US: SSI Shredding Systems has appointed Paul Breithaupt as its Director of Engineering. He will be overseeing the day-to-day engineering operations as well as working to optimise SSI’s internal processes and products.

Breithaupt has been working with an engineering consulting firm in Portland, Oregon for the past seven years. There he primarily worked on capital projects for major food manufacturers such as Nabisco. He holds a degree in Manufacturing Engineering from California Polytechnic State University.

US: Loren Neil Peterson, the co-founder of Vortex, has died at the age of 87. After starting working with dry bulk solids at Salina Manufacturing in the 1950s, Peterson founded Vortex with his son-in-law Lee Young in 1977. His inventions included a type of slide gate called an Orifice Gate that was patented in 1980 and which received the John C Vaalar Award by Chemical Processing Magazine judging it ‘a major contributor toward more efficient and effective operation of plants in the chemical processing industry’. His other innovations included the Wye Line Diverter, Roller Gate and Fill Pass Diverter. He was awarded his last patent for the Clear Action Gate in 1990, a year after he retired in 1989.

“Neil was great. Nobody worked harder than him. When I left Salina, I looked everywhere for the same calibre of engineer. Unfortunately for me, he was one of a kind,” said Joe Walton, former chief executive officer and president of Walton/Stout.

Japan: Ube Industries has made changes to the personnel of its cement business. Yoshiaki Ito has been appointed as General Manager of Production and Technology Division with responsibility for Material Recycle Division, Cement and Construction Material Company. Previously he was the General Manager of the Isa Cement Plant. Tadashi Matsunamni has added responsibility for the company’s Technical Development Centre to his existing roles as Senior Managing Executive Officer, Company President of Cement and Construction Materials Company and General Manager of Cement Department. He takes over this duty from Masataka Ichikawa.

US: Vulcan Materials has elected David P Steiner to its board of directors. Steiner will serve on Vulcan's Safety, Health and Environmental Affairs Committee and the Governance Committee. Steiner most recently served as chief executive officer of Waste Management from 2004 to 2016, a North American waste management services company that covers collection, transfer, recycling and resource recovery services as well as landfill disposal. He currently serves on the board of directors of FedEx Corporation.

Vulcan also announced that Elaine L Chao has stepped down from the Board after being confirmed by the US Senate to serve as US Secretary of Transportation. Secretary Chao joined Vulcan's Board in February 2015.