Displaying items by tag: Germany

Germany: Martin Stillger has been appointed as the chairman of the executive board of ThyssenKrupp Materials Services. This follows the appointment of Klaus Keysberg, who has moved to the executive board of ThyssenKrupp where he is now responsible for the businesses of Steel Europe and Materials Services.

Stillger has held various leadership and management positions at ThyssenKrupp Materials Services since 2008, most recently as chief executive officer (CEO) of ThyssenKrupp Schulte and the Western Europe and Technical Services operating units. Prior to joining ThyssenKrupp, the qualified mechanical engineer spent 17 years with Barmag, including five years as Chief Sales Officer and five as CEO. He will be succeeded as CEO of ThyssenKrupp Schulte and the Western Europe operating unit by Detlef Schotten, currently CEO of the Eastern Europe and Asia/Pacific operating unit, in January 2020.

In addition, Ilse Henne has also been appointed as Chief Transformation Officer (CTO) with immediate effect to drive transformation and growth. Previously she became Chief Operating Officer (COO) in January 2019 and this role will no longer be filled. The finance and human resources directorates on the board of ThyssenKrupp Materials Services will remain unchanged. Daniel Wodera will continue as chief financial officer (CFO) and Markus Bistram as chief human resources officer (CHRO).

Netherlands: Germany’s HeidelbergCement’s subsidiary Eerste Nederland Cement Industrie (ENCI) announced on 9 December 2019 the upcoming closure of its former 1.8Mt/yr integrated Maastricht plant in 2020. Het Belang van Limburg has reported that the Maastricht plant, which stepped down to grinding-only in March 2019 after 91 years’ kiln operation, received an insufficient supply of clinker from ENCI’s sister company CBR Cement’s 1.5Mt/yr Lixhe plant in Wallonia, Belgium to guarantee profitable production.

Clinker grinding continues at ENCI’s 1.4Mt/yr IJmuiden and 0.6Mt/yr Rotterdam grinding plants, each of which has better access to clinker imports due to their proximity to deepwater ports.

Bangladesh: HeidelbergCement Bangladesh has announced the completion of its acquisition of Emirates Cement and Emirates Power from UltraTech Cement Middle East Investment. Financial Express has reported the value of the deal as US$21.5m.

China: KHD has reported NO_x emissions consistently below 50mg/Nm³ at Tianrui’s 2.0Mt/yr Weihui integrated cement plant in Henan province, where its Pyroredox gasifying reactor has been installed between the kiln inlet chamber and preheater calciner. The NO_x reduction after several months of operation was 66%, while reagent usage fell by 78% compared to with the plant’s selective non-catalytic reducer without a Pyroredox fitted. No extra power or fuel was used and production was unaffected. The Pyroredox requires two to four weeks’ downtime for its installation and is now operational at multiple cement plants across China.

Canada: HeidelbergCement’s Canadian subsidiary Lehigh Cement is trialling the cement industry’s first full carbon capture and storage (CCS) installation at its 1.4Mt/yr integrated Edmonton plant in Alberta in partnership with Canada’s International CCS Knowledge Centre. The installation will have a CO2 capture rate of between 90% and 95% and receive an investment of US$1.4m from the state government body Emissions Reduction Alberta (ERA). “We are part of HeidelbergCement’s vision of CO2-neutral concrete by 2050 and are committed to leading global change for CCS in our industry,” said Jeorg Nixdorf, Lehigh Hanson Canada regional president.

Morocco: HeidelbergCement has sold 3.6% of its 54.6% stake in Ciments du Maroc’s share capital. HeidelbergCement chairman Bernd Scheifele expressed the company’s commitment to retaining its majority stake in the total 5.6Mt/yr-capacity cement producer. Scheifele explained that the decision was ‘aimed at generating cash to speed up deleveraging,’ and that it was ‘well on track’ to reach its Euro1.5bn disposal target by the end of 2020.

Bosnia Herzegovina: HeidelbergCement’s Bosnian concrete subsidiary TBG BH has entered into production at its new concrete plant in the southern city of Mostar, bringing its number of plants in active production to seven. Ehlimana Šehmehmedović, TBG BH director, said: “The opening of a concrete production facility in Mostar is part of our strategy to strengthen the supply of quality products to Mostar and Herzegovina.”

Germany: After five years’ transport planning and dispatch management, Heidelberg’s Inform software has received an update. The new version features an improved user interface and decision-making engine with upgraded algorithms to increase truck fleet productivity. HeidelbergCement’s Head of Logistics Germany Silvio Günther said “On-time delivery and flexibility are vital to our cement customers. Inform’s software allows our cement customer service centre to react quickly.”

Germany: HeidelbergCement’s sales in the first nine months of 2019 were Euro14.3bn, up by 7.0% from Euro13.4bn in the corresponding period of 2018. It reached its savings target for sales and general administration costs of Euro100m 15 months ahead of schedule and cut net debt by Euro1.1bn. Bernd Scheifele, chairman of the managing board of HeidelbergCement, said “Price increases and strict cost discipline more than compensated for slightly weaker demand in the third quarter.”

Sweden: Construction and engineering conglomerate Peab’s subsidiary Swecem has engaged German-based Gebr. Pfeiffer for the supply of one MVR 2500 C-4 grinding mill at its granulated blast furnace slag (GBFS) grinding plant in Oxelösund in Södermanland. The mill has four grinding rollers and a table diameter of 2.5m, giving it a 25t/hr slag grinding capacity.

Swecem operates a concrete plant in Kungsängen. It currently uses ground granulated blast furnace slag (GGBFS) supplied by Irish-based Ecocem’s 0.7Mt/yr Dunkirk grinding plant in France.