Displaying items by tag: customers

India: Dalmia Cement has launched new branding identifying itself as a Roof Column Foundation Expert. The identity is accompanied by the slogan ‘Roof, column, foundation strong, home strong.’ The company says that the branding will help it to position its cement as first choice in business-to-consumer (B2C) building materials retailing. The campaign especially targets towns of 20,000 – 100,000 people, outside of India’s metropolitan centres. The producer aims to raise its B2C sales from 65% to 70% in the 2025 financial year. It now operates a 45,000-strong retail network. In order to support further growth in the segment, the company plans to deploy 600 technical staff and 150 vans across India.

Chief operating officer Sameer Nagpal said “We believe that the brand must play a vital role in consumer’s lives so that they can make informed choices. Dalmia Cement has over the years developed proprietary know-how of optimising cement recipes that makes it most suitable for roof, column and foundation.”

Managing director and CEO Shri Puneet Dalmia said “Our new brand campaign manifests not just an eminent legacy, but also a commitment to consumer centricity – it conveys a core message that building a home with due care means building it for generations to come.”

Bolivia: State-owned gas and oil company YPFB has commenced gas supply to Potosí via its Sucre-Potosí gas pipeline, which underwent a 32% capacity expansion to 4.15Mm³/day. Página Siete News has reported that the expansion cost US$5.8m. YPFB said that it can now increase gas allocations in accordance with customers' contracts.

Empresa Publica Productiva Cementos de Bolivia (ECEBOL) is scheduled to commission its upcoming 1.3Mt/yr Potosí cement plant in June 2023. YPFB holds a contract to supply 337,000m³/yr of natural gas to the plant. YPFB says that the expanded Sucre-Potosí pipeline will help to boost cement production in Bolivia, both to supply domestic demand and to establish an export market.

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."

South Korea: Truck drivers went on strike across South Korea on 24 November 2022. Reuters News has reported that the drivers demand that a government pay scheme be made permanent and extended to drivers in all sectors. A previous eight-day strike in June 2022 cost the South Korean cement industry US$79.8m. The Korean Cement Association said that most customers do not have cement in inventory beyond three days' supply, and will begin to run out from 27 November 2022.

Malaysia: Cahya Mata Sarawak has informed its customers that its cement despatches will be 'back to normal' by 6 November 2022. The producer's closure of its 1Mt/yr Kuching cement plant for maintenance, followed by unexpected raw materials supply issues, has caused a shortage of cement in western Sarawak State. Bernama Daily Malaysian News has reported that a 14-day delay to raw materials deliveries to the Kuching plant ensued due to heavy rains.

The producer said “We would like to apologise for the shortage of cement, and will strive to ensure a steady supply of cement to all of our customers.”

Cahya Mata Sarawak has successfully maintained regular supply of cement to other areas of Sarawak, including Bintulu, Miri and Sibu, through despatches of cement from its Bintulu grinding plant.

Nigeria: Dangote Cement has launched a promotional prize campaign worth a total US$76,700. The campaign consists of rewards of up to US$11,870, alongside other prizes for customers. The Sun newspaper has reported that the promotion will run until 31 October 2021.

Dangote Cement's Nigeria sales director Sanni Funmi said that the campaign is the producer's way of saying 'Thank You' to Nigerians.

Uzbekistan: BekabadCement plans to launch a testing laboratory at its Bekabad cement plant, from which it will run a dedicated customer support service. The facility will focus on automatic sampling. BekabadCement expects to launch the service to customers in late 2022.

India: Bharathi Cement plans to build a US$17m automated terminal and packaging plant at Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu. United News of India has reported that the facility will package the company’s bagged and bulk cement and supply the South West Tamil Nadu and Kerala markets.

On 23 April 2022, the subsidiary of France-based Vicat despatched its first rake of cement aboard custom-built tank and box container cars to Coimbatore from its Kadapa, Andhra Pradesh, cement plant. Vicat’s India CEO Anoop Kumar Saxena said that the first-of-its method of bulk cement transportation will reduce the company’s logistics costs and carbon emission and increase the service level for customers.

India: ACC has launched its new Concrete Direct app for booking and live tracking concrete deliveries. The producer says that the app reduces operational follow-up calls.

Managing director and CEO Sridhar Balakrishnan said “At ACC, we recognise the need to improve and lead through digitalisation. We are happy to launch Concrete Direct, a premium digital tool that saves time and money for our customers. With such innovations, we want to enhance customer experience and build a strong ecosystem of partners to support them.”

Austria/Germany: RHI Magnesita and Horn & Co. Group have announced the consolidation of their recycling activities in Europe under Horn & Co. RHIM Minerals Recovery. The new subsidiary aims to increase the production, use and offering of secondary raw materials for the European refractory industry. The partners say that this will place the new entity at the forefront of the circular economy for customers in cement and other process industries. At the onset, Horn & Co. RHIM Minerals Recovery will process more than 150,000t/yr of secondary raw materials.

RHI Magnesita says that it can save 1.8t of CO2 for every tonne of recycled material used in its refractory production. It now expects to achieve its goal of 10% recycled materials ahead of its previously stipulated target date of 2025. It said that this marks an important step towards achieving a 15% reduction in CO₂ emissions by 2025.

CEO Stefan Borgas said “By increasing our focus in this key area, we will make a significant contribution to global climate protection. We will conserve natural resources while at the same time expanding our business.” He added “With the combination of the recycling activities, RHI Magnesita and Horn & Co. Group become the driving force of circular economy in the refractory industry. Going forward, refractory users will benefit from increasing circular economy solutions included in our full line service contracts and customers of Horn & Co. RHIM Minerals Recovery will be able to source sustainable and high-quality raw materials.”