Displaying items by tag: Packing plant

Nigeria: Lafarge Africa has opened a bag manufacturing unit at its Ewekoro cement plant in Ogun State. It has a bag production capacity of 105m/yr. The company says it is the first of its kind in the country. It is intended to increase the availability of bags through large-scale production locally. The project is a joint-venture run with MDV Industries.

Khaled El Dokani, the country chief executive officer for Lafarge Africa, said “We are using the best technology that produces the most efficient and durable bag in Nigeria. It is a very great day for us at Lafarge Africa.”

Philippines: Germany-based TÜV Nord has awarded three ISO certificates to Philcement Corporation's Bataan cement bagging plant and distribution centre in Mariveles. The facility achieved an ISO 9001:2015 for quality management, an ISO 45001:2018 for occupational health and safety management and an ISO 14001:2015 for environmental management.

Philcement Corporation, a subsidiary of PHINMA Corporation, previously secured a loan towards an upgrade to the Bataan terminal in September 2022.

Chair Ramon del Rosario Junior said “As we continue to provide a reliable and consistent supply of cement products of good quality, these ISO certifications attest to PHINMA, Philcement and our partners’ expertise in this industry. These give us even greater confidence in our operations and especially in the products that we offer our customers."

India: Kanodia Cement has commissioned its new Amethi cement plant in Uttar Pradesh. The plant consists of four grinding units spread over an area of 18ha. Indo-Asian News Service has reported that the facility’s equipment includes two 12-spout rotary packers and six floor-mounted truck loading machines, supplied by Denmark-based FLSmidth. Kanodia Cement says that the new plant marks progress in line with its sustainable development plant. Its operations will directly and indirectly employ 1000 people.

Philippines: Eagle Cement recorded consolidated sales of US$324m in the first nine months of 2021, up by 63% year-on-year. The company said that its cement volumes recorded double-digit growth during the period. Its earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) were US$134m, up by 59% from US$83.9m. Its net profit meanwhile rose by 89% to US$102m from US$53.9m.

The company also announced that it has completed its expansion of its 7.1Mt/yr Bulacan cement plant in Luzon. The newly commissioned plant now boasts a fifth grinding mill, a third packing facility and a fifth cement silo, along with new supporting facilities.

Ghana: Ghacem plans to spend US$100m on building a new cement plant at Kumasi in the Ashanti Region. The new 1.5Mt/yr unit at Kumasi is intended to serve central and northern regions of the country, according to the Daily Graphic newspaper. The plant will use calcined clay as an additive. Construction is expected to take 18 months with commissioning planned for the first quarter of 2023.

The subsidiary of Germany-based HeidelbergCement is also planning upgrades to its grinding plants at Tema and Takoradi. The work at the Tema will include the addition of a new grinding and packing plant and an upgrade of existing equipment. It is expected to be completed by the end of 2021. Work at Takoradi will then follow afterwards.

Ghana: Dzata Cement, a 1.2Mt/yr bagging plant based in Tema, plans to start commercial production by June 2021. The unit cost US$100m and includes a two line bagging and packaging equipment supplied by Germany-based Haver & Boecker, according to the Ghana News Agency. It will use imported cement. Proposed later phases at the site will see an upgrade in bagging operations to 2.4Mt/yr and the eventual installation of two 3Mt/yr vertical roller mills. As a safeguard against surges of cement imports the government has also introduced new export and import legislation requiring licenses for imports from outside the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) region.

The plant’s founder Ibrahim Mahama is the brother of former Ghanian president John Dramani Mahama. In November 2020 the Ghana News Agency reported that Kofi Amoabeng, the former chief executive officer of UT Bank, said that loans made to companies including Dzata Cement had contributed to the bank being declared insolvent in 2017.

Peru: Yura plans to upgrade its Arequipa cement plant at a cost of US$200m. The planned upgrade will increase the plant’s clinker production capacity to 8000t/day from 5000t/day. The La República newspaper has reported that the sustainability-enhancing expansion involves the installation of a new vertical roller mill, packing, storage and dispatch equipment and a 4.3km raw materials conveyor. General manager Ramón Pizá called the modernisation a “vote of faith in Peru.”

UK: Cemex UK has announced plans for two new plastic packing production lines at Rugby cement plant. The company said that the lines will directly serve the plastic packing needs of packed cement production at the plant. The total investment cost of the installation will be Euro5.6m. Work will begin in early 2021 and be completed from June 2021. Cemex first entered the plastic packed cement market in 2011.

Myanmar: Switzerland-based LafargeHolcim says it is liquidating its subsidiary in Myanmar. The group says it decided in 2017 to exit its operations in Myanmar. Subsequently, it wound the company down in 2018, with no local employees and no product sales. Its cement repacking plant in Thilawa special economic zone (SEZ) originally opened in 2014.

The announcement follows the discovery by the Sonntags Zeitung newspaper of military links (Tatmadaw) with two companies allegedly linked to a sale of the assets. In mid-2019 the United Nations (UN) recommended that multinational companies operating in the country, “should conduct heightened due diligence to ensure they are not benefiting the Tatmadaw,” following the persecution of the mainly-Muslim Rohingya in Rakhine state from mid-2017.

Russia: Eurocement subsidiary Belgorodsky Cement has dispatched the first batch of bagged cement from the new packing and palletising line at its 3.8Mt/yr integrated plant in Belgorod West, Belgorod Oblast. The 70t/hr-capacity line produces 50kg cement bags on pallets of 1.7t (34 bags).

Eurocement has also announced the first delivery of cement from its Belgorodsky Cement plant to Yaroslavl, Tolyatti and Nizhny Novgorod by river in 2020. Eurocement senior vice president Alexander Sapronov said, “The delivery of products by river transport is one of the most cost-effective methods of transportation. High-quality loading and reliable packaging guarantee consumers complete cargo safety.”

Eurocement has continued production throughout the coronavirus outbreak, but has restricted meetings, conferences and training sessions since 23 March 2020. The Group said, “Eurocement products are strategically important to the nation's economy. In order to ensure smooth operation of production facilities and of the group as a whole, measures have been taken to minimise the risk of spreading the coronavirus.” These include: ‘regular health check-ups and temperature measurements for employees and subcontractors, air disinfection, antiseptic treatment of operational surfaces, provision of skin antiseptics in toilets and informing employees about safety recommendations.’