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HeidelbergCement targeting expansion to 20Mt/yr in India 19 November 2019
India: HeidelbergCement India is targeting expansion options to increase its production capacity to 20Mt/yr from 12.5Mt/yr. Managing director Jamshed Cooper said that the company is looking at companies in the range of 5 – 10Mt/yr in order to avoid the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) process, according to the Indo-Asian News Service. The cement producer is also planning to build a 22MW waste heat recovery unit at its Zuari plant in Yerraguntla, Andhra Pradesh at a cost of US$28m. Debottlenecking initiatives are also being conducted at a cost of US$7m to increase overall production capacity by 0.5Mt/yr when completed in 2021.
The group operates two subsidiaries locally: HeidelbergCement India and Zuari Cement. HeidelbergCement India serves the central markets and Zuari Cement, a former Italcementi subsidiary, focuses on the south of the country.
Arabian Cement’s local sales fall so far in 2019 19 November 2019
Egypt: Arabian Cement’s sales revenue fell by 5% year-on-year to US$139m in the first nine months of 2019 from US$147m in the same period in 2018. Local sales dropped whilst export sales and services rose. Its profit for the period after tax decreased to US$2m from US$13.3m.
Entec International wins contract with Lafarge Africa 19 November 2019
Nigeria: UK-based Entec International has secured a contract to optimise maintenance, repair and operations (MRO) supply chains for Lafarge Africa. The project will involve the consolidation of 125 separate suppliers into a single supply chain, which will be managed by Entec, operating in a single currency with standardised terms. No value for the deal has been disclosed.
“This is a great step for Entec, this contract opens up a new market with huge potential for us. We are delighted to be working with LafargeHolcim, whose commitment to innovation and environmental sustainability reflects our ethos at Entec,” said Entec sales director Charlie Patterson.
Patterson expects Entec to achieve a 12% reduction in freight, clearance and handling costs for Lafarge Africa in year one of the three to five-year contract. Supply chain consolidation is predicted to cut the number of shipments by more than half and will deliver a reduction in the volume of purchase orders and invoices currencies into a single currency, replacing multiple payment terms from different suppliers into a single payment term and converting multiple air freight shipments from Europe and China into consolidated ocean freight.
Entec specialises in saving costs and reducing complexity for client companies by managing their MRO supply chains. It has managed complex supply chains for manufacturers in over 70 different shipping destinations. Entec’s client base includes customers in the food and beverage packaging industries, oil, gas production, textile processing and mining and minerals sectors.
Heliogen concentrates solar energy to above 1000C 19 November 2019
US: Heliogen, a new technology venture, says it has concentrated solar energy to exceed temperatures greater than 1000°C at its commercial plant in Lancaster, California. The company hopes to use the process to replace fossil fuels used in industrial cement, steel and petrochemical production processes. It is using computer vision software to align a large array of mirrors to reflect sunlight to a single target.
The company is based in Pasadena, California and is lead by Bill Gross, the founder of Idealab, a US technology startup incubator. Heliogen is supported by Parsons Corporation, a company that operates in defence, intelligence and critical infrastructure markets. Other backers include Bill Gates, the co-founder of Microsoft.
DG Khan Cement to expand production in Pakistan 18 November 2019
Pakistan: DG Khan Cement has asked the government of Punjab province if it can expand the production capacity at one of its cement plants by 12,000t/day. Bloomberg said that it had seen a letter sent to the local government and that Javed Iqbal Malik, a senior economic adviser at Punjab province's industries department, had confirmed receiving it. The approval process could take up to 12 months. If accepted the upgrade could see DG Khan Cement surpass Bestway Cement to become the country’s largest cement producer with a production capacity of 10.7Mt/yr.