Displaying items by tag: supply chain

US: Ireland-based CRH has concluded a deal for the acquisition of Martin Marietta Materials’ South Texas business. This includes 20 ready-mix concrete batching plants, alongside the Hunter cement plant and a network of cement terminals on the Gulf of Mexico. The value of the transaction is US$2.1bn.

CRH CEO Albert Manifold said “The acquisition of these high-quality assets further strengthens our market leading position in Texas and increases our exposure to attractive, high-growth markets. Our ability to leverage our cement expertise and technical capabilities will enable us to enhance and optimise our existing footprint in Texas, resulting in significant synergies and self-supply opportunities. This transaction reflects our disciplined approach to capital allocation as well as our commitment to deliver further growth and value creation for our shareholders. We also believe there is significant potential to unlock additional growth opportunities across an expanded footprint in this attractive growth market.”

France: Ireland-based Ecocem has entered into a new agreement with Saint-Gobain's France-based concrete subsidiary POINT.P. Under the agreement, Ecocem will supply its ACT alternative cement for use in POINT.P's precast and ready-mix concrete production. Ecocem said that the partnership is an opportunity for it to develop and market new low-carbon binders.

Ecocem executive director Olivier Guise said "This partnership with POINT.P is a natural extension of the alliance announced with the Saint-Gobain Group in October 2022. The shared objective is to accelerate the widespread deployment of low-carbon cements in France, both in the ready-mix concrete and precast concrete markets. By paving the way for the replacement of current traditional cements with ACT technology, our partner POINT.P has a real opportunity to meet its ambitious carbon reduction targets by 2030. We are firmly committed to this partnership and to working with a partner who shares our ambitions for rapid decarbonisation of the construction industry."

Ecocem is 25% owned by France-based Saint-Gobain.

Canada: Lafarge Canada has signed an agreement with power provider TransAlta to recover and process fly ash from the site of the latter's decommissioned Edmonton coal-fired power plant. The project will use Ash-TEK's Ponded Ash Beneficiation System (PABS) fly ash beneficiation technology. The processed ash will then be able to replace up to 25% of cement in low-CO₂ concrete production.

TransAlta previously secured with Lafarge Canada for the supply of renewable power to its Exshaw, Alberta, cement plant in February 2022.

US: CR Minerals has signed a contract with mining company Rio Tinto for the supply of mineral waste from the latter's subsidiary US Borax's boron mining operations in California. CR Minerals will use the waste to produce pozzolans to replace cement in local concrete production.

CR Minerals president Jeffrey Whidden said "We have been working with Rio Tinto for several years now to bring this concept to life. Taking what was once considered waste streams and turning them into usable products for the construction materials industry is part of the vision of our company."

UK: Oscrete has doubled its laboratory footprint after carrying out an expansion at its concrete laboratory. The upgrade consists of a new wet production area and New Product Development area. The additives producer said that it plans to use the increased space for on-site customer training. The company says that it is now on a ‘recruitment drive’ to develop its concrete technician team.

Technical and development manager Dean Clarke said “Expanding our lab is a key objective following our move into independence at the start of 2022, so we are delighted to now have more capacity, increased product innovation and the resulting need to develop our team. He continued “We are a company committed to delivering and problem solving for our customers, particularly during these exceptionally challenging times of supply chain disruption.”

Greece: Titan Cement recorded Euro1.71bn in net sales in 2021, up by 6.7% year-on-year from Euro1.61bn in 2020. The company attributed the boost to higher demand and ‘supportive pricing’ in all of its regions. Cement sales volumes were 18.3Mt, up by 7% year-on-year from 17.1Mt. Its earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) dropped by 4.6% to Euro272m from Euro286m, due to an ‘unprecedented’ second-half costs increase. The group’s net profit was Euro89.6m, compared to Euro1.1m in 2020. During the year, Titan Cement increased the digitisation of its cement production and continued its on-going share buyback programme. Its Scope 1 and 2 CO₂ emissions declined by 4% year-on-year, in line with its 2030 target trajectory.

Titan Cement said “Having already achieved the 2025 targets for energy efficiency and zero waste-to-landfill certification, the group’s attention is now focused on empowering business ecosystems to incorporate sustainability considerations in their decision making. To ensure that key suppliers meet the group’s environmental, social and governance (ESG) standards, Titan Cement developed a sustainable supply chain roadmap and published the first Titan Group Procurement Policy.” In the coming year, the group plans to ‘continue to harness the advantages offered by decarbonisation, digital transformation and business model innovation to benefit our customers, employees, suppliers and communities, aspiring to deliver to society carbon-neutral concrete by 2050.’