Premix Concrete SA history

Lafarge was founded by Joseph-Auguste Pavin de Lafarge in 1833 and is headquartered in Paris, France.“

1836 Germany undertook the first ever compressive and tensile strength testing.

In 1839, Honoré de Balzac wrote in The Village Rector, "What will be the reward of Vicat, the one among us who has brought about the only real progress in the practical science of construction?"

The first cement plant in France was built in 1846 at Boulogne‑ sur‑Mer.

CSR Limited originated as the Colonial Sugar Refining partnership in Sydney, Australia, in 1855.

In 1864 Lafarge signed its first international contract for the delivery of 110,000 tonnes of lime to the Suez Canal construction project.

In 1868, Lafarge began producing cement at Teil, in the Ardèche.

1889 Alvord Lake Bridge is the first reinforced concrete bridge, built in San Francisco, USA.

1891 The very first street made entirely of concrete set in Bellefontaine Ohio, USA.

the discovery of Ciment Fondu® in 1908 by Jules Bied, director of the Lafarge research laboratory.

1913 The first ready mix concrete is delivered to a site in Maryland, Baltimore, USA.

1915 Lynn Mason Scofield produced the first commercial coloured concrete.

On August 2, 1917, N.K. Fougner of Norway launched the first ocean-going concrete ship - an 84-foot-long boat named Namsenfjord.

The first American concrete ship, a steamer named the S. S. Faith, was launched March 18, 1918.

She was used to carry cargo for trade until 1921, when she was sold and scrapped as a breakwater in Cuba.

When a truck mixer that inhibited crystallization was invented in the United States in 1926, Danish engineer Kjeld Ammentorp invested in the new industry in England.

1930 Air entraining agents are successfully used to prevent freeze-thaw damage.

Permission to build was slow in coming, and the first concrete to pave the yard and the loading bay was not poured until February 1931.

1934 The Penguin Pool at London Zoo opened featuring two helical concrete ramps.

In 1936, CSR began developing a method to transform the sugar cane fiber scrap into wallboard.

By the end of the decade, the company was ready to launch production, and in 1939 CSR acquired a chemicals plant to begin manufacturing the Cane-ite wallboard brand.

Building materials became a major company focus during World War II, with the launch of a plaster mill in Sydney in 1942.

Like its counterpart in Great Britain, Ready Mixed of Australia suffered a series of losses until 1946.

The company began producing plasterboard in 1948, and extended its construction materials operations with the launch of a floor tiles unit that year as well.

Ammentorp's salesmanship produced a pretax profit of £9,000 by 1950, when work began on a new Bedfont plant.

After arriving in England in April 1951, Kelman opened a company bank account and met with John Gauntlett, a corporate lawyer in the firm of Linklaters and Paines, to draw up the papers for the formation of Stirling Readymix Concrete.

With the new funding, Kelman purchased a plant in Liverpool and moved it to Poplar, where operations began in April 1952.

In 1955, Alf Smith returned to Australia and Bryan Kelman was named chairman and chief executive of RMC. A strong proponent of expansion, Kelman aggressively sought mergers with other companies.

In the meantime, Readymix had not neglected its domestic market, where it added quarrying operations at mid-decade, starting with the purchase of the Styles quarry in Sydney in 1957.

In 1958, Readymix boosted its quarrying division with the acquisition of ABM, which operated quarries in Adelaide, Perth, Melbourne, Hobart, and Sydney.

For part of 1959, RMC opened one new plant in the United Kingdom every ten days.

Also in 1961, a lawyer named Hermann Warmke joined the company to handle contracts, personnel, and insurance.

In May 1962 the rising cost of operations forced RMC to become a public company.

During 1963, RMC completed eight corporate acquisitions and formed a partnership with SOPEAL, a small company in Paris, to gain a foothold in France.

Eventually, this arrangement cut into everyone's profit, and in 1964 RMC pulled out of the union over strategy disagreements.

In 1965 Bryan Kelman decided to accept an offer to work for the Australian firm that had acquired Ready Mixed Concrete of Australia.

CSR placed Readymix within its building materials division, boosting it in 1966 through the acquisition of a stake in Goliath Cement Co., based in Tasmania.

In Great Britain, during 1967, RMC acquired a 50 percent stake in St Alban's Sand and Gravel.

Founder Sam Stirling died in 1968 and was buried in his native Australia.

In 1969, the Grange was turned into a technical and training center with Joe Dewar as its first director.

1970 Fibre reinforcement is used commercially to build taller, stronger and more ambitious buildings, bridges and dams.

Taking over as chief executive was Stuart Walker, who had joined RMC in 1971 and had most recently been responsible for the group's mainland European operations.

In 1972, RMC commissioned a new ten-story corporate office on London Road in Staines and opened a plant in Hong Kong.

Bob Northcott retired in 1973 and John Camden became chairman of the board while retaining his position as chief executive.

In 1976, CSR restructured its construction and building materials operations into three divisions: minerals, building materials, and construction materials.

By the end of 1979, RMC had also bought the Regent Warehouses chain.

In 1980 Lafarge joined with the Belgian coal, coke and fertilizer company Coppée to become SA Lafarge Coppée.

In February 1981, RMC's management was restructured into four sectors: concrete and aggregates, trading and environmental, services and financial, and general industries.

By 1982 RMC's profits reached £55 million despite some problems.

RMC acquired the remainder of the company in 1983.

In 1984 a modern ready-mix concrete plant was built in Birmingham, and the old plants in Bordesley and Queslett were closed.

In the United States, RMC took over Metromont Materials in South Carolina and moved into Atlanta, Georgia, in 1985.

In 1986, Jim Owen replaced John Camden as group managing director.

Lafarge purchased a plant from the National Gypsum Company in early-1987.

Established in 1989 by Vic Femia, Premix Concrete is the founding company of what is today the Premix Group of Companies.

CSR America made its first major acquisition in 1990, buying ARC America for nearly $700 million.

Meantime, RMC in 1991 acquired Germany-based Ytong AG, one of the world's leading producers of aerated concrete, with operations in Bulgaria, Croatia, Germany, Slovakia, the Netherlands, and Hungary.

In 1993 RMC's German lime and limestone operations were combined with those of the Belgian Lhoist Group in France and the Czech Republic to form a 50-50 joint venture, Chaufourneries de Hergenrath S.A.

At the same time, CSR made its first move into another potentially huge foreign market, China, buying a cement operation in Tianjin in 1994.

In September 1995 RMC launched a £459 million rights issue to fund the buyout.

In 1996 RMC bolstered its Austrian interests by increasing to 72 percent its stake in Kies-Union, which was then rechristened Readymix Kies-Union AG. That year, Peter Young was named chief executive.

After selling off most of its aggregates operations in 1997, the company began plans to launch a new acquisition drive in order to reclaim a spot among the top-ranking building and construction materials companies.

RMC bolstered its position in Germany in 1998 through the acquisition of Wülfrather Zement for £156 million.

In late 1999 RMC failed in a bid to acquire Scancem, a Swedish building materials firm; this prize instead went to Heidelberger Zement, one of RMC's chief German rivals.

In 2000, CSR bought Florida Crushed Stone for $348 million.

In 2001, Lafarge, then the world’s second largest cement manufacturer, acquired Blue Circle Industries (BCI), which at the time was the world’s sixth largest cement manufacturer, to become the world leader in cement manufacturing.

At the beginning of 2002, CSR announced its plans to spend upwards of $1 billion on new acquisitions in order to solidify its United States operation.

In February 2004, the company announced plans to spend $120 million on acquisitions, as well as on greenfield expansion, to bolster its core United States holdings.

In 2006, Lafarge North America shareholders accepted a $3 billion tender offer from Lafarge Group which gave the parent company full control over the North American business, removing LNA from the New York Stock Exchange.

In 2007, it divested its roofing division, selling it to a private equity group in a deal that resulted in Lafarge retaining a 35% equity stake.

On May 15, 2008 Lafarge acquired Larsen & Toubro Ready Mix-Concrete (RMC) business in India for $349 million.

In 2010, Lafarge strengthened its presence in Brazil (agreement with Lafarge and STRABAG to create a common company in Cement in Central Europe).

In 2011, Lafarge SA announced it would build a cement plant in Langkat, North Sumatra, Indonesia with investment up to Rp 5 trillion ($585 million).

In September 2013, Lafarge agreed to the sale of its 53.3 per cent stake in its Honduras subsidiary Lafarge Cementos SA de CV to Cementos Argos for €232m.

On April 7, 2014, Lafarge and Holcim announced they had agreed to terms on a “merger of equals”. The merger would entail Lafarge stock being converted into Holcim stock on a 1:1 basis.

On 10 July 2015 Lafarge merged with Holcim, to create LafargeHolcim.

2018 The University of Zurich created the first 3D printed ‘smart slab’. It’s half the weight of a traditional slab and 20mm at its thinnest point.

Posted on 31st January 2019 by Ever Readymix Concrete