Displaying items by tag: Ash Grove

US: Colorado-based energy company NovoHydrogen plans to establish a hydrogen production facility at the Ash Grove Cement plant near Durkee, Oregon. Funded by the 2021 federal Bipartisan Infrastructure Act, the plant aims to start producing hydrogen fuel by 2028, according to CEO and founder Matt McMonagle. The hydrogen produced would be stored at the plant to be used to fuel trucks and other vehicles on-site, as well as potentially being used to power the plant. The construction of the plant will reportedly create 50 jobs.

Phillip Teintze, manager at the Durkee plant, said "The Ash Grove Cement Durkee plant is active in many opportunities to decarbonise our industry. Solutions for low carbon cement manufacturing are significantly challenging in terms of processes and expense. The Durkee plant is excited to see the development of NovoHydrogen’s efforts with the Department of Energy’s Pacific Northwest Hydrogen Hub. As hydrogen becomes environmentally and economically viable, we believe our facility could act as a distribution site, and potentially utilise hydrogen as a fuel to displace traditional fossil fuels.”

CRH, formerly Cement Roadstone Holdings, announced this week that CEO Albert Manifold is retiring at the end of 2024. He will be replaced by current chief financial officer Jim Mintern in the role. Manifold will continue to work as an advisor to CRH in 2025. Manifold’s time at the head of CRH marks a decade of considerable change at the group. Crudely, CRH had a market capitalisation of US$19bn at the start of 2014 when Manifold became CEO. At the end of 2023 the group’s market capitalisation was US$50bn.

From a cement sector perspective the big events during Manifold’s tenure include CRH’s acquisition of assets around the world from the Lafarge-Holcim merger in 2015, the purchase of Ash Grove Cement in the US in 2018, the divestment of various businesses in emerging markets and the move of the company’s primary listing to the New York Stock Exchange in 2023. However, at the same time, CRH has been constantly sharpening its portfolio. So, for example, the group bought Germany-based lime and aggregates company Fels in 2017 only to later sell off its European lime business in 2023 and 2024. In the late 2010s the group sold off its US and Europe-based distribution businesses. Then, in 2022, it divested its Building Envelope business. Manifold was also the inaugural president of the Global Cement and Concrete Association (GCCA) when it formed in 2018.

Fairly or unfairly, CRH has given the sense over the last decade of often being ahead of the curve in following the cement markets. After it increased its portfolio when Lafarge and Holcim merged, it sold up relatively quickly in India and Brazil. Famously during an earnings call for CRH’s second quarter results in 2019, Manifold said that the group was prioritising its businesses in the developed world. CRH’s focus on the US in the late 2010s through the acquisition of Ash Grove Cement set it up well for the current strength of the cement market in North America, long before others joined the party. Another striking Manifold statement came at the company’s annual general meeting in 2023 when, in the run-up to the US listing move, he described his company as a ‘de facto’ American company.

Things that may have gone less well for Manifold on the cement side, that we know about, include CRH’s quiet attempt to divest its business in the Philippines in the late 2010s. The company wasn’t alone in trying through. Holcim publicly said that it had signed a deal to sell its local business in 2019 only to declare that it wasn’t happening the following year. Cemex is currently in the process of selling its subsidiary in the country, DMCI Holdings, but it hasn’t concluded yet. More recent acquisitions such as assets from Martin Marietta Materials in Texas in early 2024 and a majority stake in Adbri in Australia are clearly strategic and fit the definition of ‘bolt-on’ but they seem to lack the grand ambition of the earlier big deals.

Questions have also been asked about Manifold’s pay over the years. From 2016 onwards the Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS), for example, has repeatedly raised concerns about executive pay rises at CRH and recommended on occasion that shareholders reject them. Manifold became the highest paid head of an Irish public company and was reportedly the third highest paid CEO on the Financial Times Stock Exchange 100 Index (FTSE 100) in 2022. His response from one interview with the Irish Times newspaper in 2018 was simply: “I’m employed and paid very well to deliver shareholder returns.”

Looking back over the last decade, CRH was well placed to take advantage of the Lafarge-Holcim merger before Manifold started in 2014 but once he was in place it went for it and he led the charge. Yet, the Ash Grove Cement acquisition may prove to be the more momentous move given the current divergence of the European and North American markets. As readers may remember from the time, Summit Materials made a public counter offer but it was rebuffed. Albert Manifold was in charge of CRH and so he takes the credit. These are big shoes to fill. As Richie Boucher, the chair of CRH said in Manifold’s outgoing statement, “Under Albert’s leadership CRH has delivered superior growth and performance with consistently improving profitability, cash generation and returns.”

US: Ash Grove Cement has acquired Geofortis, which operates a raw natural pozzolan milling and classifying line in Toole, Utah, along with a nearby deposit.

President of Ash Grove Cement Serge Smith posted on LinkedIn "Integrating the Geofortis plant and team into the Ash Grove family aligns perfectly with our long-term growth strategy and commitment to sustainability. These high-quality natural pozzolan products complement our existing portfolio and will enable us to offer more environmentally friendly solutions to our customers. This acquisition reinforces our dedication to developing sustainable solutions that build, connect and improve our world."

Canada: Ash Grove Mississauga cement plant has entered a proposal with the Ministry of Environment Conservation and Parks to burn alternative fuels. This includes materials such as construction and demolition materials, paper fibre, wood, plastic and industrial rubber, according to the Insauga newspaper. Local residents have expressed concerns about potential toxicity and environmental impacts due to emissions from the plant entering the atmosphere. The association reportedly objected to a previous application allowing higher emissions levels at the plant. Ash Grove will address these concerns in a public meeting scheduled for 12 September 2024.

US: The Portland Cement Association (PCA) has elected Massimo Toso as its next chair. He is the current president and chief executive officer (CEO) of Buzzi Unicem USA and has worked as the vice chair of the association. He succeeds Filiberto Ruiz, president and CEO of Votorantim Cimentos North America, in the post.

Monica Manolas has been elected as vice chair. She is the first woman in the 21st century to be elected to the position and she currently works as the president of Ash Grove East. Jorge Wagner, CEO of Votorantim Cimentos North America, was also elected to the PCA Board of Directors.

US: Ash Grove Cement plans to build a new cement mill at its cement plant in Durkee, Oregon. The project is scheduled to be completed by the end of 2024. The upgrade is intended to allow the plant to manufacture low-carbon cement products.

Serge Schmidt, the president of Ash Grove Cement, said "The transition to low carbon cement production and reducing our environmental footprint is a top priority for Ash Grove Cement. We are always seeking new ways to improve our sustainability performance while providing high-quality cement solutions to our customers. This state-of-the-art finish mill at our Durkee plant will strengthen Ash Grove's position as a leader in low-carbon cement across the Western US."

US: The Portland Cement Association (PCA) has announced the winners of its 2023 Safety Innovation and Chairman's Safety Performance Awards.

The Safety Innovation Award Program recognises companies that have developed innovative practices, projects and programs that improve safety at cement plants in the US. Entries are judged in five areas: innovation, ease of use and ease of construction, effectiveness and risk prevention. The recipients were:

• Distribution: Continental Cement, Continental Port Allen Terminal, Chesterfield, Missouri
• Quarry: CalPortland Company, CalPortland Oro Grande Plant, Oro Grande, California
• Pyroprocessing: GCC of America, GCC Tijeras Plant, Tijeras, New Mexio
• General Facility: Mitsubishi Cement Corporation, Mitsubishi Cushenbury Plant, Lucerne Valley, California

The Chairman’s Safety Performance Awards are given to member cement plants that did not have a reportable injury or illness during the year. Fifteen plants achieved this in 2023, which represented more than 10% of all active cement facilities in the US and its territories. The recipients were:

• Argos USA, Atlanta, Georgia
• Argos USA, Newberry, Florida
• Argos Puerto Rico Corp, Dorado, Puerto Rico
• Ash Grove Cement Company (CRH), Durkee, Oregon
• Ash Grove Cement Company (CRH), Midlothian, Texas
• Buzzi Unicem USA, Chattanooga, Tennessee
• Buzzi Unicem USA, Maryneal, Texas
• CalPortland Company, Rillito, Arizona
• GCC of America, Odessa, Texas
• Heidelberg Materials, Bellingham, Washington
• Martin Marietta Materials, New Braunfels, Texas
• Martin Marietta Materials, Midlothian, Texas
• Martin Marietta Materials, Tehachapi, California
• National Cement Company of California, Kern, California
• St Marys Cement (Votorantim), Detroit, Michigan

US: Ash Grove Cement has won funding for a US$15.2m front-end engineering design (FEED) study for a carbon capture installation at its 2Mt/yr Foreman cement plant in Arkansas. Parent company CRH said that the study will run for 24 months from its date of commencement. The project team also includes consultancy and research firms Advanced Resources International and Crescent Resource Information, as well as non-profit interstate policy organisation Southern States Energy Board. Equipment suppliers will include France-based industrial gases company Air Liquide and energy company Sargent & Lundy, while electricity provider Talos will participate as an energy sector stakeholder.

The Foreman cement plant carbon capture FEED study is one of eight projects selected by the US Department of Energy to receive part of a US$189m funding pot for carbon capture demonstrations across US industry.

US: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has announced that 10 cements plants have received its Energy Star certification in 2022 from a total of 86 manufacturing plants across all industries. The certification is awarded to the top 25% performers in energy efficiency in each sector. The EPA cited examples of how Titan America’s Troutville plant in Virginia and its Medley plant in Florida had converted production to Portland Limestone Cement (PLC), and achieved a 12% reduction in electricity use and an 18% reduction in CO2 emissions, respectively, thanks to improved energy management. It also mentioned Cemex’s Miami plant in Florida, which increased its energy performance in 2022 by modifying a finish mill, optimising the ball charge on the largest mill and identifying and correcting potential energy losses while also increasing the production of PLC.

Cement plants awarded the Energy Star certification in 2022 include: Drake Cement’s Paulden plant and Salt River Materials Group’ Clarkdale plant in Arizona; GCC’s Pueblo plant in Colorado, Cemex’s Miami plant and Titan America’s Medley plant in Florida; Argos USA’s Harleyville plant in South Carolina; GCC’s Rapid City plant in South Dakota; Buzzi Unicem USA’s Chattanooga plant in Tennessee; Titan America’s Troutville plant in Virginia; and Ash Grove Cement’s Seattle plant in Washington.

US: CRH-subsidiary Ash Grove Cement has appointed Fernando Valencia as Vice President of Manufacturing – Central Ashgrove. He previously worked as a plant manager at LafargeHolcim’s Ste Genevieve plant in Missouri and the Portland Plant at Florence in Colorado. Prior to this he was the plant manager of Holcim US’ Hagerstown Plant in Maryland and also worked as a commissioning manager. Valencia holds a degree in mechanical engineering from the Anahuac University Network and a master’s degree in business administration from the University of Missouri - St Louis.