregates business started operating in 2006 in Ocura in Varaždin County, then in 2007 in Plovanija and in 2008 in Šumber in Istria County. The building materials company operates one integrated cement plant in the country at Koromančnoa and two ready-mixed concrete plants.
GyroMetric Systems to supply drive monitoring system to Tarmac Tunstead cement plant in the UK 14 October 2019
UK: GyroMetric Systems has signed an agreement to install digital monitoring equipment on a 11kV raw mill drive at Tarmac’s Tunstead cement plant in Derbyshire. Measured digital parameters will include dynamic torque across the coupling, radial displacement of the shaft (and therefore misalignment), and torsional vibrations of the drive system. The data will also provide information on the condition of the gearbox. GyroMetric Systems is controlled by Remote Monitored Systems. No value for the order has been disclosed.
SNIC cautious about Brazilian cement sales growth so far in 2019 11 October 2019
Brazil: Paulo Camillo Penna, the president of SNIC, the Brazilian national cement industry union, has expressed caution about growing cement sales so far in 2019. Data from SNIC shows that cement sales grew by 3% year-on-year to 40.5Mt in the first nine months of 2019 from 39.4Mt in the same period in 2018. Growth was driven by central and southern regions of the country, particularly in São Paulo. Exports grew by 22% to 90,000t from 74,000t. However, Paulo Camillo said that apparent growth in 2019 was partly due to a truckers strike in May 2018 that overly depressed the year’s sales. Despite this, he added that a survey of the construction industry released by the National Confederation of Industry (CNI) was showing slow but steady improvement.