Displaying items by tag: Italcementi

Italy: Germany-based HeidelbergCement is reportedly considering a relocation of its subsidiary Italcementi’s research centre from Bergamo, Lombardy to Heidelberg in Baden Württemberg, Germany. The Italia Oggi newspaper has reported that Italcementi said, "The reorganisation of innovation and product research activities will be concentrated on a global level to better enhance the important skills acquired in Bergamo, making them available to all the countries that are part of the group. The process of relocation to Heidelberg of the research activities will be defined in detail during 2021 and at the same time all the possible solutions for the workers involved will be implemented through internal or external relocation offers."

The proposed move has attracted local resistance. Chamber of Deputies member for Lombardy Maurizio Martina said, “All the institutions, from the national government to the regional council, must promote an initiative to discuss with the owners the choice of moving the HeidelbergCement research centre to the German headquarters. The agreements signed in 2016 were different: we are talking about one of the most important research centres in the world, which brings quality employment and added value to Bergamo and Lombardy, and it is essential to do everything to ensure that it remains in our territory."

Germany: HeidelbergCement says that it has supplied concrete for the construction of an 80m² two-storey detached house in Beckum, North Rhine-Westphalia. The concrete contains i.tech 3D, a ground sulphoaluminate clinker developed by HeidelbergCement subsidiary Italcementi for use as an additive in concrete for 3D printing. Engineering & Innovation head Jennifer Scheydt said, “The development of a cement-bound material for 3D printing is a major challenge. It should be easy to pump and extrude. It must also quickly develop sufficient load-bearing capacity so that the lower layers do not give out under the load of the upper layers. At the same time, the bond between the layers must be ensured.”

The property, the first of its kind, will consist of three-shelled insulation-filled walls when completed in late 2020.

Italy: Italcementi and Calcestruzzi have supplied specialists and products, including 67,000m³ of concrete, for the Genoa-San Giorgio Bridge. The new structure has been built to replace the Morandi Bridge that collapsed in mid-2018. Products from the integrated Calusco d'Adda cement plant, the Novi Ligure grinding plant and Calcestruzzi’s concrete plants in Genoa supported the project.

Italy: HeidelbergCement subsidiary Italcementi’s Chiaravagna concrete plant in Genoa, Liguria has received international sustainability certification from the Concrete Sustainability Council (CSC). The certificate, rating silver, acknowledges responsibly-sourced concrete across five categories: pre-requisites, management, environmental sustainability, social sustainability and economic sustainability. It aims to validate the entire process chain, from transportation to the recycling of raw materials.

The plant uses CEM-III ground granulated blast furnace slag (GGBFS) cement from Italcementi’s Novi Ligure grinding plant in Alessandria, made from clinker from the company’s Calusco d’Adda plant in Bergamo. The cement has specific CO₂ emissions of 500kg/t. It is supplying concrete for the reconstruction of the Morandi Bridge that collapsed in 2018.

Italcementi said, “This result adds to those already achieved by Italcementi and Calcestruzzi in terms of sustainability, such as the new range of Eco.build green concretes capable of meeting the requirements of green procurement, and the availability of the environmental product declaration (EPD) for different types of cement and concrete.”

Italy: Italcementi’s integrated Calusco plant near Bergamo has been awarded a Responsible Sourcing Scheme (RSS) certificate for its concrete and related supply chain operations. The certification looks at the entire production process from transportation to recycling raw materials. It is the first cement plant in the Italian subsidiary of HeidelbergCement to obtain the certification.

Italcementi suspended operation at its plants in March 2020 due to the coronavirus outbreak due to government decree.

Germany: HeidelbergCement started the new year better than ever before, according to chief executive officer (CEO) Dominik von Achten. He reported that this had been mainly due to good weather before the onset of the coronavirus outbreak. Von Achten warned that the situation had already changed beyond recognition since mid-February 2020 for the multinational.

He said that the coronavirus outbreak had not only caused plants to be closed, either by enforcement or due to a lack of demand, but because migrant workers are unable to travel to construction sites. For example, workers from Eastern Europe are increasingly lacking in Western Europe. In Indonesia, a market that is important for HeidelbergCement, the lack of Chinese construction workers is stark, as they remain confined to their home country.

According to Von Achten, HeidelbergCement is now paying particular attention to its costs, has deferred all unnecessary investments and has considerable liquidity leeway. He added that the group is likely to benefit significantly from lower fuel costs as conditions improve over the course of 2020. HeidelbergCement is currently particularly affected in Lombardy, where its Italcementi subsidiary has its headquarters. HeidelbergCement has shut down its factories in Italy and imposed a freeze on hiring and non-essential spending. "You can see it's hitting the world like a wave," says Von Achten. "It's a tough test."

Germany: HeidelbergCement’s profit was Euro1.24bn in 2019, down by 3.4% from Euro1.23bn in 2018. Its revenue grew by 4.3% to Euro18.9bn from Euro18.1bn. HeidelbergCement says that it reduced its specific net CO₂ emissions by 1.5% year-on-year to 590kg/t from 599kg/t in 2018 and ‘intensified its research and development (R&D) efforts on carbon capture and utilisation/storage (CCU/S)’ in every operating region globally.

The group announced a year-on-year increase in volumes in the first two months of 2020, with all but three of its plants (HeidelbergCement subsidiary Italcementi’s 2.8Mt/yr Calusco plant, 2.5Mt/yr Rezzato plant and 0.6Mt/yr Tavernola plant in Lombardy region, Italy) still operating through the coronavirus pandemic, though it noted that construction is slowing in the US, Australia and Western Europe due to the outbreak.

HeidelbergCement cancelled its 7 May 2020 annual general meeting (AGM) ‘due to the spread of the coronavirus.’

Italy: HeidelbergCement and its Italian subsidiary Italcementi are each donating Euro100,000 to the Ospedale Papa Giovanni XXIII in Bergamo. The region in Lombardy in Northern Italy has been markedly affected by the coronavirus outbreak with over 400 fatalities since February 2020. Italcementi’s headquarters is located in the city. Italcementi's managing director Roberto Callieri has also invited employees to support the hospital and other institutions.

UK: InterBulk Group delivered a batch of Italcementi’s I.tech Ali-Na sulphoaluminate binder produced at its 0.3Mt/yr Guardiaregia cement plant in Molise, Italy to fellow HeidelbergCement subsidiary Hanson’s concrete plant in Hull, UK, on 28 January 2020. Hanson will use the low-environmental-impact binder in the production of fast-setting premixes for the UK market.

Italy: Giampiero Pesenti, the former chairman of Italcementi, has died at the age of 88. The grandson of one the brothers who created the company in 1906, he took a degree in mechanical engineering from the Polytechnic University of Milan and then started working for Italcementi in 1958. He became chief operating officer and chief executive officer (CEO) before becoming its chairman, according to Reuters. He was known informally at Italcementi as ‘Engineer Giampiero.’ Notably, the Italian cement producer purchased Ciments Francais in 1992, under his leadership, greatly increasing its size. Italcementi was purchased by Germany’s HeidelbergCement in 2016.