Holcim names new plant manager

LEADING cement manufacturer Holcim Philippines, Inc. has appointed a new plant manager to lead its Davao facility, which recently completed upgrades to better support the strong construction activity in Southern Mindanao.

Holcim Davao is now led by Samuel O. Manlosa, Jr. He took over on 6 January 2019 from Xavier Arul

Kennedy Savarimuthu, who has been reassigned by the LafargeHolcim Group to lead plant operations in Nigeria. Prior to this, Manlosa led a project to improve systems and processes that yielded significant efficiency gains for Holcim Philippines’ manufacturing operations. He had worked as a process and automation expert for the LafargeHolcim’s operations in Southeast Asia supporting plants in seven countries. Manlosa had also been sent to Holcim Switzerland for trainings on advanced process engineering and cement manufacturing. A native of Dipolog City, Zamboanga del Norte, Manlosa placed seventh in the 2004 chemical engineering board examinations and graduated cum laude from the Mindanao State University in Marawi City. Holcim’s Davao City operations recently received a boost with the completion of new facilities that added 700,000 metric tons to its annual cement production. The Davao upgrades were part of a series of projects in Holcim plants nationwide that raised its annual cement production capacity to 10 million metric tons last year. Aside from increased capacity, Holcim launched in Davao last year its new blended cement product Solido, designed as a better alternative to Ordinary Portland Cement for roads and light infrastructures. The product was debuted there due to government’s heavy investments on road infrastructures in the region.