Gypsum industry news

Spain: Saint-Gobain Placo Iberia plans to spend Euro4.5m on upgrades to its Fábrica de Quinto wallboard plant in Zaragoza. The project started in 2017 with an investment of Euro1m, according to the Heraldo de Aragón newspaper. In July 2018 the company plans to spend Euro0.5m towards improving the quality of its wallboard and preparing a production line for new products. The majority of the investment will go towards improving logistics at the unit and expanding its storage capacity. A new wallboard recycling plant is also planned.

India/Pakistan: Raw gypsum exports are growing at the Wagah border crossing between Pakistan and India. Around 3000t/day or 80 trucks of gypsum cross the border into India, according to the Nation newspaper. Exports have been increasing due to demand from Indian importers. Most of the commodity is used to make cement although it is also used to produce fertiliser and make plaster products such as gypsum wallboard.

Germany: Schenck Process has signed an agreement to buy Raymond Bartlett Snow from the Arvos Group. The acquisition is expected to close on 29 June 2018. No value for the deal has been disclosed.

Raymond Bartlett Snow designs and builds size reduction, classification and thermal processing equipment. It operates locations in the US, India and Brazil, all of which will become part of the Schenck Process Group.

Slovenia: Savatech has renamed itself as Trelleborg Slovenija. The decision follows the on-going integration of the company into Trelleborg since 2016. From the 1 January 2018 Savatech became integrated into the Trelleborg Coated Systems, Trelleborg Industrial Solutions and Trelleborg Wheel Systems divisions. The company continues to produce industrial rubber products, including conveyor belts.

UK: British Gypsum has appointed Stacey Temprell as Marketing Director and Paul Lake as Sales Director. Both directors will work together to develop and roll out plans for the company’s range of products and services.

Temprell was previously responsible for supporting the development of Saint-Gobain’s Habitat strategy in the UK and Ireland, leading its marketing function. She first joined the Saint-Gobain Group with British Gypsum, where she had responsibility for the Gyproc range of plasterboards and plasterboard accessories and managing the product range transition to meet new building regulations, before moving into the role of Residential Market Manager.

Lake previously led the Ecophon organisation in the UK and Ireland. He brings to the role experience in both sales and general management at Ecophon and latterly as Business Units Director responsible for Saint-Gobain Ceilings for the UK, Ireland, South Africa and Benelux countries.