Using plant cost profiles
As in January 2018, Dr Michael Clark has once more spent most of the last month developing manufacturing cost profiles for cement factories in different geographies across the globe. This time, Dr Clark considers how these profiles may be used to provide a competitive advantage.
Holcim established its facility in Ste Genevieve, Missouri, USA, benefiting from the low
distribution costs due to its convenient location on the Mississippi River
Regular readers of the Technical Forum may recall that Dr Clark wrote about cost profiling cement plants in ICR’s January 2018 issue. In that article the reasons for profiling the manufacturing costs of cement production facilities were reviewed. These include discovering where to establish a new cement factory, where to source cement from at the lowest cost, and which cement companies have the best portfolio of cement plants and consequently deliver the best returns for an investor. However, perhaps the most important reason is for a company to understand its position amongst its competitors.
