The cement industry is a very big industry. In the US, the dominant cement companies are in Texas, California, Florida, Pennsylvania, Alabama and Michigan. The total production from just these 5 states constitutes already more or less 50% of the entire cement that is produced in the US. Outside the US, there are also a number of those in industrial countries. Highly industrialized countries need cement companies to produce local raw materials for infrastructures, buildings and homes. The top 5 companies produce more or less 51% cement. 80% of the companies in the US are foreign owned.
In the US, the companies provide a total of $10 billion per year. Also, the US utilizes about a hundred million metric tons of cement annually but because of the worsening economy, the conditions have become a bit of a downhill slope since the number of industries relying on cement companies have to minimize its consumption and find a way to find the best options for their own industries. In this way, they are affected since the industries they serve are in a bad condition. With the worsening economy, they are doing their best to provide better options financially for their customers to be able to push through with their industries.
The months of May up to October brings about two thirds of the total cement usage in the US. To minimize the problems in fluctuation, these overproduce during winter to address the high demands over the summer. In this way, they are capable of balancing out spikes in their productions. One of the other costs being addressed by is the shipping. This is the reason why many cement companies offer regional services since the cost of trucks and freight can be almost too much to handle for. 95% of the cement is shipped by truck. However, even with the weakening economy, the cement companies still cannot provide enough for the nation and since it is very difficult to make an assumption for expansion in the back economic conditions, importing from other countries is very essential. One of the biggest importers is Canada basically due to its proximity. In the next few years, the cement companies in the US are expected to diversify their production by another 25 metric tons. This will increase the volume produced compared to the number imported which costs a lot more.
One of the ways US companies are cutting back on their processes while producing more is by using new technologies like dry process manufacturing which is much less intensive in relation to energy usage compared to the wet process manufacturing done by cement companies before. This will help in allocating funds for the production of more and making the processes more efficient. The companies in the US are in a very stable condition and with the modern manufacturing processes and long term goals, the industry is slowly on the rise again and hopefully, it will rise together with the wilting economy.
0 comments:
Post a Comment