Gypsum industry news

Brazil: Trevo Drywall plans to invest US$25m in an expansion to its Juazeiro do Norte gypsum wallboard plant, scheduled for commissioning in 2025. This will initially raise the plant's capacity to 20Mm²/yr, and subsequently to 30Mm² by 2026. The expanded plant will be equipped with a new enterprise resource planning system to assist with the increased automation of its operations. Trevo Drywall also plans to build a second plant, the location of which is subject to on-going evaluations.

Chief financial officer Gabriel Rodrigues Granja de Alencar said "We will also strengthen compliance tools and soon announce the creation of a people development programme."

Oman: The Ministry of Energy and Minerals has launched its Taqa digital investment platform. The Taqa platform will help to leverage digital technologies in the energy and minerals sectors. It includes investor packages for bidding, inspections and licence management. Gypsum quarries will be among sites included in an initial set of studies available on the platform.

Acting Director of the Petroleum Concessions Department Raya Al Abri said “This will allow investors and companies to bid transparently and within a fair competitive environment, based on technical expertise, financial solvency and value-added priorities.”

UK: Saint-Gobain subsidiary British Gypsum has launched its BIMlocker software, a tool to enhance the use of its building information modelling (BIM) objects. The company says that BIMlocker improves customers’ data accuracy and accountability. The tool integrates with existing Revit software.

Head of digital construction Paul French said "Demonstrating compliance, accountability and integrity has never been more important within our industry. Our new BIMlocker software provides reassurance as an invisible layer of security that acts as a valuable aid to construction supply chains in the Building Safety Act era. It eliminates any ambiguity and ensures complete transparency."

Germany: Currax and Siemens have announced their collaboration on a mill operations digitisation pilot project involving the Simotics Connect 400 motor data collector and transmitter. They hope that analysis of data processed via the Simotics 400 will better enable the remote operating of mills ‘to increase efficiency and component life’ and speeding the shift towards automation and production that is resilient to crises such as the coronavirus outbreak.