The second edition of the Italia-México Award ceremony organized by the Italian Chamber of Commerce in México was held on 18 November 2010 at the Italian Embassy in Mexico City.
Enrico Buzzi, a board member of Corporación Moctezuma, received the Honor Award for his work for over 20 years to promote trade relations between Italy and Mexico by developing the country’s cement industry.
The award was presented by the Italian Ambassador to Mexico, Roberto Spinelli, and the President of the Italian Chamber of Commerce, Marco Cannizzo, during a press conference that was followed by a gala evening.
Buzzi Unicem has been investing heavily in Mexico and helping to develop its cement industry with a series of organic growth projects since the 1990s through Corporación Moctezuma, a joint venture with the Spanish group Cementos Molins.
Corporación Moctezuma now has three plants in Mexico which are among the most modern in the world and has a total production capacity of around six million metric tons per year. The plants are located in Tepetzingo (Morelos), Cerritos (San Luis Potosí) and Apazapan (Veracruz), which was inaugurated on Saturday, 27 November 2010, with Fidel Herrera, State Governor, in attendance.

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Joint press release of the Italian Embassy and the Italian Chamber of Commerce

Two new generation burners were installed at the Nowiny (Poland) cement plant in 2009 and 2010. The new burners allow for better control of the clinker burning process and improved use of higher amounts of alternative fuels.
Together with the new burner installation, the primary air fans for flame shaping were replaced with higher performance rotary lobe blowers. The burner and primary air blowers at kiln no. 2 were started up between end of August and September 2009. Kiln no. 1 underwent an identical process during the winter shutdown, taking advantage of the experience gained with kiln no. 2.
The Nowiny cement plant has been using tires and fluff as alternative fuels for several years, feeding them into the kiln inlet or through the main burner. Using more alternative fuel generates significant cost savings in the clinker burning process and protects the environment because the high temperatures and alkaline reactivity of the limestone reduce emissions of sulphur compounds, despite the use of waste plastic and paper.

The Heumarkt station construction site of the underground system in Cologne has been reinforced with an intermediate slab made from Dyckerhoff Liquidur (SVB = selbstverdichtender Beton / self-compacting concrete), which can withstand the pressure from the groundwater.
Dyckerhoff Liquidur (SVB) was the first self-compacting concrete to be approved in Germany in 2001 for both standard applications and for building precompressed reinforced cement structures in the ready-mix concrete industry.

A total of 342 loads of concrete delivered by 21 concrete mixer trucks and 4 concrete pumps were required to construct the intermediate slab. Over 4,500 tons of fine and raw crushed aggregate and over 1,700 tons of cement and additives were used in the concrete mix.
For the Heumarkt underground station construction site, 3,000 m³ of Dyckerhoff Liquidur (SVB) were delivered by the Portz, Pulheim and Wesseling-Berzdorf plants. The mix was tailor made for this project in order to meet the specific requirements.

Since 1974, the VDZ (German Cement Association) section concerned with safety in the workplace organizes a competition every year to reward the plants registering the lowest possible number of accidents.
This competition is designed to encourage cement factory employees to raise their level of safety-consciousness during work. For the 2009 awards, the VDZ selected seven cement factories, including the "Fortuna" plant in Geseke (North Rhine-Westphalia).
In fact, this is the eleventh time that the Geseke plant records a “zero rate” of accidents in the workplace over the last twenty years. As recognition for this outstanding result, the VDZ awarded the plant’s production manager, Theodor Grosse-Frie, with the 2009 gold plaque which will be presented to the employees at the next company meeting.

Buzzi Unicem USA recently announced that the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the US Department of Energy (DOE) have awarded four of its manufacturing plants the ENERGY STAR® for their superior energy performance. The plants in Cape Girardeau and Selma (Missouri), Maryneal (Texas) and Chattanooga (Tennessee) received the honour.

During the last year, the plants used EPA's cement plant energy performance indicator (EPI). The  rating tool is an external yardstick that enables plants to assess how efficiently they use energy, relative to similar plants nationwide. Based on a rating systems scale of 1-100, plants receiving an EPI score of 75 or higher are eligible to earn ENERGY STAR recognition. In addition, the plant must have a three-year history of complying with several other environmental regulations.

Buzzi Unicem USA and Amazon Environmental, Inc., the leading national company involved in the recovery of latex paint, have forged an alliance which has led to the realization of a recycling center at our cement plant in Pryor, OK. From its inauguration in January 2008 up until now, the system installed by Amazon Environmental has transformed almost 6,150,000 liters of residual paint, by then unusable, into 10,000 tons of PLP (Processed Latex Pigment) to be used in the production of cement.

PLP is a material which is much more eco-friendly than many other ingredients in cement, since it’s not derived from raw materials that can be found in nature. Calcium oxide, the main molecule in cement, is found in lime powder, a waste material produced precisely at Pryor and difficult to handle due to its elevated dust levels. Amazon Environmental has solved this problem by adding the paint waist to the lime powder and thus creating PLP. In terms of consistency, the final product resembles dirt and is easy to handle. PLP is advantageous for all since the paint and the lime powder do not end up in the dumps for the benefit of the environment, new jobs are created in support of the local economy and a raw material is obtained which optimizes cement costs.

The first year of activity concluded with a remarkably positive situation for Amazon Environmental and Buzzi Unicem USA, which had to expand the PLP treatment structure. For this purpose, Amazon Environmental has recently built a second building reserved for storage of the PLP and lime powder used in the process.

Dyckerhoff is making a significant contribution for the construction of the new Berlin Brandenburg International airport (BBI).
Every day, two trains loaded with approximately 3,000 tons of cement leave the Deuna plant in Thuringen for the 300 km journey to the BeckeBau concrete plant - a partner of the Strabag construction company - at the building site. The cement is delivered to the site on a railway line that is also used to transport other aggregates, including kerosene for the old Schönefeld airport. The Deuna plant was able to win the contract because of its long experience of transporting cement by rail (over 15 years).

Upon completion of the airport we will have delivered approximately 500,000 tons of cement, over half of which supplied in 2009. Dyckerhoff products are used to build the above and below ground structures. For example, the new terminal will be built using Dyckerhoff HOZ Doppel LH/NA (low-alkaline CEM III/A 42,5 N), while Dyckerhoff PZ Doppel sd (CEM I 42,5 N for road surfaces) will be used for the runways.
BBI is one of the largest traffic infrastructure projects currently underway in Europe. Ground was broken on 5 September 2006 and the airport is scheduled to open at the end of October 2011. This new structure will replace the other airports in Berlin which are currently operating at the limits of their capacity.

New sunshades have recently been installed on the building of via Parodi, Casale Monferrato, to prevent the temperature of offices with glass windows from rising due to the greenhouse effect induced by solar radiation.
There are two benefits to screening transparent facades, openings and windows, namely the wellbeing of employees by preventing reflection and an excessive rise in temperature, and lower energy consumption, resulting in significant savings in airconditioning costs during hot weather. 
The impact of the sun and the air must be analyzed in order to choose the best method of screening a building, seeking the best natural light available during all seasons and exploiting solar radiation to maximize the use of free heat during winter.  The protruding blades used as a shading system are functional, decorative and durable, and exclude or attenuate the sun during the most critical hours.
The sunshade installation project used the geographic position of the building as a starting point, and was the outcome of a thermal-static study using solar diagrams based on the latitude of our city and in accordance with Italian regulations with respect to snow loads and wind.

In 2009, all the Dyckerhoff cement plants in Germany implemented a workplace safety and environmental protection management system that meets the requirements of the “Sicher mit System” (Systematic Safety) seal of approval and DIN EN ISO 14001.
The workplace safety management system is a tool that incorporates the protection of health and safety in the workplace into the corporate culture. The certification has triggered a continuous improvement process to identify and eliminate weaknesses, which will further reduce accidents.

The environmental protection management system is a tool that helps companies organize and maintain a system to ensure that their facilities cause minimal impact to the environment. One example of this is the reduction in CO2 emissions, and fuel and electricity consumption.

We are sure the introduction of the workplace safety and environmental protection systems will reduce the environmental impact of our activities and the number of workplace accidents, with obvious health benefits for our employees.

The Sustainability Report  2009 was presented today during  the shareholders meeting.
It reports on social, economical and environmental performances of the group's activities during 2009.

In line with the consolidated approach of the last few years,  the Sustainability Report  2009  is based on the GRI (Global Reporting Initiative) guidelines and allowed us to reach the maximum level of application A+.
This result has to be considered as a tangible recognition to the commitment to reduce company's environmental impacts  and improve the collaboration with the local communities.
The Sustainability Report  has been translated in two languages: Italian and English.

The Taum Sauk upper reservoir rebuild is the largest structure of its type in North America. Located 110 miles southwest of St. Louis, Missouri, is a 450 megawatt facility. Back in 2005, the original rock-fill reservoir breached, releasing over a billion gallons of water and sending a 20 foot high crest of water down Proffit Mountain.

Buzzi Unicem USA was awarded the cement supply contract for the entire project. The reconstruction - started during the second half of 2007 - requested the use of nearly 3 million cubic yards of RCC (Roller Compacted Concrete).

The selection and use of RCC, as well as the expertise and service of all involved, has resulted in providing Missouri’s largest electrical utility company with a cost effective and expeditious rebuild of their reservoir compared to more conventional methods. Ameren UE’s Taum Sauk facility is scheduled to be back on line this summer.

The use of fish ladders in rivers is a widespread practice throughout the world.
A fish ladder is an artificial structure built in waterways to allow fish to overcome manmade obstacles as they migrate upstream.
ZAPA beton supplied the concrete to build a fish ladder in the Hutský dam along the Sazava river, a tributary of the Moldau. The ready-mix concrete for the construction project was delivered by the Rícany plant. The concrete used was C25/30 XC4 with the addition of a plasticiser agent and later treated with the VZ1 retarder from Sika.

The Rícany ready-mix concrete plant dates back to 2003 and has its own unique image like the company’s other buildings. The plant has received ISO 9001:2009 certification for the production, transport and delivery of ready-mix concrete and mortar mixes for masonry work.
Construction of the fish ladder represents the first step toward protecting fish and their migration.

A community tire collection day was held at our Pryor, OK cement plant. Local citizens delivered 1708 waste tires to the cement plant where the tires will be used as fuel in the cement kilns. The tires weighed approximately 21 tons. This is a new record for Pryor, beating the previous record set in 2006 of 1586 tires. Volunteers from the cement plant staff were joined in this project again by cadets from the Thunderbird Youth Academy. A platoon of eager young men helped unload tires being dropped off, stacked tires for counting, and loaded tires into trailers.

The Thunderbird Youth Academy (TYA) is part of a national project sponsored by the National Guard and funded by the State of Oklahoma. The primary mission of the TYA is to intervene in the lives of at-risk youth. Specifically, TYA targets 16 to 18 year old (male or female) high school dropouts giving them the opportunity to gain control over their lives by increasing academic performance; improving self esteem; and teaching essential life skills enabling them to compete in the workplace and manage a healthy family environment.

Kiln 2 at the Robilante (Cuneo) plant was started up again in the middle of October after several important modifications were made to the pre-heater tower. The objectives of this three-year (2006-2009) project were as follows:
a) Increase the capacity of the kiln by reducing the drop in the gas system
b) Use more waste-derived fuels and at the same time improve gas retention in the pre-calciner and significantly reduce CO in the stack.
These objectives were achieved by the following operations:
- Replacing and/or modifying all the tower cyclones, from the 1st-4th stage
- Completely replacing the pre-calciner and increasing its volume.
These upgrades allowed us to increase the production capacity of the kiln from 1,800 tons/day to 2,200 tons/day. In addition to the upgrades to the tower, the kiln’s electrofilter was also converted into a baghouse.
The last step of this modernization project is to build a new 60-meter concrete stack with a diameter of 3.6 meters. Construction is currently underway and is expected to be completed by spring.

Another milestone in the road that we started upon over 10 years ago with the Vernasca (Piacenza) plant regarding the development of the environment/safety integrated management modern systems has been reached.
On December 18, 2009 ICMQ issued an occupational health and safety management system certification for the Augusta (Siracusa) and Siniscola (Nuoro) plants according to the BS OHSAS 18001:2007 provisions. We were able to achieve this due to the commitment and full collaboration from all the Buzzi Unicem employees who continued the excellent work initiated in 2005 with the UNI EN ISO 14001:2004 certification. Besides the Buzzi Unicem employees, the certification process also involved all outside personnel working at the plants, who shared the company’s decision to improve the already high safety standards of the productive environment.

In view of the current economic situation, this is another confirmation of the important role played by workplace health and safety in our company’s policy. The long road we have embarked upon will certainly lead us toward new goals but without losing sight of the fact that maintaining these results will require an even greater commitment than that expended thus far.