People

Spain: Holcim España has appointed José María Gómez as the director of its Jerez cement plant near Cadiz. Gómez previously worked as the Head of Production at the Montcada i Reixac cement plant near Barcelona. He holds over 15 years of experience with the company, including in Malaysia. He is a graduate in environmental sciences from the University of Castilla-La Mancha.

Algeria: Lafarge Algeria has appointed Redouane Djazairi as a plant manager. He has worked for the subsidiary of Holcim for nearly 20 years in a variety of quality control and performance roles. Most recently he held the position of Production Manager. The cement producer operates two integrated plants in the country, at M'Sila and Oggaz respectively.

India: Star Cement has appointed Arindam Acharya as its technical head based at Guwahati in Assam. He was worked in the cement sector for over 15 years, mostly recently holding the post of Assistant General Manager at Dalmia Cement (Bharat). Prior to this he has worked for The Ramco Cements, Ambuja Cements and UltraTech Cement. Achary holds qualification from Shivaji University and the Indian Institute of Management in Kolkata.

India: Sika India has appointed Parag Solanki as its Director of Technology. He previously worked as Vice President- R&D at ACC. Before this, Solanki held a variety of research and development roles at Sika. He also worked for UltraTech Cement and Shree Cement. Solanki holds a PhD from Jai Narain Vyas University in Jodhpur as well as a further qualification from the Indian Institute of Management in Kolkata.

UK: Neville Roberts, a former Technical Director of Cemex UK, has died on 10 February 2023, at the age of 66. He was a notable figure in the alternative fuels sector for the cement industry.

Neville attended Holyhead County School 1969 - 1975, taking Maths, Physics and Chemistry 'A' Levels, as well as representing the school in rugby, football and athletics. Roberts trained as a chemical engineer at Loughborough University and had worked in the cement industry for over 35 years. During his career he started as a process engineer, became a plant manager at a number of cement plants around the world including Chelm, Poland, and was appointed to five director roles for three cement companies. The companies he worked for included Rugby Cement, Castle Cement, RMC, Cemex and Saudi Cement Company. His later roles for Cemex included UK Technical Director (2004 - 12) and Energy Business Development Director (2012 - 13). He worked in the UK, Poland and Saudi Arabia. After leaving Cemex, Roberts set up his own consultancy and later became the managing director for the UK of Netherlands-based N+P Alternative Fuels.

He was a passionate supporter of all things Welsh, especially rugby, and was awarded the Global CemFuels ‘Personality of the Year’ award in 2013. Neville was husband to Patricia, father to Katie and Holly and grandad to Martha, Edie and Albee. He was known to his grandkids as 'Wowo.' Neville Roberts was great company, mentored and influenced many colleagues around the world and will be sorely missed.