From starting as the Signal Mountain Cement Plant in October 1923, to what is now our Buzzi Unicem USA Chattanooga Plant, numerous changes have taken place over the years, along with the creation of cherished memories and stories.
Our Chattanooga Plant observed their 100th Anniversary with a celebration held at the Chattanooga Convention Center. Over 300 current employees, retirees, customers and other special guests attended the event. Guests had the opportunity to explore a history walk featuring photos and historical facts about the Plant over the years, and the Nervi exhibit, displaying the work of Pier Luigi Nervi, the Italian architect who used reinforced concrete in his designs. Attendees also enjoyed tours of the Chattanooga Plant, providing an insider’s view of cement plant operations.

Maryneal plant production recorded last year an all-time high, surpassing the expected 2022 budget, with clinker production at 1.03 million tons and cement production at 1.18 million tons. These figures were more than 4.6% over the year’s budgeted figures. Additionally, 2022 production numbers beat the 2021 figures, with clinker production 3% higher and cement production 2.5% higher.
 “We’ve implemented strategies to keep reliable assets which allow the team members to work on continuous improvement. This affects the efficiency and productivity of all aspects of the plant“ said Antonio Corea Cruz, Operations Manager 
The plant achieved these incredible results through consistent communication and a positive culture. Plant leadership shared updated production numbers at daily meetings, keeping all employees actively engaged and creating an encouraging atmosphere. 
New ambitious goals were set for 2023. Maryneal will achieve them thanks to the entire team.

Yesterday 4 September 2023, at the age of 90 years and two months, Sandro Buzzi concluded his earthly journey and reached the Father's house. We like to remember with affection and emotion his role as an enthusiastic, optimistic, passionate and empathetic leader.

Sandro Buzzi had a long, beautiful, challenging and successful life. His story has been inextricably linked to that of the company, since 1957, when as a young chemical engineer was called by his father Luigi to promptly take care of the transition from natural to artificial cement. Over time he has developed an almost unique knowledge and specialization of cement process and technology. The passion for the product led him to extend his scope of knowledge and work also to applications, especially the standards and the quality of the nascent ready-mix concrete industry. Starting in the 1980s, he has held various top positions within the group and, sided with the brothers Franco and Enrico, he has been the architect of the main phases of company development (acquisition of Unicem in 1997 and Dyckerhoff in 2001).

Sandro Buzzi also nurtured a great love for the sea, in particular offshore sailing. The regattas in which he participated as a skipper are very many, at any level, both in the Mediterranean and across the Ocean. He instilled in this hobby the same passion for engineering that he derived from his daily work, starting with the use of the sextant to the development of innovations such as the twin foils coupled with canting keel.

We will continue to follow his example of dedication and love for work, family and business.

Also this year Buzzi has chosen to award two scholarships which will give the unique opportunity to attend a Master's program at one of the best Universities in the United States, covering not only school fees, but also ancillary costs such as travel, accommodation and insurance.

The opportunity is aimed at the sons and daughters of employees (and retirees) from the various countries in which the group operates and young graduates who have obtained a high school diploma in Casale Monferrato.

The renewed program of the "Memorial Franco Buzzi" has been published in the “Career opportunities” section of the website. This initiative was envisaged to honor the memory of one of the main architects of the extraordinary development that the company experienced, in the transition from privately owned to publicly traded and in the subsequent national and international expansion.

The Educational Programs

Masters in Business Administration (MBA), graduate education
- McCombs School of Business - University of Texas (Austin, Texas); 
- Smeal College of Business - Penn State University (State College, Pennsylvania); 
- Kelley School of Business - Indiana University (Bloomington, Indiana); 
- College of Business - Lehigh University (Bethlehem, Pennsylvania). 

Masters in other disciplines, undergraduate education
- Engineering Management – University of Texas (Austin, Texas); 
- Chemical Engineering - Penn State University (State College, Pennsylvania); 
- Corporate Finance - Penn State University (State College, Pennsylvania); 
- Environmental Engineering - Lehigh University (Bethlehem, Pennsylvania). 

The requirements of potential candidates relating to their qualifications, level of English knowledge and analytical skills are set by each university and listed in the admission criteria.

A name change, a revamped logo and a company reorganization: three important events in the life of a historic company such as Buzzi which, for its path to growth, has opted to stay true to its heritage based on roots and values. 
On May 12, 2023, the Extraordinary Shareholders' Meeting agreed to change the name of the parent company from Buzzi Unicem SpA to Buzzi SpA, marking a new stage in the company's history that was initiated at the beginning of the year with a change in the corporate structure in Italy to more clearly identify the role of the parent company as the legal entity responsible for the ownership, management and coordination of all Italian and foreign subsidiaries.
After evaluating various scenarios, we decided to keep the well-known logo to express the Buzzi SpA brand, to maintain continuity and recognizability in the minds of our key stakeholders.
The logo will remain next to the names of the individual companies in order to identify the business in the various markets, and will continue to highlight the cultural heritage of each company and reiterate the vision of a common identity. 
As for Italy, the Buzzi Unicem name and brand will not change and will continue to be associated with the business operations of the cement sector as well as the Unical concrete operations.

In its Sustainability Report 2022, Buzzi Unicem shares with its stakeholders an accurate snapshot of the company's economic, environmental and social performance.

In this edition, the twenty-second one to be exact, the company once again seizes the opportunity to give an update on its goals. The year 2022 was the year in which we achieved the goals announced in 2017: a 5% reduction in our specific CO2 emissions, the implementation of structural engagement projects, and increasingly safer working conditions at all production facilities.
 
Also worthy of note is the introduction of a section dedicated to the Roadmap "Our Journey to Net Zero" and to the validation by SBTi, an authoritative international body that has approved our targets to 2030.

Lastly, in this Report we provide all the information required by Taxonomy Regulation: after the indication of the percentages of eligible turnover, investments and operating costs, provided in last year's Report, this year we also included the respective percentages of alignment according to the criteria established by the Regulation for the cement industry.
 

During 2022, Buzzi Unicem unveiled the roadmap "Our Journey to Net Zero," which outlines the measures needed to achieve ambitious CO2 reduction targets by 2030, leading to full decarbonization by 2050.  Carbon Capture Utilization Storage (CCUS) technologies are a key lever to complete the emissions reduction framework. At this stage, Buzzi Unicem is actively engaged in the testing of several pilot-scale CCUS technologies.

The first results of CLEANKER (CLEAN clinKER production by calcium looping process), a project launched in 2017 and funded by the European framework program Horizon 2020, were recently presented. The project featured the development of the first Italian prototype of CO2 capture and storage in the context of an operational business process, at the Buzzi Unicem plant in Vernasca (Piacenza). 
Cement is manufactured from the so-called "clinker," a material obtained by firing at high temperature a mixture of raw materials consisting mainly of limestone (calcium carbonate), which when heated to high temperatures naturally breaks down into calcium oxide and carbon dioxide in the process of decarbonation. With Calcium Looping technology, it is possible to make cement while capturing more than 90 percent of the carbon dioxide generated. Thanks to the CLEANKER project, an estimate has been made of the changes and investments needed in existing cement plants and their operating costs, validating the economic viability of the technology capable of capturing CO2.

After completing the Cleanker experience, Buzzi Unicem joined with equal enthusiasm the budding initiative called HERCCULES (Heroes in Southern Europe To decarbonize industry with CCUS).
Coordinated by LEAP (Laboratory of Energy and Enviroment Piacenza) and the Polytechnic University of Milan, the research project has involved 22 other international partners together with Buzzi Unicem, who for five years will work with the aim of proving the feasibility of the entire Carbon Capture, Utilization and Storage (CCUS) supply chain in Southern European regions. The 70 CCUS projects at different stages of development are in fact, concentrated almost exclusively in Northern countries.
The testing, which will again involve the Vernasca plant, is based on advanced oxy-combustion and post-combustion capture technologies combined with cryogenic purification processes capable of separating CO2 with efficiencies and purities close to 100 percent. Part of the pure CO2 stream will be used for mineralization for the production of new cementitious materials.
Activities will also include transport of CO2 to the Ravenna geological storage site, completing the demonstration of the entire supply chain. By capturing biogenic carbon dioxide and reusing and/or storing it, HERCCULES aims to show the possibility of achieving negative emissions, turning industrial clusters from emitters to absorbers.
 

Since carbon dioxide is always released during the limestone calcination process, producing climate-neutral cement is only possible in the long term if CO2 can be captured and stored or used as a raw material.

The catch4climate project, in which several international manufacturers are involved, together with Buzzi Unicem, is now in full swing: work has started on the construction of a CO2-capture research and development plant in Mergelstetten, Germany, at the Schwenk Zement cement plant.
The plant, which will require an investment of over € 120 million for its construction and operation, will use the Pure-Oxyfuel process for the first time to capture CO2. A special firing line with a production capacity of 450 tons per day will be built for this purpose.
Many sectors, such as the production of fertilizers, fuels for long-haul flights or plastic medical devices, are interested spectators of this project: up to now, carbon has been obtained almost exclusively from fossil fuels, whereas in the future it is our intention to use the captured CO2 to produce so-called “reFuels”, in other words synthetic fuels with a lower climate impact, such as paraffin for air traffic.

The commissioning of the CO2 capture plant is planned for the middle of 2024.
 

Massimo Toso has been elected as the Vice President of PCA, a US association that promotes the use of cement and concrete not only in the USA but also internationally in partnership with other organizations in the same sector.
Massimo Toso has already served as co-chair of the Climate and Sustainability Council within the organization and helped develop the Roadmap for the US cement sector with measures aimed at significantly reducing the CO2 emissions generated by our industry.