LafargeHolcim: Nurtured by research, driven by innovation
No business will survive the onslaught of globalisation and fast-paced digital world in the 21st Century without innovation. This, perhaps, informs why Bob Iger, CEO of Walt Disney Company, says that creativity and innovation are the hearts and the souls of a company.
But innovation does not do the magic alone. Innovation alongside research and development (R&D) plays a leading role in the life of conglomerates and large cooperates, eventually resulting in technology transforming into new products, processes, and services.
LafargeHolcim, world leader in building materials and major player in cement, aggregates and concrete business, is a leading light in innovation that aims to improve on the present inefficient ways of getting things done.
With its central R&D center in Lyon, France, six local laboratories and a market-based organisational structure, LafargeHolcim has evolved an all-round cost-effective and- efficient ways of doing things.
LafargeHolcim’s R&D center has been restructured to reflect the priorities of the market, with a team dedicated to facilitating technology transfer between its operating countries.
Back in 2001, Lafarge plc set itself a target of reducing its CO2 emission per ton of cement by 20 percent by 2010. With focused internal research and development, the company achieved the target, and presently intends to increase the reduction to 33 percent by 2020.
“The use of Pozzolana, which is a natural product, allows you to reduce the Co2 emission that is produced per ton of cement. If you look at Nigeria, because of Pozzolana, we have reduced the Co2 emission by 40 percent against 1990,” said Peter Hoddinott, group managing director of Lafarge Africa plc, in an interview.
This was also restated by Lanre Opakunle, general manager, Independent Power Projects, who stressed that this was a good step in ensuring environmental sustainability.
An area of major innovative prowess for LafargeHolcim is energy efficiency. The group has maximised energy usage with the lowest possible input.
The group has implemented energy-saving measures that enabled a 12 percent reduction in energy consumption across Lafarge’s 20 offices across 15 countries in one year as part of its program entitled, ‘My Low Energy Office’.
Lafarge is leading initiatives like the World Business Council for Sustainable Development EEB (Energy Efficiency in Buildings) projects with the ambition to cut energy consumption in the building sector by 80 percent by 2050.
“Today in Nigeria, approximately seven percent of our fuel is being produced by biomass and waste products. This, we want to double by 2016, and our objective is that by 2020 we are going to be replacing over 30 percent of our fossil fuels,” Hoddinott said.
In Nigeria, Lafarge remains one of the few firms to achieve this feat. The company sources nearly 100 percent of its limestone, gypsum and other inputs locally, thus creating more jobs in the value chain and enhancing local input preference.
Through its expansive analysis, Lafarge uses scientific research and experimentation to find ways of using fewer natural resources for its operations in different climes across the globe. Lafarge’s goals in researching more environmentally friendly products are two-fold, namely, reduction of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions while also conserving natural resources, and developing products for sustainable construction by enhancing the properties of materials such as concrete which retain and distribute heat in cold climates and keep interiors cool in warm climates.
The latter innovative thinking led to the creation of the Thermedia concrete, a solution which is presently boosting buildings energy performance by giving concrete a new role in the construction system to reduce heat loss and in turn cut down air-conditioning costs while also retaining the properties of a traditional concrete. The group is also on the verge of binging the Road Cement into Nigeria.
Also, in its Nigeria operations, Lafarge Africa has launched numerous agro forestry Projects in conjunction with Ogun State government, which will enable the company’s goal of the usage of non-fossil fuels on a permanent basis in its factories across the state closer to reality.
ODINAKA ANUDU