Displaying items by tag: Continental Cement

US: Summit Materials subsidiary Continental Cement’s 1.1Mt/yr Davenport, Iowa, cement plant has become the latest US cement plant to transition to 100% Portland limestone cement (PLC) production.

Summit Materials executive vice president Tom Beck said "Our transition to PLC at Davenport aligns with the Portland Cement Association (PCA)'s Roadmap to Carbon Neutrality.” He continued “It is critical that the industry comes together and acts now to create sustainable building solutions for decades to come. The US cement and concrete industries can collectively address climate change, decrease greenhouse gas emissions and eliminate barriers that are restricting environmental progress through the continued adoption of product and manufacturing innovations."

US: A court has instructed Continental Cement to pay a worker who acted as an employee representative during Mine Safety and Health Administration (MHSA) inspections at its Hannibal, Missouri, quarry. The Insurance Journal newspaper has reported that the producer reduced the worker's pay as a mobile equipment operator by a total of US$388 over a period of days in March and April 2020. In addition to paying the worker, Continental Cement must pay a US$17,500 fine to the US Treasury for violation of the Mine Safety and Health Act. It is also required to expunge any adverse information related to the whistleblower complaint from the employee's personnel record and to post information on miner's rights in employee areas.

MSHA district manager Robert Simms said "The MSHA investigation found Continental Cement clearly discriminated against the worker for serving as the miners' representative. Federal discrimination laws exist to protect workers from penalties for serving as safety and health representatives while on the job." Simms concluded "The judge's decision sends the message that retaliation is a costly mistake for employers."

US: Continental Cement Company has appointed Mike Gordon as Senior Vice President, Sales and Marketing. He previously worked as Vice President, Sales and Marketing at the building materials producer since 2015. Prior to this Gordon worked in a variety of roles for Lafarge North America since 1991.

US: Summit Materials' revenue rose by 3% year-on-year to US$739m in the first half of 2019 from US$717m in the same period in 2018. Its adjusted earnings before interest, taxation, deprecation and amortisation (EBITDA) grew by 4% to US$147m from US$141m. Cement sales volumes increased by 2% to 1Mt from 0.97Mt. Tom Hill, the chief executive officer of Summit Materials, noted that flooding on the Mississippi River had presented ‘significant’ challenges for its cement business during the second quarter of 2019.

Summit Materials is active in the aggregates, asphalt and concrete sectors. It also owns Continental Cement, a cement producer that runs two integrated cement plants at Hannibal, Missouri and Davenport, Iowa.

US: Argos USA’s Harleyville cement plant in South Carolina and Grupo Cementos de Chihuahua’s (GCC) Pueblo plant in Colorado have been awarded Energy Star certification by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for the first time. Altogether 100 manufacturing plants across different industries earned the certification in 2018.

24 cement plants received the certification in 13 states. These cement companies included Alamo Cement, Argos USA, Buzzi Unicem, CalPortland, Cemex, Continental Cement, GCC, Holcim US, Lehigh Cement, Salt River Materials and Titan America.

“America’s cement manufacturers’ commitment to sustainable manufacturing have led to improved equipment reliability, energy efficiency, and the increased the use of alternative fuels,” said Portland Cement Association president and chief executive officer (CEO) Mike Ireland.

US: Continental Cement’s Hannibal plant has been awarded Energy Star certification by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). To qualify for the certification the cement producer was required to perform in the top 25% of cement plants nationwide for total energy efficiency (thermal and electrical) and meet environmental performance levels set by the EPA.

“Continental Cement Company is pleased to accept EPA’s Energy Star certification in recognition of our energy efficiency efforts,” said Matt Helms, plant manager at the unit.

To earn the Energy Star certification Continental Cement established an energy management policy, it identified operating characteristics and energy usage, it promoted energy efficiency and it followed the Energy Star guidelines for energy management.

US: The Portland Cement Association (PCA) has elected Tom Beck, president of Continental Cement Company, as the chairman of the PCA board of directors in 2019. Ron Henley, president of GCC of America, was elected vice chairman at a PCA board meeting in late October 2018. Beck takes over the PCA board chairmanship role from Allen Hamblen, president and chief executive officer (CEO) of CalPortland Company.

A past chairman of the American Concrete Pavement Association, Beck served as Senior Vice President at Continental Cement from 1996 to 2013, and held a variety of positions with Holnam from 1987 to 1996. Prior to joining GCC of America, Henley was President of Boral Construction Materials. He is also a board member of the Denver Scholarship Fund.

US: The Portland Cement Association (PCA) has announced the winners of its Chairman’s Safety Performance, Safety Innovation and Energy and Environment Awards. The awards recognise outstanding safety performance in the manufacturing of Portland cement, creative safety-enhancing projects in the cement industry and outstanding environmental and community relations respectively.

“The facilities recognised today are to be congratulated for their safety achievements,” said Allen Hamblen, PCA chairman and president and chief executive officer of CalPortland, in relation to the Safety Performance Awards.

Winners of the 2017 PCA Chairman’s Safety Performance Awards:

Category: Less than 226,000 hours
Buzzi Unicem USA – Chattanooga, Tennessee
LafargeHolcim US – Morgan, Utah
Lehigh Hanson, Inc. – Tehachapi, California

Category: 226,001 - 289,000 hours
Ash Grove Cement – Foreman, Arkansas
GCC Permian – Odessa, Texas
Lehigh Hanson, Inc. – Leeds, Alabama

Category: 289,001 - 563,000 hours
Cemex USA – Brooksville, Florida
Cemex USA – New Braunfels, Texas
Martin Marietta Materials – New Braunfels, Texas

Winners of the 2017 Safety Innovation Awards:

Milling/Grinding
Ash Grove Cement, Montana City, Montana

Pyroprocessing
Cemex USA, Balcones, Texas

Distribution
CalPortland Cement Terminal, Portland, Oregon
LafargeHolcim US, Corporate Program, Chicago

Winners of the 2017 Energy and Environment Awards:

Energy Efficiency
Cemex USA Construction Materials, Pacific, LLC, Victorville, California

Environmental Performance
Cemex USA Construction Materials, Pacific, LLC, Victorville, California

Land Stewardship
Continental Cement Company/Green America Recycling, Hannibal, Missouri

Outreach Winner
Mitsubishi Cement Corporation, Lucerne Valley, California

US: Summit Materials cement business’ sales revenue rose by 49% year-on-year to US$250m in 2016 from US$168m in 2015. Its sales volumes of cement grew by 37% to 2.36Mt from 1.72Mt. Its adjusted earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) grew by 51% to US$113m from US$74.8m. It attributed the improvement to higher prices, cost reductions production efficiencies and increased sales volumes due to the acquisition of the Davenport cement assets in July 2015

“Our cement business represents a clear catalyst for growth heading into 2017,” said Tom Hill, chief executive officer of Summit Materials. “Limited domestic production capacity and continued growth in US demand have combined to create opportunities for sustained growth in industry industry pricing. During the fourth quarter, our cement segment generated organic price and volume growth of 6.8% and nearly 1%, respectively. Looking ahead to the remainder of 2017, we anticipate continued adjusted EBITDA growth in our cement business, as supported by sustained growth in organic cement prices and sales volumes along the Mississippi River corridor.”

US: The Portland Cement Association (PCA) has elected Allen Hamblen, president and chief executive officer of CalPortland Company, as chairman of the PCA board of directors, and Tom Beck, president of Continental Cement Company, was elected vice chairman. Hamblen takes over PCA board chairmanship from John Stull, chief executive officer of US Cement for LafargeHolcim US.

Prior to 2006, Hamblen was president and chief executive officer of Glacier Northwest and has worked with CalPortland and its predecessor for 31 years. He is a former chairman of the National Ready Mixed Concrete Association, a trustee of the Ready Mixed Concrete Research and Education Foundation and is a former president of the Washington Aggregates and Concrete Association.

Beck has served as senior vice president at Continental Cement from 2005 to 2013, and as vice president of sales and marketing from 1996 to 2005. He is also a former chairman of the American Concrete Paving Association.