- Written by Robert McCaffrey Editorial Director, Global Cement Magazine
I’ve recently read a book called ‘Postcapitalism,’ by Paul Mason, which was subtitled ‘A guide to our future.’ The blurb on the front, written by Irvine Welsh, stated that it was ‘The most important book about our economy and society to be published in my lifetime.’ Having completed the book, I’m disinclined to believe the veracity of Mr Welsh’s statement. However, the book did have some interesting points to make, which might impact on everyone involved in the global cement and building materials industry.
- Written by Robert McCaffrey Editorial Director, Global Cement Magazine
I was recently visiting the Sant Vincenç dels Horts cement plant of Cementos Molins S.A., on the field trip of the Global CemFuels Conference in nearby Barcelona, when I noticed a small dark bird perching on a stump, just between the preheater tower and the main petcoke storage building. The bird bobbed up and down a few times and then flew into the nearest tree. It reminded me of a wagtail, only it was much darker. I didn’t get a great look at it. Then, at the end of the tour, we congregated at the striking concrete-built headquarters building, and I noticed a tiny bird singing for all it was worth in the coniferous tree just outside the entrance. It was hard enough to even spot it, let alone identify it and it soon flew off. However, seeing these two birds in such an industrial location made me think.
- Written by Robert McCaffrey Editorial Director, Global Cement Magazine
How much debt is the right amount? My guess is that everyone reading this column will have a slightly different answer. Some might say, ‘Neither a borrower nor a lender be,’ or words to that effect, suggesting that their level of debt is zero. Some will no doubt have too much debt - where the repayments are not affordable. Most readers will have some level of debt (on a mortgage, car payments, credit cards etc) and will find that the level of repayments is currently affordable. Hopefully no readers are subject to the depradations of usury: the practice of making unethical or immoral monetary loans that unfairly enrich the lender1.
- Written by Robert McCaffrey Editorial Director, Global Cement Magazine
So, ‘Global Cement’ is 20 years old. The fore-runner of this magazine - Asian Cement and Construction Materials Magazine - was first published in January 1997. The magazine was later amalgamated with other titles to become GCL: Global Cement and Lime Magazine and finally became simply Global Cement Magazine in October 2006. The original magazine was created in an attic on a computer with a then-huge memory of 1Gb. Each issue took up 500Mb of space, and so had to be separately archived each month, to make room for the next month’s issue. We used huge SyQuest disk drives to send data to the printer. We scanned in real photographs using a scanner that cost around Euro/$/£3000 - something you could buy now for less than £300. When that first issue was published, I was a young man of 29, with a full head of hair, and was yet to meet my wife.
- Written by Robert McCaffrey Editorial Director, Global Cement Magazine
Artificial intelligence (AI) is here. It’s probably in your pocket right now, or perhaps on your table at home. It might be in the next call centre that you telephone, or behind a pop-up ‘Would you like to chat?’ screen next time you shop for something online.
