Lafarge Wapco to leverage on innovation for growth in 2013

Lafarge Cement WAPCO Nigeria Plc, a leading cement manufacturing company in Nigeria, has said that it will continue to be focused on its vision of delivering value to its customers and stakeholders through innovative products and services that have become the hallmark of its business.

Besides, the company said it had no intention of shutting down its plants, adding that it remained in operation.

The Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Joe Hudson, in a statement attempting to clarify the company’s position on the report that it might shut its plant owing to glut in the market, said, “Although we temporarily reduced our production recently to manage inventory levels, we have no intention of closing our plants and expect to be fully operational soon.

“Indeed it is true that the last quarter of 2012 saw an unusually dull market evidenced by an industry-wide situation where current stock levels of cement and clinker are high.”

He added, “Our organisation’s commitment to sustainable business tenets, such as customer orientation, innovation, people development, social investments, strong financial discipline, corporate governance and health and safety have kept us in business for the past 52 years, and will take us the long haul.”

Hudson expressed delight at the development of local capacities that the country had witnessed, including the birth of its ultra-modern Ewekoro II plant – which, he said, had led to bridging the gap in the supply-demand curve of cement in the country.

According to him, local capacity has improved rapidly, saying, “Today, cement manufacturers are even calling for the use of concrete for building more durable roads, which will serve Nigerians better. We could not have done this a few years back.

“As part of its development plans, Hudson reiterated that Lafarge is committed to working with both the government and other stakeholders to develop, not only the upstream but also the downstream sector of the Nigerian cement market by developing applications needed for use by the built sector.”

He described the company’s launch of its ReadyMix division as a demonstration of this commitment.

“All parties need to work together to support Nigeria’s development at this critical time. Lafarge ReadyMix, is the only company producing concrete in commercial quantity in Nigeria. The products and services of ReadyMix have become a preferred option and we are expanding our plants across the nation,” he said.

Hudson spoke further on the company’s other development initiatives.

He said, “As a premium cement company in Nigeria and part of the Lafarge Group – the world’s leading cement company, Lafarge Wapco will continue to lead the required differentiation in the cement industry being the only cement manufacturing firm that has developed unique products to meet the different applications and needs of customers.

 “We are set to continue these giant strides in 2013”. In addition to the introduction of Elephant i and ReadyMix, we have also launched our Lafarge Powermax, another innovative 42.5AL high quality performance cement for large construction projects such as bridges and high rise structures.

Hudson said to further support Supaset customers, mainly block makers, the company recently facilitated funding and training opportunities for such customers through its partnership with the Self Reliance Economic Advancement Programme.