MANUFACTURERS – FEBRUARY 2018

Lehigh Cement Co. LLC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Lehigh Hanson Inc., has promoted Quentin McGahey from Mitchell, Ind., plant manager to vice president, Cement Operations Northeast, based in Allentown, Pa. Succeeding him in Indiana is Jerry Miller, elevated from assistant plant manager.

On the heels of two nine-figure investments in concrete reinforcement milling capacity, Irving, Texas-based Commercial Metals Co. is set to acquire 33 rebar facilities plus steel mills in California, Florida, New Jersey and Tennessee from Gerdau S.A.

“This acquisition aligns with our strategy to focus on concrete reinforcing products and leverages CMC’s core competencies in rebar production and value added fabrication services to non-residential construction customers. These assets provide us the opportunity to optimize our product mix more fully in the U.S.,” explains Commercial Metals CEO Barbara Smith. “Over the past several years, we have repositioned our portfolio to focus on core strengths of vertically integrated steel manufacturing and fabrication services as well as strengthen our balance sheet—placing us in the optimal position to take advantage of this unique growth opportunity. We plan to invest in these facilities to create efficiencies utilizing our expertise in the latest innovations for steel manufacturing and fabrication.”

The $600 million deal affords an expanded geographic footprint in the largest U.S. construction regions, and increases CMC’s annual melt capacity by more than 50 percent, to 7.2 million tons. Full integration of legacy and Gerdau rebar facilities and mills is projected to yield approximately $40 million in pre-tax operational synergies.

Power Technique North America is the new name of the Atlas Copco Construction Equipment North America business. The name was chosen because U.S. and Canadian customers recognize power as the defining characteristic of the core product categories in the portfolio: air, power (including light) and flow. It will continue to comprise the Atlas Copco, Chicago Pneumatic and American Pneumatic Tools brands.

“Our commitment to the construction industry is as strong as ever,” says Power Technique North America President Scott Carnell. “However, we also serve customers in many other segments. The Power Technique name more accurately encompasses this and our overall product offering.” Principal products, he adds, will be portable compressors, generators, light towers and pumps, plus handheld pneumatic, electric and hydraulic tools.

The name change follows three 2017 Atlas Copco moves: divestment of the Road Construction Equipment Division, including Dynapac rollers, pavers and planers, to French industrial and construction company Fayat Group; announcement of the planned 2018 split into two companies; and, an agreement to sell the concrete and compaction business to Husqvarna Group’s Construction Division.

Dodge Data & Analytics, New York, has been awarded a multi-year contract to continue providing data for a major benchmark, U.S. Construction Projects Started, to the U.S. Department of Commerce Census Bureau. Dodge projects are a key input to the Nonresidential Construction Spending forecast that tracks the monthly value of Construction Put in Place. Each month, the Census Bureau samples projects from the Dodge universe of newly started projects to survey builders regarding the amount of work completed on their projects during the prior month, and continues to survey them each month until construction is completed. From these surveys of the Dodge projects, the Census Bureau develops its estimates of the value of national nonresidential construction spending, which in turn contributes to the calculations performed each quarter by the Bureau of Economic Analysis to create the U.S. GDP figures.

With a company tenure approaching 30 years, Richard Montani has been promoted from executive vice president to president and chief executive officer at Lyndhurst, N.J.-based Sika Corp.Management credits him for a decisive role in the development of the construction materials business, and a successful track record in marketing, sales, business management, strategic planning, and mergers & acquisitions. The latter include five U.S. deals in the past three years.

Swiss parent Sika AG announced the latest of those deals last month: a $38 million acquisition of Emseal Joint Systems, Ltd., a leader in structural expansion joint products for new construction and retrofit. The deal affords the North American region a comprehensive range of sealing and bonding solutions, plus production facilities in Westborough, Mass., and Toronto. Sika officials present Emseal as a well-established, technology-driven company with a strong brand and leading position among construction specifiers and contractors throughout North America; and, reputation for high-quality products, excellent customer service and innovative solutions for structural expansion joint applications in buildings, stadiums, parking garages and infrastructure facilities.