Global Cement News

Mexico: Cemex has named Volvo & SDLG as its first global supplier of the year. It has also announced the winners of its third Integrate Innovation Program. Volvo also picked up first place in the Integrate program.

The initiative included 11 global suppliers of various categories and services - including mobile equipment, paper and sacks, lubricants, additives, and refractory material - who proposed 15 creative ideas to generate more efficient processes, products, and services. To evaluate and qualify the ideas received, 70 people from different areas of Cemex and different regions of the world participated in the selection of the three winning ideas.

Sweden's Volvo won first place in the Integrate program for its competence development of machine operators with simulators. Germany's Klüber Lubrication came second with its first hydro lubricant for gears. Germany's Refratechnik followed with its idea to counteract knowledge loss and special training on site. Volvo was also recognised for health & safety, Kao Chemicals for sustainability, BillerudKorsnäs for applied innovation and RHI Magnesita for customer focus.

LafargeHolcim’s announcement this week that it is to close its headquarters in Paris is the latest sign of the tension within the world’s largest cement producer. The decision is rational for a company making savings in the aftermath of the merger of two rivals – France’s Lafarge and Switzerland’s Holcim – back in 2015. Yet, it also carries symbolic weight. Lafarge was an iconic French company that had been in operation since 1833. Its hydrated lime was used to build the Suez Canal, one of the great infrastructure projects of the 19th century.

In the lead up to the merger in 2015 the union of Lafarge and Holcim was repeatedly described as one of equals. However, the diverging share price between the two companies killed that idea on the balance sheets in early 2015. Renegotiation on the share-swap ratio between the companies followed with an exchange ratio of nine Holcim shares for 10 Lafarge shares. In the end Holcim’s shareholders ended up owning 55.6% of LafargeHolcim. Lafarge’s Bruno Lafont lost out on the top job as chief executive officer (CEO) in the frenzy but the role did go to another former Lafarge executive. The new company also retained its former corporate offices in both France and Switzerland.

Since the merger LafargeHolcim has underperformed, reporting a loss of Euro1.46bn in 2017. Former senior executives from Lafarge have become embroiled in a legal investigation looking at the company’s conduct in Syria. LafargeHolcim’s first chief executive officer Eric Olsen resigned from the company in mid-2017 following fallout from a review into the Syria affair. Both Olsen and Lafont are currently under investigation by the French police into their actions with respect to a cement plant that the company kept operational during the on-going Syrian conflict. Olsen’s replacement, Jan Jenisch, is a German national who previously ran the Swiss building chemicals manufacturer Sika.

Regrettably the closure of LafargeHolcim’s corporate office in Paris will also see the loss of 97 jobs although some of the workers in Paris will be transferred to Clamart, in the south-western suburbs of the city. Another 107 jobs will also be cut in Zurich and Holderbank in Switzerland.

One more knock at the local nature of cement companies in the very international arena they operate in doesn’t mean that much beyond bruised national pride. British readers may mourn the loss of Blue Circle or Rugby Cement but the country still has a cement industry even if it mostly owned by foreign companies. France’s industry is doing better as it recovers following the lost decade since the financial crisis in 2008.

Jump to 2018 and LafargeHolcim is being run by a German with links to Switzerland, Holcim shareholders had the advantage during the merger, its former Lafarge executives and assets are facing legal scrutiny over its conduct in Syria and Lafarge’s old headquarters in Paris are being closed. LafargeHolcim in France still retains the group’s research and development centre at Lyon and a big chunk of the local industry. Yet Holcim has held an advantage ever since the final terms of the Lafarge-Holcim merger agreement were agreed so this slow slide to Switzerland is not really a surprise. From a distance it feels very much like the Holcim acquisition of Lafarge is finally complete.

UK: Albert Manifold, the head of CRH, has been elected as the president of the Global Cement and Concrete Association (GCCA) at its first meeting. Fernando A González, chief executive of Cemex, and Jianglin Cao, chief executive of CNBM, were named as vice-presidents.

“We are proud to launch this new global cement and concrete advocacy platform. Cement and concrete are integral elements of the built environment around the world and the GCCA represents a strong sector-wide voice and responsible industrial leadership in the manufacture and use of these materials,” said GCCA President, Albert Manifold.

The GCCA comprises 10 cement companies including Cemex, CNBM, CRH, Dangote, Eurocement, HeidelbergCement, LafargeHolcim, Taiheiyo, UltraTech and Votorantim. All board appointments are on an interim basis until formal elections can take place of the full board comprising 15 members at the organisation’s first annual general meeting to be held in London, UK in November 2018. The association will also present a work programme, launch its sustainability charter and run a conference at the same time. The GCCA has established its headquarters in London.

US: CalPortland has appointed Kerri L Leininger as vice president of government relations. She will be located in Washington, DC and will monitor and lobby advocacy issues at the state and federal level.

Leininger joins CalPortland after almost 14 years of working for the National Ready Mixed Concrete Association (NRMCA) where she served as the executive vice president of government and political affairs. In her former position, she focused on industry issues that included building codes, resiliency, transportation, labour and small business.

Prior to NRMCA, Leininger worked for Baker, Donelson, Bearman, Caldwell & Berkowitz, a law firm specialising in healthcare and transportation public policy in Washington, DC. Leininger has also worked for the offices of former Senator Mike DeWine, Senator Jim Bunning, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and US Representative Ed Whitfield.

Leininger is a graduate of Eastern Kentucky University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in journalism and applied technology.

Mexico: Siemens has appointed Juan Ignacio Diaz as the chief executive officer (CEO) of Siemens Mexico, Central America and Caribbean with effect from 1 June 2018. He succeeds Louise Goeser, who has left the company. Diaz was previously Country CEO of Siemens Chile and lead for its Mobility division.

Diaz joined Siemens in 2008. He has served in various functions in Chile and South America, first as General Counsel for Chile and later as General Counsel for the South America region. In 2010 he also took the position of City Account Manager for the Metropolitan Region of Santiago de Chile, responsible for developing the portfolio of sustainable solutions for megacities. Since 2013, he has been CEO of Siemens Chile and lead for its Mobility division.