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Finsight is said to be the UK’s first total customer solutions service, developed by Finning. Operated out of Finning’s Cannock, England, headquarters, Finsight has been developed by Finning to tackle the complex issues surrounding technology, data analysis, servicing, training and plant optimisation. It combines information from numerous services, such as GPS data from the Caterpillar Product Link system, fluid analysis and service data, into one system.

Holcim chief executive officer Bernard Fontana said the Swiss cement maker may need to further streamline its business in Europe to stem falling demand, as it announced a management shake-up. Holcim will introduce a “leaner and more efficient” structure, including a new head of Europe, from 1 September, and it may also cut its outlook for the region as it reported second-quarter earnings, predicting a contraction for 2012 after previously anticipating a stable development.

Ireland-based CRH, the country’s largest company, has said that a slide in sales will accelerate in the second half of the year. The building materials group said sales are declining in the Europe but gaining in the United States, where in the first six months of 2012 sales grew 20%, recording at €4 billion. A 26% growth was seen in earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA), which stood at €216 million.

Two quarries in Israel have bought Hitachi excavators for use in loading operations Equipment supplied by Hitachi to two quarry companies in Israel is said to be helping improve productivity. Lime & Stone Production Company is “making a significant impact on production levels” with its first excavator, a Hitachi EX1200-6, at its flagship Modim Quarry near Tel Aviv, while the performance of a large Hitachi Zaxis excavator is “adding value” to Hanson Israel’s Migdal Zedek limestone quarry, 40km outside the ci

Many companies, including those in the European quarrying industry, now list health and safety as their top priority.
Indeed, at the recent Hillhead 2012, the UK Mineral Products Association (MPA) launched the latest in its Safer by...initiatives, Safer by Partnership, for its members and their contractors to work more closely together to reduce contractor injuries and the incidence of ill health, and to ultimately achieve the target of Zero Harm.

Infrastructure projects are probably the most important drivers in Sweden’s aggregates industry. Julie-Anne Ryan reports Few national aggregates industries have records that go back as far as those of Sweden, which can track its production figures back to 1930: about 12-13 million tonnes back then, incidentally. So it’s ironic that the latest official figures currently available refer only to 2009, an issue that causes great frustration among the powers that be at the Swedish Aggregates Producers Associatio

Holcim says its half-year results show rising cement volumes; better prices and higher operating EBITDA (operating earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization). The group also says it will achieve organic growth in 2012 as well as benefit from the group’s Leadership Journey programme, which aims to increase returns. As part of the programme, Holcim will streamline its organisation from 1 September, implementing a “leaner and more efficient structure.”

Italian cement and construction material group Cementir has applied to the regional authorities for Puglia for permission to invest €140 million in the development of a new production line at its plant in Taranto. Of this total, €20million would come from the public purse. Work on the new cement milling line is scheduled to start by the end of 2012 and be completed by 2014. It will use the latest technology to ensure that its emissions and energy usage are as low as possible

Brammer, a UK supplier of maintenance, repair and overhaul products and services is taking its innovative Mobile Centre of Excellence, designed to showcase its product and service offering, to customers in the city of Nottingham, England. The company says the event, to be held at Brammer’s Nottingham Customer Service Centre in Lenton Lane from 9am to 4pm on 29 August, will give local customers the chance to see at first-hand product displays and video demonstrations from many of Brammer’s supplier partners,

CMS Cepcor has launched a new website dedicated to the sale of new and rebuilt approved used crushers, screens and feeders. The website, www.crushers.co.uk, includes crushers, screens and feeders originally manufactured by a variety of companies including Goodwin Barsby, Kue Ken, Nordberg, Parker, Pegson, Svedala, Sandvik and Symons.
The company says it has supplied hundreds of new and pre-used factory reconditioned crushers and screens over the last 20 years, and the new website www.crushers.co.uk, “We ca

Hitachi Construction Machinery (Europe)/ (HCME) has appointed a new dealer for its customers in Latvia. Repa SIA has taken over from the previous dealer Laadur OU. Repa, a subsidiary of the MONO Group, one of the largest enterprises in Latvia and owner of companies specialising in highway engineering, transport and finance, was established in 1991 as a dealer for used construction equipment. Its head office is in Riga.
The Latvian construction market has grown significantly since 2010, with increases acros

According to LSR Group estimates, concrete consumption reached about 2.6 million m³ in St Petersburg and the Leningrad regions of Russia in the first half of 2012. Over 60 commercial concrete producers are present in the local market, with the 20 biggest capturing 80% of the market. The Top 20 include LSR Aggregates and Ready-mix Concrete North-West; Beaton; TKS Beton; Lenstroydetal; Betonika and Prommonolit.

Astec Industries, is celebrating its 40th anniversary. Since its founding in 1972, Astec Industries has grown from a manufacturer of asphalt mixing plants and equipment into a family of 19 companies located across the United States and abroad. Today, these companies are manufacturers of specialised equipment for building and restoring the world’s infrastructure.

A large order for mobile crushers and screens sees Sandvik Japan deliver the first heavy mobile crushers in over 20 years to a customer Sandvik Japan has delivered the first heavy mobile crushers in over 20 years to one of its customers in Japan, the Tochigi-based Showa Corporation. Part of the Fujisaco Group, the Showa Corporation has been a Sandvik customer for five years, purchasing a variety of Sandvik drill rigs, breakers and medium range mobile crushers and screens. Now, Sandvik says it is also Sandvi

The lack of construction projects in Spain has led to cement usage levels being as low as they were in the 1930s, the Spanish cement production company Cementos Portland Valderrivas has said.
The year 2007 was cited as a record year for cement consumption, with 57 million tonnes of cement being produced. In the current year so far this has reduced down to some 14 million tonnes.

Rockmore International’s new drill bit design is said to be especially suited for hard rock quarry drilling.
The new CrossFlow bit design is also said to extend bit life and improve penetration rates for percussive drilling applications in abrasive and challenging rock condition. “Overall drilling efficiency is greatly influenced by bit penetration rates. Increasing rate of bit penetration is mostly determined by impact energy and flushing efficiency,” says Rockmore, which has targeted improvements in bit

The final two trucks of a 20-unit machine order placed by Scottish Coal have rolled out of the Terex manufacturing facility in Motherwell, Scotland. The TR100 rigid trucks are part of a large order placed at the end of 2011 by Scottish Coal through TDL Equipment, the official UK distributor of Terex heavy line construction machines. They have joined the rest of the fleet across the company’s open cast coal sites in County Ayrshire, which now totals 44 TR100s operating across Scottish Coal’s Ayrshire sites.

DF Ecology has unveiled its latest innovation, the Smart Dustfighter, which is designed to provide outside workers with safe protection from airborne contaminates. The Smart Dustfighter produces a fine mist of water through a series of high-pressure jets, and this is propelled onto the site by a powerful fan, rendering the area free from unhealthy and hazardous material. The equipment operates from ordinary mains power and delivers a maximum coverage of up to 13m through six nylon fan blades fitted to an

Spillard Safety Systems is stepping up its campaign saying that more needs to be done to increase safety on mining and quarrying sites. As part of a newly-expanded education and training programme, the company will be taking part in a series of safety events later this year including a Mineral Products Association (MPA) safety day, and a safety week organised by Tarmac. “Technology alone is not enough to ensure the safety of people exposed to the dangers of limited visibility and blind spots on machines and

CRH says that it has entered negotiations with Jaypee Cement Corporation that may lead to the purchase by CRH of an equity stake in Jaypee’s Gujarat cement business. The Gujarat operation under consideration consists of a 3.6 million tonne clinker plant at Kutch, in western Gujarat, with 2.4 million tonnes of cement grinding capacity and a further grinding plant in eastern Gujarat with capacity to produce 2.4 million tonnes a year.