Displaying items by tag: US

US: Plibrico has appointed John Finch has joined its team as the Southeastern Territory Manager. He will be based in the greater Omaha, Nebraska area. His appointment supports Plibrico’s strategic direction of strengthening partner relationships as well as increasing its nationwide refractory support coverage. He will report to Norm Phelps, Plibrico Vice President of Sales.

Finch began his career in the industrial market working with a boiler and refractory contractor. His background includes over 20 years of experience in technical and project management roles with several different refractory contractors. In these positions, he honed his skill set and areas of expertise including managing projects in mineral processing companies, power plants, boilers, foundries and heat treatment facilities. Finch is an active member of several different industry and refractory associations. He received his Bachelor of Science from the University of Nebraska.

US: Eagle Materials’ revenue rose slightly to US$1.11bn in the nine months to 31 December 2018. Revenue from its Heavy Materials business, including cement, fell slightly to US$564m. Overall cement sales volumes remained stable at 4.41Mt. Operating earnings decreased by 10% to US$153m from US$170m.

“Adjusting for the effects of unusual weather trends during 2018 and a shift in the timing of wallboard price increases and related buying activity, we estimate that the overall market demand for our building materials, notably cement and wallboard, remained in positive territory in 2018, with growth rates in the low single digits,” said chief executive officer (CEO) Dave Powers. He added that in the quarter from October to December 2018 margins had been negatively affected by higher costs due to maintenance outages at two plants and upgrades to emission control equipment.

US: Ed Sullivan, the Portland Cement Association’s (PCA) Senior Vice President and Chief Economist, forecasts that cement consumption will grow ‘moderately’ in 2019 alongside similar performance in the general US economy. However, he flagged gradual increases in interest rates, the aging recovery and accompanied trade issues as possible factors slowing down the cement market. Sullivan made his comments at the World of Concrete event in Las Vegas, where he revealed details from his forthcoming spring forecast.

“The US economy’s long run of growth should continue in 2019,” said Sullivan. “Since 2011 we have averaged 2 million jobs being created each year and the unemployment rate is below 4%. Despite the headlines, the impact in the near term of the rising interest rates and inflation are relatively benign. Simply put, fundamentals like these take a long time to unwind.”

US: Conveyor Components Company has released VA and VAX models, a bucket elevator alignment control product, to its product line of conveyor controls and accessories. The VA and VAX are designed to indicate when the head or boot section of a bucket elevator drifts too far out of alignment. They can be used to signal a problem or simply shut down the bucket elevator leg. This control device has a sequential two-pole double-break microswitch rated for 20A at 120VAC, 240VAC or 480VAC. The metal roller is bi-directional, and designed to survive in difficult environments.

US: Cemex USA is preparing to expand its cement terminal at Port Tampa Bay in Florida. It wants to increase the size of its operations so it can process more cement, fly ash, slag, limestone and other materials, according to the Tampa Bay Business Journal. The company also wants to build a ready-mx concrete plant at the site.

US/Europe: US refractory manufacturer Plibrico has entered into a distribution partnership with the Pli Group Europe, a refractory distributor contractor based in Vienna, Austria. Under the new alliance, Pli Group Europe will provide full-service distribution of Plibrico’s Plico brand refractories in Austria, France, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, Hungary, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia and Bulgaria, with immediate effect.

“Adding Pli Group Europe to our ranks of Pli Partners allows Plibrico to reinforce its expertise, enhance its service offering and strengthen the value chain offered to customers throughout Europe,” said Brad Taylor, president and chief executive officer (CEO) of Plibrico.

Iran: Jafar Sarqeini, the Deputy Minister of Industry, Mine and Trade for Mining Affairs, says that US-backed trade sanctions have not slowed cement exports. He added that the embargo has only placed some obstacles in the way of financial transactions and return of money to the country, according to the Islamic Republic News Agency. The official said that the local industry can export up to 20Mt/yr of cement. Local production capacity is forecast to reach 120Mt/yr by 2025. However, a recession in the mining sector has kept production behind capacity.

US: Charah Solutions has installed its MP618 thermal beneficiation technology at its terminal in Sulphur, Louisiana. The upgrade is intended to improve the quality of fly ash and to increase its supply of marketable fly ash to concrete producers. The proprietary process reduces loss on ignition, ammonia, activated carbon and moisture in fly ash.

The company hopes to provides concrete product producers and builders with a source of Class F fly ash to support a growing number of construction projects in the greater Lake Charles and Sulphur region. The Sulphur terminal is Charah Solutions’ second barge-supplied location in southern Louisiana. Its LaPlace, Louisiana terminal currently serves customers in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama.

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: Randall P Breaux has been appointed as the president of Motion Industries. He was most recently Executive Vice President of Marketing, Distribution, and Purchasing for Motion Industries, and has nearly four decades of experience in the industrial manufacturing and distribution markets.

Breaux joined Motion Industries in mid-2011 following 21 years with ABB/Baldor Electric Company, a manufacturer of industrial electric motors, drives and mechanical power transmission components, based in Fort Smith, Arkansas. He joined Baldor in 1989, and held various sales and marketing positions in the company. Just prior to joining Motion, Baldor was acquired by ABB. At that time, he was promoted to Vice President of Integration by ABB and was tasked with bringing the Baldor and ABB electric motor businesses together in North America. He served as Baldor's Vice President of Marketing from 2001 - 2011, played a key role in Baldor's acquisition of Dodge and Reliance Electric from Rockwell Automation in 2007, and served as an officer of the company for over 11 years.