UK: Samson Materials has appointed Dale Lockley as its managing director. He joined the subsidiary of Aumund in 2016 as Senior Project Manager and later worked as Program Delivery Manager. Lockley is a trained mechanical engineer with over 20 years of experience working within and leading international multidisciplinary teams and developing materials handling technologies of worldwide operating companies, including more than seven years as managing director.

US: Rexa has appointed Geoff Hynes as its president and chief executive officer (CEO). He succeeds Sam Lalos. Hynes has worked for Rexa for his entire career in a variety of roles, including Factory Assembly, Direct and Regional Sales, Aftermarket Manager, International Sales Manager and Director of Sales.

Other appointments include Robert Sass’ promotion to Director of Customer Support. Michael Murphy has become the Director of Sales and Marketing and Nicholas Lalos has been appointed as a Marketing Manager.

Rexa manufactures actuators and drives for a variety of industries including the mining and power generation sectors.

US: Vortex has appointed Lyndon Flower as a Business Development Manager for its USA & Canada division. His focus will be on working with manufacturers’ representatives, regional and territory sales managers, and industry specialists to further expand the sales of Vortex products in the dry bulk material handling industry. Previously, Flower served as vice president and general manager at A&J Mixing International for 18 years until the company was acquired by Smico in 2015. Since then, he has been focused on sales and marketing efforts for the A&J Mixing line.

Japan: Tetsuya Horimoto has been appointed as the managing director of Schmersal Group’s new subsidiary in Japan, Schmersal Japan. He succeeds Tekashi Kabe who ran the group’s sales office in Tokyo. Horimoto is an electronic engineer with management experience at companies in the automation sector. He is also a TÜV-certified Functional Safety Engineer. The company, which operates switchgear and control device products, will continue operating out of its Tokyo office.

Thailand: SCG Cement’s sales revenue rose by 3% year-on-year to US$5.5bn in 2017. Its earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) fell by 6% to US$705m. The cement producer reported that overall domestic Ordinary Portland Cement demand fell by 5% in 2017 due to a slow recovery in the private sector. Total domestic consumption of cement was around 37.5Mt 2017 and exports rose to 4Mt from 3.7Mt in 2016.

Vietnam: Thanh Thang Cement is spending US$35m to towards developing a third production line at its cement plant in Thanh Nghi, Ha Nam. The government has agreed the investment at the 2.3Mt/yr unit over the 2021 – 2025 period, according to the Đầu tư newspaper. A second production line at the site was inaugurated in July 2017.

India: Neeraj Akhoury, the managing director and chief executive officer of ACC Cement, says that a ban on imported petcoke to the National Capital Region will increase the cost of cement. Akhoury told the Business Standard newspaper that the cement producer would be able to cope with the restriction through the use of alternative fuels. The Environment Ministry put the ban into effect on 19 January 2018 to control air pollution. This follows a relaxation of a temporary ban on petcoke in December 2017 by the Supreme Court to the cement industry.

Nepal: The Department of Supply Management and Protection of Consumers Interest (DSMPCI) has ordered cement producers to reduce their prices within three days. Following a survey the DSMPCI found that the price of cement had risen by 10 – 16% in recent weeks despite input costs, such as raw materials and transportation costs, only growing by 7 – 9%, according to the Republica newspaper. The department has issued its directive via the Nepal Cement Manufacturers' Association.

Uzbekistan: Construction work has started on Popcement’s new grinding plant in the Pap district of Namangan region. The US$50m plant will have a production capacity of 0.5Mt/yr, according to Uzbekistan Daily. The project is expected to be completed in September 2018. It is a joint venture between Uzbek, Chinese and Saudi Arabian investors.

Tunisia: The National Chamber of Ceramics Manufacturers has expressed concern about the a shortage of white cement following the closure of the Société Tuniso-Andalouse de Ciment Blanc’s (SOTACIB) plant at Férien. The ceramics association has called for the government to speed up the import process, according to the L'economiste Maghrebin magazine. SOTACIB’s 0.65Mt/yr white cement plant closed on 19 January 2018 for a six-month period following a strike by workers in December 2017. Spain’s Cementos Molins is the majority shareholder in the company.