Displaying items by tag: Germany

Germany: Gebr. Pfeiffer has appointed the current head of its Malaysia office Timothy Burden as president of its US subsidiary Gebr. Pfeiffer Inc., effective 1 January 2020. Burden brings 15 years’ materials handling and crushing engineering and sales experience to the role. He studied at Queen’s University Belfast and attained his Masters in engineering from the University of Southhampton in 2004.

Gebr. Pfeiffer will replace Burden in the Malaysian office with Vesa Peurakari, an experienced project and service manager and sales professional with a mechanical engineering degree from the University of Gothenburg.

Africa: German-based lubricants supplier Fuchs has taken over direct ownership of 50% of three distribution subsidiaries of its regional subsidiary Fuchs Southern Africa. The companies are based in Zambia, Zimbabwe and Mozambique. The acquisitions will support Fuchs’ aim of increasing its supply to African markets, according to Fuchs executive board chairman Stefan Fuchs. "Investment in a state of the art, fully automated grease manufacturing plant which opened in Isando, Johannesburg, in 2018” signifies the company’s commitment to sustainable social development of the continent, said Fuchs, adding, “Further plant expansions are already being planned.”

Germany: Frankfurt-based fashion designer Concrete Jungle has won the Inhorgenta Fashion Jewellery Award 2019 and the German Design Award for Excellent Product Design 2019 for its Grey Rosé range of jewellery. The collection includes earrings, pendants and wedding rings, which showcase the beauty of concrete. The concrete is inlaid with metallic shards. “The particular challenges of mixing these elements necessitated particular techniques. We were able to work extremely delicately while achieving the enormous stability that characterises our jewellery,” said Concrete Jungle partner Madlen Thorwarth.

Germany: Martin Stillger has been appointed as the chairman of the executive board of ThyssenKrupp Materials Services. This follows the appointment of Klaus Keysberg, who has moved to the executive board of ThyssenKrupp where he is now responsible for the businesses of Steel Europe and Materials Services.

Stillger has held various leadership and management positions at ThyssenKrupp Materials Services since 2008, most recently as chief executive officer (CEO) of ThyssenKrupp Schulte and the Western Europe and Technical Services operating units. Prior to joining ThyssenKrupp, the qualified mechanical engineer spent 17 years with Barmag, including five years as Chief Sales Officer and five as CEO. He will be succeeded as CEO of ThyssenKrupp Schulte and the Western Europe operating unit by Detlef Schotten, currently CEO of the Eastern Europe and Asia/Pacific operating unit, in January 2020.

In addition, Ilse Henne has also been appointed as Chief Transformation Officer (CTO) with immediate effect to drive transformation and growth. Previously she became Chief Operating Officer (COO) in January 2019 and this role will no longer be filled. The finance and human resources directorates on the board of ThyssenKrupp Materials Services will remain unchanged. Daniel Wodera will continue as chief financial officer (CFO) and Markus Bistram as chief human resources officer (CHRO).

Netherlands: Germany’s HeidelbergCement’s subsidiary Eerste Nederland Cement Industrie (ENCI) announced on 9 December 2019 the upcoming closure of its former 1.8Mt/yr integrated Maastricht plant in 2020. Het Belang van Limburg has reported that the Maastricht plant, which stepped down to grinding-only in March 2019 after 91 years’ kiln operation, received an insufficient supply of clinker from ENCI’s sister company CBR Cement’s 1.5Mt/yr Lixhe plant in Wallonia, Belgium to guarantee profitable production.

Clinker grinding continues at ENCI’s 1.4Mt/yr IJmuiden and 0.6Mt/yr Rotterdam grinding plants, each of which has better access to clinker imports due to their proximity to deepwater ports.

Bangladesh: HeidelbergCement Bangladesh has announced the completion of its acquisition of Emirates Cement and Emirates Power from UltraTech Cement Middle East Investment. Financial Express has reported the value of the deal as US$21.5m.

China: KHD has reported NO_x emissions consistently below 50mg/Nm³ at Tianrui’s 2.0Mt/yr Weihui integrated cement plant in Henan province, where its Pyroredox gasifying reactor has been installed between the kiln inlet chamber and preheater calciner. The NO_x reduction after several months of operation was 66%, while reagent usage fell by 78% compared to with the plant’s selective non-catalytic reducer without a Pyroredox fitted. No extra power or fuel was used and production was unaffected. The Pyroredox requires two to four weeks’ downtime for its installation and is now operational at multiple cement plants across China.

Canada: HeidelbergCement’s Canadian subsidiary Lehigh Cement is trialling the cement industry’s first full carbon capture and storage (CCS) installation at its 1.4Mt/yr integrated Edmonton plant in Alberta in partnership with Canada’s International CCS Knowledge Centre. The installation will have a CO2 capture rate of between 90% and 95% and receive an investment of US$1.4m from the state government body Emissions Reduction Alberta (ERA). “We are part of HeidelbergCement’s vision of CO2-neutral concrete by 2050 and are committed to leading global change for CCS in our industry,” said Jeorg Nixdorf, Lehigh Hanson Canada regional president.

Morocco: HeidelbergCement has sold 3.6% of its 54.6% stake in Ciments du Maroc’s share capital. HeidelbergCement chairman Bernd Scheifele expressed the company’s commitment to retaining its majority stake in the total 5.6Mt/yr-capacity cement producer. Scheifele explained that the decision was ‘aimed at generating cash to speed up deleveraging,’ and that it was ‘well on track’ to reach its Euro1.5bn disposal target by the end of 2020.

Bosnia Herzegovina: HeidelbergCement’s Bosnian concrete subsidiary TBG BH has entered into production at its new concrete plant in the southern city of Mostar, bringing its number of plants in active production to seven. Ehlimana Šehmehmedović, TBG BH director, said: “The opening of a concrete production facility in Mostar is part of our strategy to strengthen the supply of quality products to Mostar and Herzegovina.”