Displaying items by tag: upgrade

UK: Russell Roof Tiles has installed a 165kW solar power plant as part of a €22.2m upgrade to its Burton concrete roof tiles plant in Staffordshire. Energy company Alt-Group supplied the solar power plant, which is equipped with Solis Inverters’ energy storage inverters. The upgraded Burton plant also features wash water recycling.

Russell Roof Tiles has signed a pledge to achieve Scope 1 and 2 CO₂ neutrality by 2040.

Canada: Canal Block will begin to produce CarbiCrete's cement-free concrete products under licence from 2025. The partners say that they have installed a new curing system for the purpose at Canal Block’s Port Colborne plant. Innovation cluster NGen awarded them US$4.04m in funding for the project.

Canal Block president Durk Bylsma said "We look forward to offering a carbon-negative masonry unit to Ontario's construction market in 2025.”

CEO Jacob Homiller said "We are tremendously pleased to bring our cement-free concrete technology to Ontario through Canal Block."

UK: Precast concrete producer FP McCann plans to invest €105m in expansions and upgrades to its plants. The plans include the launch of multiple new product lines, including a new decorative paving range, due for launch in September 2024. Another new line will build drainage pipes, complementing its portfolio of concrete products for below-ground applications. Upgrades include the installation of an additional bagging line at a mortars plant. Local press has reported that a total of 100 new jobs will be created as a result.

FP McCann said “We constantly take on board customer feedback, and the investment in these new products and services is driven by their needs. FP McCann’s unique multi-product load offering has been a fantastic success. Builders’ merchants no longer have to coordinate multiple deliveries of single product loads, each often carrying a part-load surcharge. With the introduction of our new decorative paving range, we can now offer up to eight different products on a single load, and as more products come online we will expand this service further.”

Czech Republic: Cemex Czech Republic has successfully commissioned its Prague-Libuš ready-mix concrete batching plant in Prague, following an upgrade. The upgraded plant can now process five types of cements and admixtures, including Cemex’s Vertua reduced-CO₂ concretes and recycled aggregates. Cemex Czech Republic has installed two recycled aggregates production plants at the site to process residual concrete.

Cemex’s vice president materials, Central Europe, Ruediger Kuhn said “Our plant in Libuš forms an important part of our operation in the Czech republic, thanks to its interesting location in the wider centre of the capital and in the immediate vicinity of the planned construction of the Prague Metro D line. We are therefore very pleased to have this site reopened following a considerable investment.” He added “The development at this site confirms Cemex’s determination to offer its customers superior quality products while also meeting its sustainability objectives, supporting the circular economy and reducing emissions wherever possible.”

Europe: Cemex has enhanced safety across its European Admixtures facilities during 2023 with the implementation of new assistance systems supplied by Linde Material Handling. The systems include a reverse assist camera for forklifts. The group installed the technology at its Salzkotten admixtures plant in Germany and its Rugby admixtures plant in the UK. It will now implement the upgrade at its Alicante admixtures plant in Spain, as well other sites across Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) during 2024.

Cemex European regional director of admixtures Dietmar Voetsch said “At Cemex, we are always looking for new processes and innovations to ensure safety in our workplaces. Linde’s safety guard system and reverse assist camera are ideal solutions for occupational safety in our Admixtures plants; we were immediately convinced by the technology and the feedback we’ve received from employees who have used it has been extremely positive. Once the European rollout is complete, we are excited to adapt the technology further for use in our admixtures plants across the wider EMEA region.”

Linde Material Handling safety product manager Fabian Zimmerman said “We’re proud to have supported Cemex with the implementation of both the safety guard system and the reverse assist camera at their European admixtures plants. By installing these systems, the safety of daily situations like loading and unloading lorries or storage can be increased significantly. We provide these solutions as a retrofit; thus, complete fleets can be equipped with these assistance systems.”

Romania: Holcim Romania invested Euro15m in an upgrade to its Abjud autoclaved aerated concrete (AAC) block plant in Vrancea, using equipment supplied by AAC specialist Aircrete Europe. The producer says that the project raised the production capacity of the plant by 45%.

Holcim Romania CEO Bogdan Dobre said "The investment involved the automation of processes in order to harmonise operations with Holcim standards, but also to bring our customers the best performing products. With the investment, the previous production line, almost 50 years old, was completely replaced.” He continued “We have rethought the entire industrial process, making it more efficient and increasing the degree of safety at work.”

UAE: Cemex will supply more than 200,000m³ of its Vertua low-carbon concrete for the development of major infrastructure at the Khalifa Port expansion, currently being undertaken by Khalifa Port’s parent company AD Ports Group. Khalifa Port chose the product due to its ability to achieve up to a 70% reduction in CO2 emissions, without loss of performance.

The mega-project is located between Abu Dhabi and Dubai and serves 25 shipping lines. It is a multipurpose 18.5m deep-water port with a total of 10.6km of berths that include two container terminals, a general cargo and dry bulk facility, a logistics port, a liquid bulk terminal and a roll on - roll off terminal.

"Cemex is proud to contribute to reducing the carbon footprint of major projects around the world," said Sergio Menendez, president of Cemex Europe, Middle East, Africa and Asia, in a statement. "Vertua is a family of sustainable products that meet the needs of our customers with the highest quality standards, leveraging the most advanced technology and innovation.”

Israel: Cemex subsidiary ReadyMix Industries has placed a new order with transport safety technology supplier SaverOne 2014. The ready-mix concrete producer ordered a further 25 mobile phone control units for its truck fleet. The units are cloud-enabled and run off a mobile app which blocks drivers from using phones when their vehicle is in motion. The smart system can detect when a truck is stopped and differentiate between driver and passenger, enabling access when needed. Users can integrate their fleet's units with existing logistics management systems.

ReadyMix Industries completed a successful trial of SaverOne 2014's system earlier in 2022.