This year again, thomas zement invited to the baustoffthemen in Weimar for the 24th time. About 85 customers, partners and interested parties accepted the invitation and came together for exciting and informative technical presentations. This year, there were two theme days on which speakers from different areas gave their technical presentations.

The first day focused on the topic: concrete + climate-neutral = modern building material. In his presentation, Dr. Thomas Sieber, mc bauchemie, addressed the cement industry in the context of climate change and the resulting challenges for admixtures. mc bauchemie will face the tasks of the future. Cements with more admixtures, such as those permitted by the DIN EN 197-5 standard, have a high potential for CO2 savings. Modern admixtures are already capable of ensuring the processing and properties of the concretes produced with such cements at an almost unchanged high level.

Mr. Ron Schumann, from the German WindEnergy Association, gave an outlook on the expansion of wind power plants with his presentation “Expansion of wind energy in Germany – what’s in store for the concrete industry”. In order to achieve the German government’s ambitious goal of 380 GW of installed renewable energy by 2030, drastic changes in licensing and procurement law are required. Breaking the 2030 target down to days, 1 wind turbine offshore, 6 wind turbines onshore and 0.7 km² of ground-mounted photovoltaics would have to be connected to the grid every day. At the latest after this illustration, every member of the audience was aware of the enormous potential for the entire construction and building materials industry.

Sustainable construction works with infralight concrete! This was the subject of our third technical lecture of the day. Dr. HĂĽckler from the Technical University of Berlin presented a building material that fills the gap between lightweight concrete and aerated concrete in terms of its dry bulk density (800-600 kg/mÂł). At the same time, all thermal and sound insulation properties as well as the static functions for the structure are provided in one layer of one building material. A durable concrete without maintenance! For many areas, building with lightweight materials seems to be the solution for the future. We are excited to see what else awaits us in the coming years.

With the words “It should be sustainable, but it has to look good” followed the technical lecture by Prof. Dr. Maik Schlaich, Technical University Berlin. In his lecture we dealt with the question “How to build well?” – With lightweight construction!!! Interesting examples were shown in order to build in a resource-saving, waste-avoiding and more durable way in the future. Concrete in particular is a suitable building material for this purpose if some principles are observed in the construction of building components, e.g. small spans, avoidance of deflection, use of double curvatures, prestressing, small ratios of component thickness to span width.

Following each presentation, we were pleased to see that there was a great deal of interest from our guests. Questions were asked and during the breaks there was extensive discussion about the contents of the lectures.

In the evening all guests had the opportunity to get an insight into the time of Van de Velde, Nietzsche and modernism around 1900. The lively guided tour in the museum “Neues Weimar” offered a lot of interesting and informative information about the representatives of the Weimar School of Painting. Afterwards we went to the restaurant “Alte Remise”. During a 3-course menu and pleasant ambience, conversations were held, contacts were made and the day was reviewed together.

On the second day of the building materials topics, the focus was on presentations on CO2 and electricity prices and the consequences for cement. After a short welcome by Mr. Thomas Eckhardt, three exciting technical presentations followed. Carsten Telschow, Partner Counsel Becker BĂĽttner Held, started by giving us an insight into the development of the CO2 trading system and the consequences for cement.

Subsequently, Mr. Ingo Kamenz, TEAG, went into the current development and its consequences for energy purchasing and gave us an overview of the electricity and gas price brake at the end of his presentation.

The day was rounded off by the presentation “Climate neutral cement region Erwitte-Gesecke”. Dr. Ing. Dirk Brexel, project coordinator, gave us an insight into the pilot project “climate neutral cement”, this started in 2022. Which synergies will be possible through a common infrastructure of the cement plants, will be shown in the next few years and we should be curious.

We can look back on two successful days and this was also stated by Mr. Thomas Eckhardt at the farewell. It was an all-round successful event and with the words “We will be CO2 neutral under all circumstances, we rely on green building materials and stand by it” we are already looking forward to the coming year, the development until then and of course to the 25th anniversary of the building materials topics.

More info on the homepage: www.thomas-gruppe.de or on Instagram: thomas_gruppe

thomas zement organisierte zum 24. Mal die dornburger baustoffthemen.

Welcome by the managing director Eckhardt Thomas | Source: thomas gruppe

Dr. Thomas Sieber and the audience | Source: thomas gruppe

Eckhardt Thomas in discourse | Source: thomas gruppe

Museum “New Weimar” | Source: thomas gruppe

Museum “New Weimar” | Source: thomas gruppe

Restaurant “Alte Remise” | Source: thomas gruppe

The Dorndorf cement plant, the foundation of the thomas group’s cement division, turns 125.

Dornburg, December 2022. the Dorndorf cement plant will be 125 years old. Despite, or perhaps because of, its impressive past, the plant forms a fundamental building block of thomas gruppe’s cement business line and, together with the recently acquired plant in Karsdorf, enables special opportunities, particularly in the area of sustainability. Sales of the thomas gruppe cement business line will grow to 250 million euros with the acquisition.

The Dorndorf cement plant – the first cement plant in the thomas group
With more than 54 million tons of aggregate reserves, the Dorndorf plant is one of the few medium-sized cement plants in Germany. With around 80 employees, it produces high-quality cement, which is primarily supplied to the markets of Thuringia, Saxony and northern Bavaria. Since 1991, the plant has belonged to the thomas gruppe, for which it was the first cement plant. “Where do you get the clinker?” was the question Eckhardt Thomas was asked by his banker, but by then it was all over him: “After just 10 minutes on my first visit in July 1991, it was clear to me: You’ll get it! The location, the facilities, the imposing quarry; it all fitted together, which is why I didn’t hesitate for long.”

An impressive past with ups and downs
The history of Dorndorf is moving: in 1897, Dr. Max Frenzel from Berlin decided to build a lime plant in Steudnitz and, after several expansions and good sales, planned to build a cement factory in 1908. Due to unsettled inheritance matters, Richard Ollendorf and Herbert Levin took over the plant at some point. As they were of Jewish descent, they had to leave Germany during the National Socialist era, whereupon the plant was shut down and partially dismantled. It was not until after the war, in 1948, that operations were resumed. In the course of the formation of the combine, cement production was discontinued in 1954 and the plant was converted into a fertilizer plant, until the end of the plant followed in 1990. The remaining personnel began to reprocess commercial stockpiles in the quarry. In 1991, Eckhardt Thomas came to the plant and was able to purchase it just a few weeks later.

The Dorndorf plant under thomas – the start of something special
Under thomas, the plant grew steadily. In 1993, Heiko Theuerkauf joined the company and in 2002 took over the management of the Dorndorf plant, a position he still holds with great passion today. With extensive investments of more than 50 million euros, the plant was brought up to environmental and market standards. In the process, a quarry operation and a ready-mix concrete, asphalt and dry mortar plant were established on the market at the site in addition to cement production. In the face of fierce resistance from cement suppliers tied to the group, it was possible to win over mainly medium-sized customers to ensure the stabilization and development of the company. The Dorndorf plant is characterized by close cooperation with the Bauhaus University in Weimar and organizes the annual dornburger baustoffthemen (now thomas baustoffthemen), at which customers and partners receive impetus for the development and application of various cements as well as aspects of successful corporate management.

The cement division as a growth driver of the thomas group
The thomas group has always pursued a steady and long-term growth course in the cement business. With the purchase of the Erwitte plant in 2017, the competitive position has improved significantly and together with the plant in Dorndorf, the Group has achieved a significantly larger market share in both Germany and the Netherlands. With the recently acquired Karsdorf plant, thomas gruppe’s cement division has now reached a sufficient size to introduce a technology in the long term together with the clinker demand Dorndorf, which will capture the CO2 produced in the production process of cement in an ecologically and economically sensible size. “We are convinced that cement will become a ‘clean’ building material and believe in its future.”

More info on the homepage: www.thomas-gruppe.de or on Instagram: thomas_gruppe

The Dorndorf cement plant in 1925 | Source: thomas gruppe

The workforce at the Dorndorf plant in 1937 | Source: thomas gruppe

The quarry in Dorndorf | Source: thomas gruppe

The Dorndorf cement plant | Source: thomas gruppe