US cement producer Essroc is entering a landmark period as parent company Italcementi celebrates its 150th anniversary this year, followed by Essroc’s own 150th milestone in 2016. The company’s state-of-the-art Martinsburg plant is also the chosen venue for next month’s IEEE-IAS/PCA Cement Industry Technical Conference site tour, where delegates will be able to view first-hand the fruits of the company’s US$650m modernisation drive, at the heart of which was the switch from wet- to dry-process technology to ensure the plant’s onward success. By Essroc, USA.

There is a stretch of highway on Interstate 81, running north and south through the mid-Atlantic region of the United States, where you pass through four states (Pennsylvania, Maryland, West Virginia, Virginia) all in a period of just 30 minutes. About halfway through this four-state whirlwind, your eyes are drawn to a spot where a 500ft tower and a large, silver dome stand out on the horizon like something out of a science fiction movie – the  Essroc cement plant in Martinsburg, West Virginia.

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