MANUFACTURERS – MARCH 2020

Lehigh White Cement, the domestic business of Italy’s Cementir Holding S.p.A., has joined Baltimore-based AltusGroup, a partnership of 17 North American precasters, two international affiliates and 10 affiliated companies. As an Innovation Partner, Lehigh White will collaborate with producer members to accelerate the introduction of Aalborg Inwhite Solution Ultra High Performance Concrete, Extreme and Excel products to the North American architectural precast market. Cementir has more than 3 million tons of white portland cement capacity and operates on five continents.

“We see great opportunity in the building sector for innovative, architectural precast materials. AltusGroup is well situated to take advantage of the unique performance capabilities of our high-value-added, high-performance products,” says Cementir Chief Sales, Marketing & Commercial Development Officer Michele Di Marino. “Joining AltusGroup to provide progressive, sustainable and cost-effective precast solutions will bring value to designers and building owners alike.”

“The ability of Lehigh White Cement to provide our members with innovative products makes it an ideal partner,” adds AltusGroup Executive Director John Carson. “We’re especially interested in the performance and aesthetic benefits of its Aalborg Inwhite UHPC product related to our Arcis technology for rainscreens and the Graphic Concrete treatment, which gives architects incredible freedom to impart any image or pattern onto precast.”



Jeter Yates

Omaha, Neb.-based Nox-Crete, Inc. has named Jeter “Jey” Yates as Southeast regional sales manager, responsible for Alabama, the Carolinas, Florida, Mississippi and Tennessee. A resident of Anderson, S.C., he arrives with more than two decades of experience in sales with Ram Tool and New South Construction Supply, plus concrete cutting project management roles.

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Mike Leakey
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Todd Smith

Sioux Center, Iowa-based Link Manufacturing Ltd., a leader in specialty-engineered suspensions for heavy-duty trucks, has appointed Mike Leakey as vice president of Sales and Marketing. He brings 30-plus years’ sales, engineering and marketing management experience, including executive positions with IMMI, among them managing director – Truck and Defense, director of Sales – On-Highway, plus vice president of Marketing and Sales.

Separately, Link has appointed Todd Smith as senior OE account manager. A 20-plus year veteran of sales and marketing for highly engineered products, systems and components to on- and off-highway original equipment manufacturers, he most recently served as national account manager for Neenah Enterprises. Account-management assignments throughout his career have included Bendix Commercial Vehicle Systems, Dana Corp. and ZF Industries.

Construction Supply Group has added 15 California and Arizona branches through the acquisition of Hub Construction Specialties, Inc., San Bernardino, Calif. The transaction is the 19th for CSG, which since 2016 has grown to 130-plus U.S. and Canada locations, offering 60,000 stockkeeping units to 65,000 builders and contractors.

“Hub’s established presence in the industry and strong vendor relationships are a welcome addition to CSG’s overall efforts and will help provide a greater national reach,” says Mitch Williams, chief executive officer of Denver-based CSG. The partnership with Hub especially expands a group footprint in California’s Inland Empire, he adds.

France’s Hoffmann Green Cement Technologies has been granted a patent for its H-P2A (High Performance Alkaline Activation) geopolymer technology in the United States. H-P2A supports formulation of low-carbon cements for the mortar and industrial adhesive markets.

“This U.S. patent is recognition of the constant work undertaken by our teams and the importance we pay to Hoffmann Green’s development in the short, medium and long term,” note company co-founders Julien Blanchard and David Hoffmann. “The decarbonization of the construction sector is a global issue, and we can play an integral part thanks to our innovative and disruptive technologies.”

H-P2A encompasses flash clay mixed with silicate and activators and specifically formulated superactivators. The quick set product attains tensile strength of 25 MPa, and can be shipped as an active powder plus liquid solution, or blend of two pastes. Hoffmann has developed H-P2A, along with H-EVA and H-UKR technologies, each with an eye to commercial binders bearing lower carbon footprints than portland cement.

New York-based insulating concrete form installer and supplier ICF Industries Inc. has entered a strategic agreement under which GigaCrete Inc. of North Las Vegas will white label and manufacture high-performance coatings, energy-efficient wall systems and advanced security building systems under the CannaBlock brand name. The agreement affords the ICF sales and distribution team opportunity to market the GigaCrete exterior finish product line to its growing list of accounts. The partnership also represents a fast-tracked branding opportunity for ICF and adds an ancillary, high margin revenue stream befitting a core insulated concrete block sales and distribution business model.