Unical has taken over the management of the Rio Beton batching plants since November 16.
The ready-mix concrete produced in the seven batching plants of Spilamberto, Pavullo, Gaiato, San Prospero, Monterenzio, Silla di Gaggio Montano and Castellarano is delivered throughout the provinces of Modena, Bologna and Reggio Emilia.
The plants are equipped with approximately 40 vehicles, including mixer trucks, concrete pumps and truck-mounted pumps, that provide optimal coverage of the territory.
This step strengthens Unical’s presence in the Modena area and increases its delivery capacity in the Bologna and Reggio Emilia areas.

FICEM, the Interamerican Cement Federation, held the 32nd Technical Congress in Mexico City on August 31 to September 2, 2015.  Co-hosted by CANACEM, the Mexican Cement Association, the event featured lectures and exhibitions and was one of the largest ever organized with over 390 participants from Latin America and the Caribbean region.  The four-day event included technical presentations, a visit of the exhibits, and a tour of a cement plant belonging to our associate Cementos Moctezuma.

Cementos Montezuma, a joint venture between Buzzi Unicem and Cementos Molins, hosted the visitors at the Tepetzingo plant located in the state of Morelos, approximately 100 km south of Mexico City.
Commencing operations in 1997, the plant operates two kilns with a combined capacity of 2.5 million tons/year.  The facility is equipped with Horomills for both the raw material and finish grinding and produces a variety of CPC 30 and CPC 40 composite Portland cements, using pozzolanic as the main additive.
The annual FICEM congress continues to grow, reflecting the increasingly dynamic development of the cement industry in Central and South America, as well as the desire of the producers to use this important event to share their knowledge and find solutions to the common challenges facing the entire sector.

The Robilante cement plant celebrated its 50th anniversary on Saturday, 19 September 2015, with a day dedicated to all those who work, have worked, built, designed and helped grow the plant over the years.
The day kicked off with the lighting of a blue and garnet-colored flame, with the blue representing Buzzi Unicem and the garnet to commemorate PRESA cements, the company that gave rise to the cement plant and where Chairman Enrico Buzzi and Honorary Chairman Sandro Buzzi were at the forefront working as young engineers at the time.

There were many emotional moments during the speeches as colleagues and former colleagues were remembered, mindful of the fact that an important milestone has been reached thanks to the dedication and sacrifice of everyone.  Besides the more than 670 current and former employees and family members who attended the event, the Mayor of Robilante Massimo Burzi together with Councillor Loredana Casu, the Mayor of Roaschia Bruno Viale together with Deputy Mayor Graziella Viale, the Mayor of Roccavione Germana Avena together with Deputy Mayor Franco Rabino and Councillor Rudi Medicato were also present.

The festivities continued in the afternoon with guided tours of the plant and entertainment for the children.
The 50 years of Robilante mark an important moment in the history of Buzzi Unicem and for the community that has grown beside the plant from 1965 to today.

Once again this year, Buzzi Unicem will attend the renowned international building exhibition SAIE in Bologna from 14 to 17 October 2015.
Buzzi Unicem will exhibit together with Unical in the Federbeton area at Hall 25 stand B11, displaying Next, the first sulfoaluminate cement to receive CE marking in Europe, and the well-known Solidur and Rocket products.  Unical will present the Unical Smart offering model, the H2NO system, the seal of assurance of the company’s conduct, and various product applications.

This year, SAIE will become SAIE Smart House and will be devoted mainly to building renovation, presenting innovative materials, cutting-edge technologies, and building restoration and urban renewal projects.

Buzzi Unicem will attend the RemTech Expo – Remediation Technologies – for the ninth consecutive year.  The tradeshow, which will be held in Ferrara from 23-25 September, is the most important event in Italy dedicated to the reclamation of contaminated sites, as well as the protection and redevelopment of the territory.  Our exhibition stand (approximately 20 sq. mt.) will feature the SOLIDUR® line of products.

SOLIDUR® is a ready-mix, ready-to-use special product used to prepare self-hardening plastic mixtures that have been mainly designed for environmental reclamation purposes.  Visitors to our stand will find technical documentation, a representation of a construction site for securing a landfill, and of course all the help they need to find out more about their topics of interest.

Sika AG acquired the remaining shares of the Italian based Addiment Italia from its joint venture partner Buzzi Unicem. The company is active in the production and sale of concrete admixtures and cement grinding aids. The transaction will strengthen Sika’s production set up in Italy and increase its market presence. Addiment Italia generated sales of EUR 14 million in 2014. 

Addiment Italia has a history of over 25 years of experience in the construction market offering a broad range of concrete admixtures and cement grinding aids. In 2003 Buzzi Unicem and Sika AG formed a joint venture in order to produce an innovative range of construction chemicals that enhance the quality and performance of concrete and cement.

Pietro Buzzi, co-CEO of Buzzi Unicem: “ The cooperation between Buzzi Unicem and Sika as joint venture partners of Addiment Italia has continued effectively for more than twelve years, with good understanding of the common goals and management decisions that led to great results for both employees and shareholders. We hope that our future business relationship will continue with the same long lasting success.”

Paul Schuler, Head of region EMEA: ”The acquisition will allow us to further build up on the successful partnership between Buzzi Unicem and Sika in the admixture business worldwide and strengthen the operational footprint in Italy. We welcome the new employees on board and look forward to developing the business together with our partner Buzzi Unicem.”

At the end of March, Buzzi Unicem had the pleasure of hosting a delegation of public officials and entrepreneurs from Missouri, led by Governor Jay Nixon.
The Governor was accompanied by Mike Downing, Director of the Economic Development Department of Missouri; Richard Fordyce, Director of the Department of Agriculture of Missouri; Tom Dempsey, President Pro Tempore of the Senate; Speaker of the House John Diehl; State Senator Jill Schupp; State Representative John Rizzo, and various entrepreneurs and representatives from local associations. 
The purpose of the trade mission, which visited Italy, Germany and Spain, was two-fold, the first of which was to promote the state of Missouri to international companies.  Missouri is in fact an ideal market for foreign investors thanks to its specialized workforce and business-minded environment. The second goal was to introduce the many products made in Missouri in an effort to strengthen its own exports throughout the world.
The delegation met many companies that already have interests in Missouri, including Buzzi Unicem which  has one of the largest operations in the state with the Selma and Cape Giradeau cement plants, two distribution terminals in St. Louis, and the ready-mix concrete and transport operations.  Buzzi Unicem invested more than $450 million in Missouri during the 2007-2014 timeframe.

Buzzi Unicem has welcomed the invitation by the organizing committee to become a sponsor of the Italian National and Paralympic Fencing Championships, which will be held at the Palaruffini in Turin from 12 to 15 June 2015. 
The competition is reserved to the top 40 male and female fencers from each discipline (foil, epee and sabre), among whom the famous Italian medal winners both at the Olympic and Paralymnpic Games. It is worth mentioning that five athletes born and raised in Casale Monferrato, where Buzzi Unicem is headquartered, were able to qualify for the epee title: Andrea Baroglio, Lorenzo Buzzi and Luca Ferraris (men's), Sofia Auxilia and Sara Carpegna (women’s); this is indeed quite a unique case.
The event will serve as a vehicle to promote and attract new participants to this fascinating sport, in which Italy has won 121 Olympic medals (much more than in any other sport) and continues to reign supreme in the international arena.

But the story does not end here. Buzzi Unicem also took up the challenge of placing its own product at the service of sport: cement, a well known material for its ductility and strength, will be used to take palm prints of the winners. The autographed tiles will constitute a wall of fame to be auctioned off, with the proceeds donated to charity. For the prize giving ceremony, Buzzi Unicem decided to involve Momaboma, a partner with whom we have been sharing our sustainability efforts since many years. On such an occasion Momaboma has fabricated for the athletes some pieces of its romantic accessories collection, made from recycled cement bags that otherwise would have been disposed of as paper waste.

Alamo Cement supplied the cement for the construction of the mat foundation of a high rise building in downtown Austin which will be part of the largest privately developed project in Austin’s history, the Greenwater project.
The site which will comprise two residential towers, a boutique hotel and an office tower building, is a redevelopment of the decommissioned Thomas C. Green Water Treatment Plant. Project will require approximately 50,000 m3 of concrete. The monolithic mat foundation was placed starting April 18 and completed April 19.  This was a continuous pour. The foundation required 8,800 m3 of concrete supplied by APAC Oldcastle and Lauren Concrete.

At the Annual Shareholders' Meeting, held on May 8, 2015 , the Sustainability Report 2014 was officially presented. The report discloses the performance of the company in accordance with the GRI guidelines (Global Reporting Initiative), with specific reference to the social, environmental and economic indicators. The report conforms to the GRI A+ , and was drawn up and printed in two languages (Italian and English). The Italian version contains a special section that highlights the issues that affect our country.

On 1 December 2014, Buzzi Unicem acquired a 100% interest in the formerly Lafarge-owned Uralcement, now renamed Korkino Cement.
Located in the town of Korkino, approximately 40 km south of Chelyabinsk, the Korkino cement plant is a full cycle, wet process facility with a production capacity of 1.1 million tons per year of Portland cement and ample raw material reserves. With the addition of the Korkino plant, our annual production capacity in the country has reached approximately 4.5 million tons/year.
Opened in 1957, the cement plant is currently producing with two kiln lines and eight cement mills. The plant started using secondary fuels in 2012 and currently substitutes 6% of its fossil fuels with coal slurry. The plant also has a rail connection.
Most of the cement is shipped as bulk by silo truck, while approximately a quarter is transported by rail in dedicated wagons. About 10% of the product is sold in bags.
The plant has been producing oil well cements in accordance with Russian standards since 2013. The plant employs 600 people.
The addition of the Korkino cement plant will allow us to strengthen our market position in the Ural region by leveraging the benefits of the combined production network with the existing Suchoi Log plant through synergies in the logistics, product mix and business administration areas, as well as medium-term opportunities for improving production efficiency in the country.

The agreement with the Austrian Group Wietersdorfer, which became effective on 1 August 2014, has led to a significant reorganization of our industrial operations and role in the Northeastern regions of Italy.
Buzzi Unicem transferred the Cadola (BL) plant to Wietersdorfer in exchange for a 25% share in  Salonit Anhovo,  a company that operates a powerful cement plant in Slovenia, just across the border, where an 80 million euro capital project was carried out a few years ago to increase production capacity and perform technological upgrades.

The agreement with Wietersdorfer provides also for a 25% ownership in the capital of W&P Italia, which owns the grinding center in S. Vito al Tagliamento and now the Cadola plant (see above).
The Anhovo cement plant has a production capacity of 1.3 million tons/year and is distinguished for its modernity, efficiency and competitiveness thanks to the large-scale use of alternative fuels as opposed to traditional fuels. The agreement allows Buzzi Unicem to maintain an indirect presence in both Triveneto and Slovenia together with the leading company in the market, and offers advantages in terms of logistics, technological integration, product offerings and customer service.

In 1805, Napoleon Bonaparte won an important victory over the armies commanded by Czar Alexander I and Francis II of Hapsburg at Austerlitz, now known as Slavkov u Brna in the Czech Republic.

An article in the December 2014 issue of Touring Magazine describes the history of the Moravia region in the Czech Republic, focusing particularly on the era and battles of Napoleon Bonaparte. The full-page photo that forms the backdrop for the story shows the ZAPA plant at Holubice u Brna, whose structure and colour brilliantly bring to mind the famous battle of Austerlitz.