FICEM-APCAC

On 24th April it was held the second Inter-American Cement Federation’s Board of Directors meeting in Miami. The major points of the agenda were the FICEM-APCAC commissions’ reports, the design of an action plan for the Energy Efficiency committee, and the inclusion of a new member.

Communication Commission

Máximo Dolman, commission director, announced that after the alignment workshop held in Bogotá on 4th March 2008, along with the Institute Commission, the Communication Commission will organize the 1st Inter-American Encounter of Communication Leaders, which will take place in Miami on 11th August 2008.

This initiative consists in holding a meeting with some of the most important communication management executives from the main cement manufacturing companies and associations of the region.

The purpose of this encounter is to build-up a cement industry communication network which objective is to ease-up the organizing of the information available on the main topics of interest, the policies definition for prioritizing the information, and the visualization of mechanisms for the proper and sufficient spreading of the agreed contents.

Market and Product Commission

Carlos Ossa, Institute Commission coordinator, presented the work programs and the advancements achieved in each of the commission’s committees (Roads, Housing and Urban Infrastructure, Concrete Products, and Education).

Within the agenda it is heightened the 1st Housing Inter-American Forum, 9-12 July in El Salvador, and the 1st FICEM-APCAC Concrete Masonry Constructions Award, organized by the Concrete Products Committee in San José de Costa Rica on the coming 8th August.

On its part, the Road Committee highlighted the appointment of a technical position in the direction of the World Road Association, to be occupied by Augusto Holmberg, General Manager of the Cement and Concrete Institute of Chile. Likewise, this committee announced that it was approved to disseminate and participate in the Concrete Block Pavement International Conference PAVE next year in Buenos Aires, Argentina, 18th-21st October.

The Market and Product Commission is also developing other works, researches, and publications included in the work plan proposed during the last Institute Commission meeting, held on 5th March in Bogota.

Cement Production Commission

A year after the merging of FICEM with the Caribbean Cement Manufacturers Association APCAC, the Cement Production Committee of the Inter-American Cement Federation FICEM-APCAC will hold the XXV Technical Congress in Panama, 8th-11th September.

For the first time, the cement production companies of the region will have a greater participation in the programming of technical conferences and will share their best practices regarding SAFETY, ENERGY CONSERVATION, ENVIRONMENT, and MINE RESTAURATION.

On the other hand, more than 10 multinational suppliers, at an exposition fair, will show the wide technology they offer for cement production; this will be of great help for reducing and improving plant costs and maintenance and distribution centers.

Parallel to this event and with the purpose of structuring an action plan for 2008 by this commission, the Energy Efficiency technical committee in head of Luiz Alberto de Castro, named Hugo Rodrígues from the Portland Cement Brazilian Association and member of the FICEM-APCAC Communication Commission, as the responsible for collecting all the information related with the region's Energy Efficiency matter.

The research methodologies, the most successful cases, and the Key Performance Indicators (KPI´s), will be collected by this team for writing a regional report with FICEM-APCAC’s seal.

During the Board of Directors' meeting it was also studied Nicaragua's request of becoming a FICEM-APCAC member. The request presented by the Cement and Concrete Nicaraguan Institute–INCYC and signed by Raúl Leclair, its Executive Director, will be discussed in the General Assembly for its approval.

Finally, at the Board of Directors' meeting, the date for the 18th FICEM-APCAC Assembly and Congress was confirmed; the latter will be held on 15th, 16th, and 17th October 2008 in Cancun. It was also confirmed that the next Board of Directors' meeting will be on 18th July in Miami.