Displaying items by tag: logistics

Philippines: Siam Cement Group has established a subsidiary to provide logistics services for its business in the Philippines. Reuters News has reported that the group has injected US$205,000-worth of investment into the company.

UK: Cemex has joined its subsidiary Cemex Ventures and Taronga Ventures in investing in construction logistics digital platform developer Voyage Control. The group said that the supplier’s product can reduce delays, waste and cost overruns through optimised delivery scheduling, and provide an overview of all transactions in real time. It currently helps to coordinate 6 million deliveries annually at 200 sites across North America, Europe and Asia.

Cemex Ventures director Gonzalo Galindo said “Cemex Ventures seeks to integrate Voyage Control with Cemex's digital assets, which will allow us to provide a better and more complete service to our clients. Now, we can collect more information, continue to promote operational efficiency and sustainable reporting and improve our health and safety criteria to reduce risks.”

Thailand: SCG International has chosen US-based Black & Veatch to help with the acceleration of its electric vehicle uptake across hundred of sites spanning its operations, including cement. The US Trade and Development Agency has given the group a grant towards three logistics fleet electrification pilot projects.

Parent company Siam Cement Group (SCG)’s managing director Abhijit Datta said "I would like to express our sincere gratitude to USTDA as well as Black & Veatch for their support, guidance and efforts that have made this project possible."

Mexico: Cemex has partnered with Sweden-based Volvo to develop a zero-emissions cement fleet. The implementation will extend to mobile construction equipment, trucks, productivity solutions, and uptime services. A Cemex European site will host trials of the technologies.

Head of global sustainability Vicente Saiso said “Working together with a leading global company in electromobility construction equipment and trucks such as Volvo will strengthen our efforts to address climate change and reduce our carbon footprint to reach net zero by 2050. We are excited to collaborate and develop a roadmap to introduce electric trucks and equipment throughout our operations.”

France: Lafarge France has awarded a contract to Germany-based Inform for the supply of its transport optimisation software across its 160 aggregates locations and 900-truck fleet. The software uses algorithms to analyse scheduling decisions in real-time and identify those that are ideal for minimising costs and maximising service and on-time performance.

Supply chain projects head Kevin Perrault said “We have been using Inform’s transport optimisation software for over 25 years in our aggregates business.” He added “We pride ourselves in delivering the best possible service to our customers, and upgrading our operations to the latest version is a key element to help us achieve our goals and to remain competitive in the industry.”

Colombia: Cementos Argos has signed a contract with Klaveness Digital for the supply of the latter’s CargoValue cement terminal logistics platform throughout its supply chain. The move follows a successful trial project carried out by the parties during the second quarter of 2021. Cementos Argos says that it solidifies its digitisation agenda to preserve its strong market foothold in the Americas.

Trading and business intelligence senior director Gabriel Ballestas said “Our business model is focused on the customer and on creating added value for our stakeholders. CargoValue has enabled us to digitise existing processes to improve visibility and make better decisions throughout the supply chain towards that goal.” He added “This wider rollout will improve collaboration between stakeholders and allow us to identify and improve supply chain efficiencies between sites.”

Russia: SLK Cement has ordered 100 gondola railway wagons to improve its logistics operations over the busy summer sales period. It increases the company’s fleet of railway wagons - including hoppers, gondolas and dump cars – to 570 units. Yevgeny Grishchenko, the Logistics Director of SLK Cement, said that the expanded railway fleet would reduce delays in deliveries and reduce transport costs.

Mexico/US: GCC plans to spend US$450 - 500m on upgrade projects to its cement business over the next three years to 2024. It is considering building a new 1.1Mt/yr clinker production line at an unnamed existing plant but the board of directors has yet to make a final decision. Other projects include strengthening the group’s cement distribution network in Minneapolis, Minnesota and Utah in the US. This would also include building two new cement terminals. A debottlenecking project is being planned at the Samalayuca plant in Chihuahua state. This would increase the plant’s production capacity by 0.2Mt/yr and is scheduled for completion by the end of 2022. A final project is also scheduled for the Chihuahua plant to improve operational efficiency, and enhance social and environmental responsibility.

In earnings conference call notes for the second quarter of 2021 the cement producer reported for the US: “Every kiln at GCC is up and running; for practical purposes, our system is sold out.” It also noted bottlenecks in its grinding, storage and shipping installed capacity.

Paraguay: Industria Nacional del Cemento (INC) says that it will not increase its cement prices despite the high cost of petcoke. The state-owned producer reports that both increasing international prices for the fuel and logistical challenges, such as varying river water levels, have raised overall prices. It added that stopping production would cause negative impacts to both the construction sector and the local economy.

UK: Cemex UK says that use of MP Connect contractor and haulier cards will be mandatory across its operations by the start of 2022. The Mexico-based Cemex subsidiary is presently rolling out the cards in its London and Southern ready-mix locations. It previously launched them at aggregates sites in its Central and Southern business areas. The system is now live at 39 sites and is used over 2000 times weekly, according to the company. It said that the initiative will help to streamline internal processes and enhance management of hauliers and contractors, legislative and site requirements are complied with.

Supply chain director Dave Hart said “Safety is Cemex’s number-one priority and we are always looking for ways to make our processes in this area more streamlined and effective. Implementation of the MP Connect system across our business will ensure that all drivers meet the standards set through checks of qualifications and competencies, while also providing them with more support and making their visits to different sites easier.” Cemex said that this will ‘enable the business to continually raise standards and lead the industry in safety and compliance.’

The MP Connect system was launched by the Mineral Products Qualifications Council (MPQC) in late 2020. It is intended to provide a single unified record of driver and operator working achievements that, when presented on a reader at site, can be viewed by logistics personnel. The information on the card then allows the logistics team to grant access, safe in the knowledge that the correct safety criteria applicable to the site, have been met by the person carrying the card.