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USA EDITION • WINTER 2011

CEMEX USA’sShannon Graves Took Home the Prize for the Best Photo for Nature on CEMEX Sites

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INDEX

Winter 2011 > Our Voice > 3

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03 40 Years—and No Lost-Time Accidents!

04 Grand Prize Winners of the CEMEX-BirdLife Nature Photo Competition!

08 CEMEX Receives Top Environmental Awards by Wildlife Habitat Council

09 Tilting at Windmills? Not on This Job! A 61-turbine Wind Farm Project Provides Plenty of Real Challenges

10 Fresh Water: The Essence of Life

12 Marshalling Our Forces—CEMEX Proves Teamwork Can Get the Job Done

14 An Innovative Engineering Idea Makes Phoenix Airport First of its Kind

16 Is History Set in Stone? It is Now.

17 High Flying Repairs—Steep Slopes and a Boulder Named “Big Bertha” Couldn’t Stop this Project

18 The Steel City Turns to Concrete: Pittsburgh Hosts ACI Convention

19 CO2 Footprint—CEMEX’s New Carbon Footprint Tool for its Products!

Please help us to continue improving Our Voice by giving us your feedback. To submit story ideas, contact the editor by telephone at 713-722-5938.

Published by the Corporate Communications Team for all CEMEX employees

HEALTH & SAFETY

Four decades have passed since Eugene Samuel, Mike Smith and Bobby Wilson first reported for work at the Demopolis cement plant in Alabama. Working for the same employer for 40 years is an

impressive feat, but working in a mining capacity without incurring even one lost-time accident is nothing short of incredible. The U.S. Mine Safety & Health Administration (MSHA) certainly took note of the accomplishment. Its Southeast District Conference Committee invited the three to receive special recognition at its annual conference in early November of 2010. “We are proud of Mike, Bobby and Eugene’s achievement,” said Luis Lopez, our Demopolis Plant Manager. “They are excellent employees, and their performance in the plant is as good as their safety record.” So how did the three men accomplish this incredible safety milestone? They each credit awareness as a key factor. “It boils down to the individual taking responsibility for his own safety,” said Wilson, a Production Shift Supervisor. “You have to be aware of what’s going on around you—that’s what it’s all about.” Samuel, a Control Room Operator who started out as a rock feeder, echoes that sentiment. “You can take safety for granted after doing things for so long, but the double checking has a lot to do with staying safe,” he said. Samuel also credits his father for inspiring him to be safe on the job. “I wanted to carry on the legacy that he started. The recognition was a special honor for me because my dad was working here when I was born. I saw him come home every day with dust all over him, but I never knew him to be involved in an accident.” Just as Samuel was guided by a desire to be like his dad, Smith, now a Maintenance Systems Administrator, remembers how the older workers helped him develop safe work habits. “They would call attention to the young boy and make sure he was doing things the right way. Over the years, I have tried to carry on this type of attitude and try to set an example. It ultimately falls on each individual’s shoulder to do things the right way and try to help each other.” “Eugene, Mike and Bobby set an example for everybody,” said Lopez. “They have put safety first every day for more than 40 years and are proof that it works.”

40 Years—and No Lost-Time Accidents!Three Demopolis Employees Receive Special Recognition from MSHA

(Left to right) Mike Davis, Southeast MSHA District Manager and Mike Smith

(Left to right) Mike Davis, Southeast MSHA District Manager and Bobby Wilson

(Left to right) Mike Davis, Southeast MSHA District Manager and Eugene Samuel

4 > Our Voice > Winter 2011 Winter 2011 > Our Voice > 5

SUSTAINABILITYSUSTAINABILITY

Winter 2011 > Our Voice > 5

6 > Our Voice > Winter 2011 Winter 2011 > Our Voice > 7Winter 2011 > Our Voice > 7



SUSTAINABILITY

At a ceremony on November 11, 2010, CEMEX USA was recognized by the Wildlife Habitat Council (WHC) with two of the Council’s top national awards, including the William W. Howard C.E.O. Award for environmental stewardship,

achieved through educational initiatives by CEMEX’s Aggregate Division, in Florida. This is the WHC’s highest award, as it recognizes a company that has a history of striving for excellence in Conservation, Education, and Outreach (C.E.O.). “CEMEX’s Environmental Education programs in Center Hill, Brooksville, Clermont, Miami, Davenport, and Lake Wales, Florida have gone above and beyond to support and encourage local conservation efforts. This honor is a culmination of many years of hard work by our employees who are committed to our communities and education. I congratulate all CEMEX employees for their continued dedication to sustainability,” said Gilberto Perez, President of CEMEX USA. The C.E.O. Award, named after WHC’s late President, recognizes not a single program, but rather an entire organization for its combined efforts in providing educational experiences, access to quality educational opportunities, and the opportunity to experience personal contact with the natural world to its employees and the surrounding community. CEMEX’s Environmental Education Centers and programs embody this award. Along with receiving the C.E.O. Award, the CEMEX Center Hill Quarry, was awarded the Corporate Lands for Learning (CLL) of the Year Award, which is designed to recognize a site for outstanding environmental education, stewardship and voluntary employee efforts. Recent projects included well-planned and developed wetland enhancement efforts and hosting field trips for all the 4th and 7th grade students in Sumter County. Center Hill has been in partnership with the Sumter County School Board since 2005. This strong partnership also earned CEMEX a top three finalist nomination for the Corporate Partner of the Year Award. Members of the CEMEX Florida Aggregates group received their 3-year recertification in 2010 under the CLL program and include the Center Hill Quarry, the Lake Wales Sand Mine, and the Gator Sand Mine. Another highly accredited program through the Wildlife Habitat Council is the Wildlife at Work program which honors sites for their successful wildlife habitat management programs. The following CEMEX operations teams received their two-year recertification: the Lake Wales Sand Mine, the FEC Quarry, the Center Hill Quarry, and the 474 Sand Mine. CEMEX’s Lyons Cement Plant in Colorado was also certified as a Wildlife at Work site for their development and management of a wildlife habitat enhancement program.

SUSTAINABILITY

Tilting at Windmills?Not on This Job!A 61-turbine Wind Farm Project Provides Plenty of Real Challenges

T ilting at windmills is a phrase used to describe a person who fights an imaginary enemy. But

there’s nothing contrived about the wind, cold and snow that sweeps through the Allegheny Mountains of West Virginia. To harness the energy of the wind, Allegheny Energy Services is constructing 61 wind turbines along an 11-mile stretch of mountain ridgeline. And to help the turbines stand tall and secure, CEMEX is supplying the cement to ready-mix producer Alcon LLC for 17,000 cubic yards of concrete for the foundations. “Alcon starts each foundation by pouring a three-inch slab of 40 cubic yards,” said Kurt Rosander, our Sales Manager for the Greater Pittsburgh Area. “Then they place the actual foundation of 250 cubic yards, which also contains several tons of rebar. A final 35-cubic-yard column on top of the foundation provides the attachment point for the 300-foot columns that support the turbine and blades. That adds up to three different pours for each turbine.” The one-way, limited access road makes delivery a tough

battle, so when the folks at Alcon landed the Laurel Mountain Wind Farm job in November, they knew CEMEX would be a valuable partner on the project. Ed Navickas, Pittsburgh Terminal Manager, helped them get the job done by extending hours and making sure cement was delivered when needed. “The tricky part of the job is access,” said Bryan Leatherman, General Manager for Alcon. “The developer agreed to limit access and not utilize paved roads due to traffic concerns, so we have only one 12-mile gravel road to access the project.” Additionally, most pours begin before daylight, making visibility on the winding, mountainous path especially difficult. The teams working on this project can tell you the enemies are real. “The challenge has been fighting Mother Nature,” said Leatherman. “We’ve got a job at a 3,000-foot elevation that includes fog and now, snow. It’s basically a lot of early mornings to get up there and monitor the road. The convoys include a lead truck with a strobe light to make sure they don’t get off the trail.” The trucks are delivering a special, 5,000-PSI mix design that maintains slump despite cold weather and the long journey into the site.

“CEMEX is a very good partner,” said Leatherman. “They helped us design the mix, and their pricing is competitive. They have been pretty much our sole supplier, and there are others in the market.” Obviously, when the job calls for fighting logistical enemies and the elements, you want a well-equipped and competent army. “The logistical challenges are immense,” said Leatherman. “The road is one way in and one way out, so the further into the mountain we go, the further we have to navigate back out. And you’re talking 25 to 30 trucks.” The job began in November, and Rosander reports they accomplished as many as 12 foundations a week—until the snowy season hit in December and made the gravel road completely impassable. The crews began work again in January. They used the downtime to hone the strategies needed to conquer the very real challenges of this project. Tilting at windmills? Never.

CEMEX Receives Top Environmental Awards by Wildlife Habitat CouncilCompany Recognized for Environmental Achievements & Partnering with Education


BEST PRACTICES

When the McAllen Public Utility issued its bid proposals for an expansion project on its North Wastewater Treatment Plant, other ready-mix suppliers in the area pushed CSA Construction, the general contractor, to divide the concrete portion of the job in half. The engineer’s original plan was to complete the foundation in thirty 500 cubic yard pours but CSA knew it could save time on the schedule by doing larger pours. That’s when they turned to CEMEX and asked if we could do six pours ranging from 2,200 to 2,500 cubic yards each for the foundation. So Victor Garza, District Manager, assured CSA that CEMEX was the only local ready-mix company that had the capabilities needed to complete these larger pours. CSA took a step of faith, and the bid went to CEMEX. Trucks full of concrete began rolling to the job site on May 7, 2010. But planning for the job began in February. Technical Services led by Shannon Moffitt, Technical Services Manager, and Efrain Acosta, Technical Services Representative, began optimizing and tweaking the mixes that would be

used—a 4,000 PSI mix with superplasticizer for the foundation and a 4,000 PSI mix for the walls and other structures. The maintenance teams, led by Ron Bingham and DW Marcus, got to work on the plants and trucks respectively to ensure they were ready to go. From the raw materials perspective, these large pours were going to be a tremendous challenge. The cement would come from New Braunfels and the fly ash from north of Houston but because storage space was limited, deliveries would have to be closely coordinated with batching times throughout each of the pours. Our Logistics

Group, led by Angel Cueva, Vice President Logistics West, and Humberto Garza, Logistics Manager, did a fantastic job in coordinating their groups in New Braunfels and Harlingen to ensure all cement, fly ash, gravel and sand loads were delivered on time, every time.

The pours occurred on six different Fridays. All other customers who had requested deliveries for that particular Friday were notified a week in advance and were re-scheduled if needed. The pours would be done using the Mission Plant, which is 30 minutes from the job site and the Edinburg Plant, 25 minutes away. The district needed 35 drivers for the job, but it had only 25. So Houston Ready-Mix sent 10 drivers and some spare trucks. Drivers came in on a staggered schedule and the two plants started batching at 6 p.m. From then until 6 a.m. the next morning, plant personnel worked non-stop, batching and delivering 230 to 250 cubic yards per hour, the full capacity of both plants. “Rich Austin, President of CSA, called [after the first pour] to thank CEMEX for the 250 yards per hour we were able to place on the McAllen WWTP project,” said Garza. “He was hoping to get 150 yards per hour out of the two plants, and was quite pleased that we were able to exceed his expectations. He has five more of these pours, and he said CEMEX has spoiled him with exceptional service.” The last of the large pours was completed on August 27, 2010, and all were completed successfully with no accidents or major glitches, and the CEMEX team continued to supply concrete to the project through January

2011. “In fact, all of the concrete on the project is ours,” said Garza. “The other sub-contractors who worked on smaller parts of the expansion project purchased our concrete for building pads, block fill, and electrical duct banks.” In addition to those mentioned above, special thanks go out to the rest of the team that worked on the project, including all of the Valley and Houston drivers that participated, Hector Avalos, Area Manager; Troy Smith, Accounts Manager; Jose L. Gonzalez, Plant Manager; Enrique Hinojo, Plant Manager; Rafael Torres, Plant Manager; Kimberly Roman, Customer Service Representative; Hector Iglesias, Plant Mechanic; Benjamin Barrera, Truck Mechanic, and other support personnel from the Houston and Austin Ready-Mix Operations. “This project is an excellent example of CEMEX pulling together the people, the assets, and the know-how across multiple operations and departments to get the job done,” said Garza. “It all boiled down to three things—teamwork, communication and lots of planning.” Together everyone proved that CEMEX did, indeed, have the resources needed to win this one.

Our Rio Grande Valley District consists of four batch plants. Not a huge operation when compared to other markets served by CEMEX. Although small, this district along the Mexican border in McAllen, Texas,

proved it could command the resources needed to successfully batch and deliver 30,000 cubic yards of concrete to construct a massive wastewater retaining tank and additional structures. The foundation for the tank proved to be the biggest challenge, as the team has to meet exacting quality specifications in a timely manner for a large job. It required 15,000 cubic yards—possibly the largest pour ever done in the area.

MARSHALLINGOUR FORCESCEMEX Proves TeamworkCan Get the Job DoneCompetitors Sniped that the Largest Pour Ever Done in McAllen, Texas, was Too Big for One Company. They Were Wrong!

BEST PRACTICES


OUR CUSTOMERS

an impressive 350-foot long bridge that stands 95 feet above an active airplane taxiway. The newly-finished taxiway bridge was built by Austin Bridge and Road. In this segment of the project, CEMEX delivered 6,000 cubic yards of 6,000 PSI high-strength concrete. By 2013, the initial phase of the PHX Sky Train will be completed. Once placed into service, the new “people mover,” as it has come to be known, will be a fully-automated train traveling on ground and elevated surfaces as it transports passengers between the city’s new METRO light-rail service, the East Economy parking lot, and Terminal Four, the airport’s most active terminal. In a customary demonstration of reliability, the CEMEX team prevailed without any quality issues or low-breaks. Even encounters with challenging soil conditions tied to the airport’s proximity to a river did not hinder the team’s performance. While drilling caissons 100-feet deep, CEMEX had to maintain deliveries even though order quantities varied and were often undetermined when below-grade voids developed. This demonstrated that Arizona team can adeptly handle the unexpected. The Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport’s first phase of the Sky Train covers a distance of 1.7 miles and a cost

of $1.2 billion. In addition to securing a substantial employment figure during its five-year span, the city of Phoenix required that 20 percent of its work force consist of small and minority businesses, ensuring that the contractors hired local businesses categorized as socially or economically disadvantaged. The project’s subsequent stages, which are still gathering funds, are projected to be completed by 2020 and will connect the remaining terminals and a rental car center via the people mover. As the project continues over the next few years, Arizona’s CEMEX team will continue to promote its dependability while maintaining strong relationships with its customers, ready to take on the challenging and the new. Congratulations to our Arizona team for maintaining a strong relationship with Hensel Phelps and for succeeding during this job’s challenges. In particular, thanks to the CEMEX operations team and all the 19th Avenue employees, including Plant Manager Mike Ragsdale, Area Manager Mike Dillon and District Shipping Expeditor Liz Greene, as well as Jeff Bradford and Jennifer Monson, all of whom have shown great leadership throughout this project.

The Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport is on the verge of becoming an innovation sensation not only across the country, but around the world. After years of delay, the

Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport was finally granted the necessary funds to respond to the vicinity’s rise in traffic-congestion and air-pollution—and it’s doing so in a ground-breaking way. Upon completion of the first stage of a multi-phase project, Phoenix’s airport will be the first in the world to have built a transit-bridge, known as “Sky Train,” over an active airplane taxiway, an infrastructural achievement that will ease accessibility to and throughout the airport. Construction on the Sky Train began in December 2008. Upon completion of the first quarter of 2011, the CEMEX 19th Avenue facility will have produced approximately 100,000 cubic yards of concrete for the project. During the project’s construction, the team overcame challenges that included rigid airport schedules requiring round-the-clock production, immediate response to issues caused by drilling in poor soil conditions, and meeting concrete cooling requirements due to the Arizona heat. “One of the key reasons that we were awarded this job was our ability to meet their construction schedule. What that means is that our customers had limited working hours in which the airport could host construction equipment and crews,” said

Sales Manager Jeff Bradford. “When they would have to place concrete at night, their window would be very short. CEMEX was able to meet their schedule by producing at high hourly rates. Average delivery rates of above 150 cubic yards per hour were frequent.” This project continues the success that CEMEX has built with Hensel Phelps, the construction manager for the project. By suppling ready-mix to numerous general contractors and subcontractors during the multiple and various phases of this construction, our CEMEX Arizona team has proven to be an efficient and reliable partner for our customers. “We have an outstanding relationship with Hensel Phelps around the country, and they have a large presence here in the southwest,” explained Sr. Territory Manager Jennifer Monson. “They have done work with us at multiple locations in many states. They have confidence in CEMEX’s ability to perform. So we were fortunate to have their support throughout this project.” According to growth projections, roughly 50 million travelers will pass through the Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport annually by 2015; that is 10 million more people than it currently serves each year. As the nation’s eighth busiest airport, it needed a cost-effective way to ease travel to and throughout the area. Phoenix’s major airport now has a new face, boasting

OUR CUSTOMERS

An Innovative Engineering Idea Makes Phoenix Airport First of its Kind


BEST PRACTICES

Is History Set in Stone? It is Now. Indestructible? Perhaps not, but this

monumental idea definitely beats the history books in durability, size and

beauty! In honor of significant historic events, the Museum of History in Granite is in the process of expanding an (almost) everlasting exhibition through the use of granite and concrete. Guaranteed to last thousands of years, the museum is literally and figuratively, setting history in stone. As one strolls through the museum, detailed etchings of historic images, replicas of timeless art, along with engravings of classic texts and countless facts adorn the granite panels. The panels of granite, provided by Missouri Red Granite, lie on triangular walls of concrete, each containing 75 yards of 3000 PSI concrete.

CEMEX’s facilities have been involved in the project’s development for over 17 years and have since supplied the majority of the concrete and aggregate for its different parts, including the triangular monuments. In 2009 and early 2010, for example, CEMEX’s Yuma facility supplied 300 yards of concrete and approximately 350 tons of specialty rock. The Yuma facility is also in the process of delivering concrete for new developments surrounding the museum’s church sitting on the hill, overlooking the “historic granite-museum walls.” The museum’s owner, Mr. Jacque Estel, has not established an end point for the museum’s development. The passage of time simply means that more of humanity’s memories can be recorded at

this special place. As Yuma’s CEMEX Office Manager Marge Harper said, it would be great if CEMEX purchased a granite panel to commemorate its own history, as families and other entities have done as well. Congratulations to CEMEX, especially to the CEMEX facility in Yuma, where the team has become a huge part of this historical treasure. Hopefully one day we’ll see CEMEX’s history engraved in granite, telling the story of the many achievements of many dedicated people.

BEST PRACTICES

High Flying RepairsSteep Slopes and a Boulder Named“Big Bertha” Couldn’t Stop this Project

When flumes that carry snow melt down the Sierra Mountains were constructed in the mid-1800s,

not much was known about the effects that repeated freezing and thawing would have on them. Now the flume system is undergoing repairs that have occurred regularly over the past 25 years. The latest section requiring a fix is Flume 9, starting with removal of the decaying wooden flume and scaling the hillside above it down to bedrock. That’s when Big Bertha appeared. Inspectors from the El Dorado Irrigation District gave the name to the giant granite outcropping the size of two office cubicles stacked on top of each other. It required careful study to determine how much blast would be needed to get her to move out of the way. Yet Big Bertha wasn’t the only challenge on this job. The altitude and grade posed a far greater concern. “Our Sierra plant, which is

located at the foot of the Sierra Mountains, serves

the hard-to-reach places among the steep slopes and dense pine forests

near Placerville,” said

Eric Waisanen, Quality Control Manager for the Sacramento/Bay Area. Still, the high altitudes created delivery challenges that no ready-mix truck can overcome. What to do? Go airborne. “The project utilizes Syblon-Reid, a concrete contractor that specializes in flume repair and replacement. They deploy helicopters that ferry concrete in one-half-cubic yard buckets from truck to job site,” said Waisanen. “Our trucks back up to an aluminum hopper and, with guidance from the contractor, we load one-half cubic yard. The helicopter hovers 230 feet above our heads, dangling a cable, which is secured to the hopper once it’s filled,” he said. “All personnel back away as the hopper soars into the air. The moment is truly awe-inspiring as the combination of wind and noise and helicopter blades spin overhead.” CEMEX has provided ready-mix for an additional repair since the “Big Bertha section” was completed in early November. This time, conditions were much more severe. “This repair was made at a 5,000-foot elevation,” said Waisanen. “It was very cold for concrete—between 35° and 40°. We used hot water and accelerator

to speed up the hydration process

and just the opposite on the previous placement.” This time, two helicopters took turns making deliveries. With round-trip times of about five minutes, it took about an hour to unload one truck. The concrete mix was designed to reach 5,000 PSI in 28 days. Since it was a one-inch rock mix containing 8.5 sacks of Portland cement, it generated a good amount of heat. Add the transport time to the offload site of one hour, plus the delay in holding the mixture steady as the small loads were transported by helicopter, and you have a tricky quality control challenge. But at least the crew did not have to walk the loads along the two-mile trail leading to the job site. It was reported that notable wildlife regularly took that route. Waisanen and others on the CEMEX team had no trouble meeting up with helicopters, but mountain lions and bears? Oh my.


It took 10 years to accomplish, but they did it. In October, 2010, the American Concrete Institute (ACI) brought its

semi-annual convention to Pittsburgh, The Steel City. The event attracted plenty of local attention by luring 1,400 attendees and contributing to the local economy, but it also generated interest and a good amount of buzz about the theme—Green Concrete in the Steel City. “We had the foresight to pick the theme several years ago,” said Jim Turici, Director of Technical Services for the Cement Division. He, along with Bill Meek, Technical Services Manager, and Tom Hunt, Sales Manager, had lobbied the ACI for years to bring the convention to Pittsburgh. “We all put in a lot of time,” said Turici. “It was a great opportunity for publicity for CEMEX.” Turici served as co-chair of the event and delivered the welcome address that kicked off the opening session. Meek chaired the fund-raising subcommittee that raised the funds necessary to take the

convention from dream to reality. And Hunt chaired the publicity subcommittee, which generated local press coverage and lured attendees from 20 different countries through its promotional efforts. “Sponsors and speakers were easy to arrange for this one because of the green theme,” said Turici. Many of the technical sessions at the five-day event focused on concrete’s environmental advantages, including a tour of Phipps Conservatory, the world’s first LEED-certified welcome center in a public garden. The meeting was also held in the world’s first green meeting venue—the David L. Lawrence Convention Center in downtown Pittsburgh. Other notable features of the convention included a student competition to design and build a concrete “egg protection device” that was dropped several times from heights up to nearly 10 feet. A dinner-dance cruise on a classic

riverboat and a “Concrete Mixer” social event at the city’s history center rounded out the itinerary. One of Turici’s favorite highlights included a custom-remodeled 1940 concrete mixer truck that was featured at the ACI Pittsburgh chapter’s exhibit booth. The unusual piece of equipment generated tremendous attention, and visitors flocked to see it. “We featured it behind our booth,” said Turici. “It was the biggest thing the convention center had ever moved. They had to let air out of the tires to get it in the elevator.” The air may have gone out temporarily from the old truck’s tires, but the air surrounding this creative event was anything but flat. It was five days

full of excitement and interest in concrete—a great accomplishment for Turici, Meek and Hunt, in the

Steel City.

The Steel City Turns to Concrete:Pittsburgh Hosts ACI ConventionJim Turici, Bill Meek and Tom Hunt Helped Bring the Green-themed Event to Their City

OUR PEOPLE WORLD OF CEMEX

You may avoid an ethical dilemma when giving or receiving gifts. While it’s one thing to accept a box of cookies or other token gifts from someone you’ve done business with, it would be something completely different to accept an all-inclusive vacation.

cemex usa’s - bell cabrera · cemex usa’s shannon graves took home ... fec quarry, the center...

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