Articles on the gypsum industry from Global Gypsum

Gypsum board factories with clients in north east Japan have faced unprecedented operational circumstances during the past year following the 11 March 2011 earthquake and tsunami. The disaster badly affected the Tohoku region and part of the neighbouring Kanto region, which includes Tokyo. Earthquake damage occurred in an area stretching about 500km north to south from Iwate to Tokyo along the east Japanese coastline and up 10km inland in some areas north of Tokyo. One year on, Special Correspondent David Hayes spoke to Yoshino Gypsum about the 12 months since the disaster.

At the Global Gypsum Conference & Exhibition in Paris, France, in 2010, Bob Bruce presented a paper about how the global gypsum industry was likely to be affected by the underlying trends shaping the world today. One year ago business in Western Europe and North America was suffering and everyone was hoping that conditions would improve soon. Meanwhile, much of the rest of the world was enjoying a growing market. So what has changed in a year?

A number of different factors have to be taken into consideration in the selection of bag filling systems for mortar and gypsum products. The filling process and filling time are essentially determined by the product and material characteristics, as well as by the chosen filling system. By means of measured bulk density characteristics such as flowability, aeration behaviour, bulk density, grain size distribution, fineness and wear behaviour, mortar and gypsum products can be evaluated regarding their filling behaviour. This measured data can be used for the selection of a suitable filling system.

When building products manufacturing volumes are low, there is more competitive pressure to produce high-quality wallboard and the importance of maintaining customer loyalty by minimising claims becomes increasingly important. This article describes operational strategies for adjusting the dryer from volume-centric production methods to quality-centric methods during times of lower demand. Emphasis is placed on solutions requiring little or no capital.

Have you ever wondered what buildings would be like if they were designed by Apple or made by BMW? What if buildings had the sleek design and efficient performance that we expect from a modern phone or car?