Gypsum industry news

Canada: Cory Schurman has accepted the role of national sales manager with Gypsoil, a division of Beneficial Reuse Management. He will oversee the Gypsoil sales team, coordinate marketing programs and work with customers, sales representatives and agricultural consultants.

"We are very excited to add Cory Schurman to the Gypsoil team," said Robert Spoerri, CEO of Beneficial Reuse Management. "He possesses a highly advanced understanding of soil improvement and agronomics and he is a leader in analysing agricultural business processes, identifying sales opportunities and executing integrated marketing programs. Schurman is a widely-recognised resource for helping crop growers incorporate efficient and effective agronomic solutions through careful management decision-making."

"I'm looking forward to building the Gypsoil sales team to help growers achieve maximum soil productivity and agronomic results through the use of Gypsoil brand gypsum," said Schurman.

Schurman replaces Steve Musser who was named director of new product development for Gypsoil. In his new role Musser will focus on advancing several initiatives to broaden the company's offerings and service to agricultural producers.

UK: The new Quality Protocol (QP) for recycled gypsum will put an end to its use in agriculture as well as impacting negatively on the plasterboard recycling industry, according to the Gypsum Re-processors' Association UK and Ireland (GRAUKI).

GRAUKI also believes that there will be a short-term increase in the illegal disposal of waste plasterboard due to the removal of agricultural soil treatment as an approved end-use for recycled gypsum in the QP.

The QP for the production and use of recycled gypsum from waste plasterboard was published by the Environment Agency and the Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP) in consultation with UK governments and other regulatory stakeholders. It was published in March 2014 and is applicable throughout the UK. The QP designates just two permitted end uses for the of recycled gypsum, which are wallboard manufacture and cement production. As a result, recycled gypsum can now only be spread to land as a waste, for which gypsum re-processors will need to apply for a permit.

According to GRAUKI, "In practice the cost and legislative constraints are such that GRAUKI members feel that this will put an end to the beneficial use of recycled gypsum in agriculture." The Association added, "This change will have a negative impact on the overall capacity of the plasterboard recycling industry in the UK, which is already struggling to cope with the amount of gypsum waste generated."

GRAUKI previously raised concerns in 2013 that the EA could 'strangle' the plasterboard recycling industry unless it permitted more end uses for recycled gypsum.

UK: Saint-Gobain has opened a technical academy in the town of Flitwick, Bedfordshire, UK, to help bridge the skills gap in technical training.

The Saint-Gobain Technical Academy will run a range of training and specialist up-skilling courses. The multi-purpose centre has been developed to feature innovation and product demonstration areas, practical workshops, lecture rooms and meeting facilities.

The courses from Saint-Gobain's companies, including Weber, British Gypsum, Isover, PAM and Pasquill, are designed for 10 to 15 candidates and cover topics such as external wall insulation (EWI), internal wall insulation (IWI), renders and tiling to concrete repair, construction mortars, roofing, pipework and flooring.

Pádraig Barry, managing director for Weber, said, "The facility offers training on a wide range of products and systems from a number of Saint-Gobain brands. The decision to invest in the Flitwick site creates a more accessible location for installers and trade professionals operating in central and southern regions." He continued, "The construction market is believed to need approximately 180,000 more workers to deliver the planned housing and infrastructure projects by 2018. Part of the Saint-Gobain Technical Academy's role is to facilitate this need, but crucially it will also ensure that new and current trade professionals are of the highest calibre, trained on innovative and sustainable systems and have the opportunity to up-skill."

Australia: Len Buckeridge, Australia's 19th richest person, died of a heart attack at the age of 77 on 11 March 2014. The billionaire owner of Buckeridge Group of Companies (BGC), was a well-known and long-standing character in the Australian construction industry. The group has interests in gypsum wallboard, bricks and cement as well as residential construction.

Buckeridge built up BGC, which turns over US$2.25bn/yr, from humble beginnings in the 1960s following his training as an architect at Perth Technical College. Hard-but-fair in business, his determined approach saw him amass a personal fortune of over US$1.5bn via the group. Despite his success he retained a down-to-earth approach to the company's day-to-day operations, latterly running the business from the dining room table in his house at Mosman Park, near Perth.

His hard-nosed stance, which helped him in some aspects of his business life, also made him a controversial figure. Buckeridge was involved in a number of deeply-entrenched confrontations with construction unions in Australia. He also attempted to sue the Government in the Supreme Court over a stalled private port project. Upon his death, Buckeridge was described by former construction union boss Kevin Reynolds as 'a formidable opponent.' "People will remember Len as a person who was prepared to take on anyone and everyone whether it would be the unions, government, other employer groups or other builders," said Reynolds. "If Len believed in something he would take them on."

Buckeridge, who had been contemplating succession plans for BGC without coming to a conclusion prior to his death, owned 100% of the group. The Australian business world and the global cement and gypsum industries is awaiting news on how the future ownership of the company will look. Buckeridge is survived by his wife, six children and eight grandchildren.

Australia: Boral chief executive Mike Kane said that coal seam gas is critical to the future of Australian manufacturing as he warned that rising energy costs are threatening to kill the industry. The US executive has only been running Australia's Boral for about 18 months, but he has already slashed 1000 jobs and cut US$95.5m from the company's cost base.

Kane still has costs firmly in focus, saying that spiralling energy costs are seriously damaging manufacturers. "Coal seam gas is part of the future recovery for Australian manufacturing," he said. "If it is not exploited properly, I think Australian manufacturing has a use-by date attached to it because the inflationary pressures in energy will kill domestic manufacturing over time."

Gas and electricity costs Boral about US$91.1m/yr. The group's newly-signed contracts in New South Wales and Victoria will see Boral's cost of gas rise about 20% from 2014. Because of import parity pricing, it is difficult for Boral and its competitors to pass cost increases on to customers. However, Kane is testing the waters. At its half-year result in February 2014, when Boral reported a 73% jump in underlying half-year profit to US$82.4m, the company flagged its intent to raise concrete prices by 6% in April 2014.

Over the past decade the strong Australian Dollar, high wages, rising energy costs and static productivity have taken their toll on manufacturers. "The Australian economy is showing signs of recovery but it is still early days. Not all of the states are reaching the same rate so I would argue that Queensland, Victoria and South Australia still have a while to come," Kane said.