Displaying items by tag: Bags

Starlinger revealed this week that it had taken on copycats in China and won. The packaging machine manufacturer said that it had sued a number of China-based machine manufacturers and their customers, packaging producers, based on infringement of several of its patents. An out-of-court settlement was eventually reached with the case going before both a civil court and a Chinese court specialised in intellectual property. Naturally, Austria-based Starlinger did not say what the settlement involved other than stating that the proceedings had been “...settled with strict obligations for the machine manufacturers.”

It’s unclear how directly the case affected the cement sector. Starlinger did say that the case involved a replica of a proprietary sack conversion line for producing woven plastic sacks. Packaging producers, often in Asia, use Starlinger’s conversion lines to manufacture proprietary block bottom valve sacks made of polypropylene tape fabric for the cement and construction industries, although they are also used for other dry bulk goods such as rice, flour or chemical granulates.

Starlinger’s reasons for going public are interesting given that most companies steer well clear of discussing legal matters openly. In the accompanying press statement Harald Neumüller, the chief strategy officer of Starlinger, used the disclosure to promote his products by saying “Only the best are copied, as the saying goes.” He then went on to underline the company’s strengths in research and development. Yet he also admitted that this was “...little consolation if it has economic consequences for innovative machine manufacturers like us.”

Firstly it should be noted that battles over patents and ideas happen everywhere from time to time. Discussing international copyright theft has become politicised because it plays into the geopolitical rivalry between the US, Europe and China. One US-government commissioned estimate in 2017 reckoned that the US economy was losing US$225 - 600bn/yr due to counterfeit goods, pirated software and theft of trade secrets. This report has been criticised but it gives one an idea of the scale of the concern. However, there are also plenty of prognosticators in the western media who have spent the last two decades warning of a hard landing in the Chinese economy that hasn’t happened.

Bringing this discussion back to cement, following the collapse of the real estate market since 2021, cement output has fallen. Data from the National Bureau of Statistics of China shows that output decreased by 11% year-on-year to 1.33Bnt in the nine months from January to September 2024. This appears to be following a similar decline in local real estate investment. The market is still correcting itself and the government is making gradual changes but there has been no apparent cataclysm so far. China-based equipment suppliers don’t appear to have suffered to the same degree due to their foreign orders.

The standard western narrative is that when European or American companies sold their equipment in China from the 1990s onwards they contended with a rocketing economy and lax intellectual property (IP) enforcement. Such an environment reputedly made it easy for some local companies to copy machinery and sell it more cheaply. At the same time China’s industries legitimately surpassed their competitors leading to criticism about how they did it. Publicly available evidence of this behaviour in the cement sector is limited. One of the few includes action by Haver & Boecker, another packaging machine manufacturer, in the late 2010s. However, anecdotally, the view that IP was stolen in China is prevalent in the west whether it is true or false. No doubt readers will have their own experiences and opinions. None of which would be publishable. The issue has been superseded though as China’s cement sector has become the largest in the world by a considerable margin. The biggest manufacturers of cement plants in the world are now Chinese companies too. They either use their own equipment or buy in western kit depending on what the customer wants. They also own a number of their overseas competitors and more potential acquisitions look likely.

All of this is what makes Starlinger’s admission unusual. It has taken a stand and it may have paid off. At the very least the equipment supplier is wringing publicity out of the affair regardless of how big - or small - the settlement may have been. Others may follow.

Spain: Mondi has launched the 'SolmixBag', a sustainable packaging solution, in collaboration with Cemex in the Balearic Islands of Ibiza, Mallorca and Menorca. The single-layer paper bag is designed to store and transport dry mortar, dissolving in the mixing process and integrating with the cement to reduce waste. The Balearic Islands have strict legal requirements on landfilling, waste incineration and extended producer responsibility, which have reportedly initiated the partnership.

Commercial Director at Mondi, Fabio Barbieri, said "This is an exciting step in the trajectory of SolmixBag, which offers an easy and convenient solution to use on construction sites. The product launch brings our MAP2030 goals to life by effectively reducing waste, and also illustrates our collaborative approach.”

Portugal: Sacopor has inaugurated a new bag production line at its paper bag plant near Lisbon. The new line will increase capacity to 160 million bags per year from 130 million at present. It had an investment of €11.5m. The subsidiary of Cimpor sells bags to the cement mortar industries.

Mexico: Members of the National Cement Chamber (Canacem) are set to reduce cement bag weights from 50kg to 25kg to comply with NOM-036, according to El Financiero, which aims to prevent and control musculoskeletal and ergonomic diseases in construction workers. The shift affects companies such as Cemex, Cementos Moctezuma, GCC, Cemento Cruz Azul, Cementos Fortaleza and Holcim.

The standard came into effect on 31 March 2024, but Cementos Moctezuma has already started transitioning to 25kg bags. José Barroso, CEO of Cementos Moctezuma, said "Since 2023, Cementos Moctezuma began the transition from 50kg to 25kg bags in all of its packaged product family.” He added "In Mexico, musculoskeletal disorders represent almost half of the occupational injuries, so we are already implementing changes in our plants to operate according to the new standard.”

Mexico: Cooperativa La Cruz Azul subsidiary CYCNA de Oriente has commissioned a 518,000 bag/day paper bag plant next to its 1.1Mt/yr cement plant in Palmar de Bravo, Puebla.

The Reto Diario newspaper has reported that Cooperativa La Cruz Azul chair Victor Manuel Velázquez said that the paper bag plant will help to maximise the group’s impact in the local community.

UK: Cemcor has installed a new US$7.54m bag filter at its Cookstown cement plant in County Tyrone. The system will detect signs of bag damage and isolate the affected row of bags for either online maintenance or, if the damage is minor, resealing with process dust.

The Irish News has reported that managing director David Millar said “We are forward thinking at Cemcor and understood it was time to put our money on the line and invest in the plant's efficiencies and sustainable outputs, to protect the environment around us and future-proof the plant itself."

Colombia: Cemex has announced the launch of the Tunjuelo Circularity Centre at its former Tunjuelo quarry near Bogotá. Having rebuilt parts of the 50m-deep quarry with demolition waste, Cemex will now work on its ecological restoration, while continuing to receive excavation waste for reconstruction of the ground. It will meanwhile divert demolition waste deliveries for recycling in aggregate production. In Bogotá, Cemex has launched an initiative for urban construction partnerships in collaboration with local authorities. It will also collect municipal solid waste (MSW) there for use in its cement production and collect its used plastic cement bags for recycling in building materials production.

Cemex’s Colombia and Peru president Alejandro Ramírez said "This is a pioneering model for Cemex in the construction materials industry globally, which we aim to position as a benchmark for circularity within the sustainable development of large cities in Colombia and the world. A piece of land that supplied materials for Bogotá's development for decades has received construction and demolition waste for its redevelopment and was transformed into a green area to the south of the city, an epicenter of the circular economy and an opportunity for urban development for the capital city of Colombia." 


Ghana: A court has issued an injunction for Empire Cement to desist from operating its unlicensed McCarthy Hills cement facility. Ghana News Agency has reported that the China-based producer's activities at the site present a health hazard to local people. The McCarthy Hills Residents' Association said that the company was established to be exclusively a producer of paper bags for cement products.

Austria: Starlinger launched its new 22% recycled plastic cement bags at the K Show trade fair in Düsseldorf, Germany. The bag implements Starlinger’s GripTEC technology, which increases the coefficient of friction on bag surfaces so that stacked bags do not easily slip.

Philippines: Holcim Philippines has launched its ECOPlanet 30% reduced-CO₂ cement range in the city of Davao on Mindanao. The producer also introduced its Balik-Plastic waste cement bag recycling programme, offering a collection service to customers in order to reuse waste bags as alternative fuels and raw materials in cement production at its Davao plant.