6th Global Gypsum Conference and Exhibition

Cancun, Mexico

8-10 May 2006

Reviewed by Robert McCaffrey, conference convenor

(Download article as PDF - 250kb)

Welcome!

As is traditional at the event, the conference proper was preceded by a welcome cocktail reception, held in the exhibition area. This is a first opportunity to make new contacts, and to greet old friends. Many delegates took the opportunity to wear their event polo-shirts for the first time, which included the conference logo, as well as the drywall truck of the shirt’s sponsor, Steeler Drywall Supplies. Grenzebach was a title sponsor of the conference, while Johns Manville kindly sponsored the delegate name badges.

Throughout the conference, the spouse tour programme took place, including snorkeling trips, heritage visits and social events. Spouses agreed that this had been the best ever programme arranged at the conference.

The first presentation was given by Dave Jones, the hotel’s manager, although he did not speak about gypsum at all. Instead, he reviewed the damage wreaked on the hotel by Hurricane Wilma, and the works that had been undertaken to reopen the hotel in time for the Global Gypsum Conference - the first large group to use the hotel after the hotel’s reopening only a week before. His presentation consisted of a series of before, during and after photos of the hotel and environs, set to Bob Dylan’s ‘A hard rain’s a gonna fall.’ Although there were a couple of dusty spots in the hotel, and some of the main atrium’s hi-tech window panes had yet to be replaced (by specialised American contractors), after Dave’s presentation, all delegates were hugely more understanding of the amount of work that had been done on the hotel. For his part, Dave expressed the appreciation of the hotel and its employees of the fact that the conference had not waivered in its intention to take place at the Hilton, and that over 200 delegates were in attendance: “Due to you folks, we have been able to keep on employing over 400 local staff at the hotel, and we all thank you for that.” It’s nice to make a difference!

The second presentatoin also did not mention gypsum, but instead gave a overview of the global economy, from the standpoint of Rob Carnell, senior economist at ING Bank, London. In fact, Rob gave his presentation via video, which was interrupted by a powercut about 15 minutes into full flow. Delegates took the opportunity to make yet further contacts. In fact, Rob Carnell’s message was not an especially happy one: it opened with a large picture of a mushroom cloud. He made the point that the world has been undergoing a period of unusual economic ‘quiet’ (where 9/11 and the Iraq invasion barely registered in global economic statistics), with sustained moderate economic growth in many markets. He pointed out that there are considerable ‘downside risks,’ including the volatile situation in Iran, the risk from the ‘Twin Deficits’ in the US (huge debt and huge trade imbalances), interest rate and inflation increases and possibily most devastatingly, the potential for global economic meltdown in the face of a new ‘flu pandemic.

On this last point, Rob Carnell was most graphic and most alarming. He flashed up a picture of a chicken, and asked ‘Is this the greatest threat to mankind?’ With global transport links likely to transport any new ‘flu pandemic around the world in a matter of days, and the fear of catching any potentially deadly bug as crippling for the economy as actually catching it, the answer to his own question seems to be ‘Yes.’ Only time will tell.

After a mammoth coffee break of 90 minutes, the first gypsum presentation was given by the conference convenor, Dr Robert McCaffrey, on ‘7 Mega-trends in the global gypsum industry.’ These trends - as defined in the presentation - are energy efficiency, industry consolidation, control of routes to market, environmental impact abatement, product specialisation (and increasing addition of value and decreasing commoditisation of products), maturation of markets and quality control.

(Left: Delegates and spouses in the exhibition area).

In something of a swansong presentation, Peter Hill of Grenzebach gave an overview of long-term developments in the industry, entitled ‘My gypsum world: A place of innovation, change and challenge.’ He reviewed the very many industry takeovers that have led so far to the emergence of four or five major multinational groups which currently dominate the (non-US) industry, and also reviewed some of the changes in technology that he has seen in decades in the industry, particularly working for the Grenzebach group around the world.

Conference stalwart Dr Bob Bruce of Innogyps then gave a hard-hitting presentation surveying the status of the North American gypsum industry (and markets). His conclusions were that not much has changed - in essence - in the industry since the mild downturn of 2001-2002, when supply of wallboard last outpaced demand. In the meantime, the overall market has grown considerably, but the producers are still operating with the asbestos cloud hanging over them, and once again, they are looking at the possibility of supply outstripping supply (in 2007-2009, on the basis of announced wallboard plant expansions and greenfield projects, and demand projections from the Gypsum Association). Bob forecast that the coming crunch will lead to further consolidation in the industry in the 2008-2012 period, and that the industry ought to fight to expand (or at least retain) its influence in the distribution area. Another fly in the ointment will be the increasing trend towards lower-cost synthetic gypsum-based wallboard, which will inevitably upset ‘traditional’ cost structures in the industry.

Following a convivial lunch, delegates were invited to tour the exhibition area, which stayed open for an hour after lunch, and attendees were then free to spend the afternoon as they wished (with many electing to catch up on emails from the office).

Gala Dinner and Global Gypsum Awards

The Global Gypsum Gala Dinner was preceded by cocktails in the exhibition area, and delegates were then led down to the beach by a strolling Mariachi band. The dinner had been set up on the beach, with a Mayan theme (although it was perhaps a little difficult to tell, since it was rather dark). The turnout for the Gala Dinner, once again generously sponsored by GEO Specialty Chemicals, was easily the highest for any Global Gypsum conference - nearly 100% of attendees were present.

(Right: Carlos Lopez of USG Mexico sings with the band -very well!)

The inaugural Global Gypsum Awards were presented at the Gala Dinner, following the in camera meeting of the awards committees that afternoon. The gypsum producer committee quickly decided to make Johns Manville, Grenzebach and Vision Engineering the runners-up, and awarded the Best Supplier Award to Wacker Silicones, for its ‘technical assistance, quality, cost effectiveness and on-time delivery:’ “They bring quality with their products,” commented one judge.

A committee of suppliers and industry independents took much longer to deliberate over the Gypsum Producer of the Year and Gypsum Plant of the Year categories. After a good deal of heated debate, BPB was declared the winner of the Gypsum Producer of the Year Award, while the USG plant at Rainier, Washington, was named as the Gypsum Plant of the Year.

York Reichardt of Gebr. Pfeiffer then gave a presentation on the calcination of gypsum in MPS vertical roller mills and in Gebr. Pfeiffer gypsum kettles, while Cheri Miller of the Tennessee Valley Authority proceeded to give an eye-opening presentation on scrubber technologies for flue gas desulphurisation. Although this might seem to be an esoteric subject, it is of vital importance to the possibilities for synthetic gypsum supply: if technology becomes cost effective that does not involve the by-production of gypsum then, in the long-term, gypsum prices may go up and the economics of the industry may eventually start to revert to a model based on the cost of winning natural gypsum. As it was, Cheri outlined a number of scrubbing technologies that do not have gypsum as a by-product, but none look likely to supersede the ‘once through’ (non-regenerable) wet scrubbers favoured by the electricity utilities in the US at the moment.

Dennis Todd of Wear-Con Inc then gave - for the first time at the Global Gypsum Conference - a paper on wear and wear solutions for the gypsum industry. This was certainly one of the slickest presentations at the conference. Following another coffee break/networking session, delegates reconvened for a panel discussion. Among the topics discussed, most heat was generated on the subject of recruitment into the gypsum industry, with panelists and audience alike keen to attract more skilled workers into the industry (in competition with ‘sexy’ industries like telecommunications and the media), but at a loss on how to accomplish the task.

After lunch and another ‘Exhibition Hour,’ delegates were free once again to spend the afternoon as they wished. In fact, a dozen or so elected to take part in the Global Gypsum Golf Cup, played on the adjacent course. Although Wilma-induced saltwater contamination of the groundwater had killed sections of the grass on the course, reducing it to nine holes, it was still a spectacular and challenging course. New West Gypsum Recycling, Evans Adhesive and St. Regis Paper kindly sponsored the match, which was eventually won by ace golfer Rick Ervin of Arizona Instruments.

Third and last day

Delegates gathered for their communal breakfast again at 7am, and the conference started promptly, as ever, at 8am. The focus of the final day was on synthetic gypsum, and this was one reason why attendance was still high: it’s a subject of great commercial importance to the industry. Henrik Wetegrove of Claudius Peters first gave a presentation on the horizontal impact calciner, ‘A new way of synthetic gypsum processing.’ The design of the mill reflects the fact that syn-gyp is often supplied to the wallboard plant at a grain size less than that of the ground stucco derived from natural gypsum. The mill in fact features an internal disagglomerator and classifier, which allows recirculation and ensures the required retention time and full calcination of the gypsum. Designs for up to 80t/hour have been finalised.

Lane Roberts of Dome Technology then gave an eloquent presentation on dome storage of DSG/FGD, covering the advantages and disadvantages of domes versus concrete silos and warehouses. Lane also laid out the options for the effective reclaim of hard-to-handle synthetic gypsum, as well as detailing a number of major dome projects undertaken for gypsum companies, mostly in the US.

Richard Ellis of Clyde Materials Handling was next, covering the rules and guidelines for the feeding, pneumatic conveying and storage of dry DSG. He emphasised the basic common sense of designing hoppers with inclined cone angles reflecting the high angle of repose of DSG, the benefits of silo aeration and the importance of wear to the systems. He also detailed a new development for pneumatic conveying of difficult materials, called autoflow. This comprises an internal bypass arrangement of a small inner pipe mounted within the main conveying pipeline: this allows conveying air to escape just before a blockage forms, and has the effect of keeping the entire material stream moving.

Farewell!

After the final presentation, delegates filled out their questionnaires and voting forms for the best presentation award and at the final lunch, a number of awards and prizes were presented. International Gypsum Recycling was awarded the prize for the best exhibition stand, while Peter Hill of Grenzebach was awarded the Convenor’s Prize for being the first presenter to correctly send in all required conference materials.

Following a quick count of votes and normalisation of the results to the number of delegates attending each presentation, the best presentation results were announced. All papers received votes, and of particular note were those papers by Cheri Mill on scrubber technology and by Dave Smith on the renovation of the Hilton Hotel. However, in third place was Henrik Wetegrove of Claudius Peters for his paper on the horizontal impact calciner, in second place was Bob Bruce of Innogyps for his paper on North American gypsum markets, and in first place - winner of the Global Gypsum Best Presentation Award 2006 - was Nick Wigen of Grenzebach for his paper on energy conservation in the wallboard production process.

Changes and improvements

The 6th Global Gypsum Conference and Exhibition departed in a number of ways from previous ‘editions’ of the event. Firstly, the event took place over three half days, in contrast to the usual two ‘solid’ days in the past. This allowed delegates to take full opportunity of the networking opportunities in the programme, while also allowing participants to relax in the pleasant surroundings of the conference hotel. The move was popular with delegates, and the number of attendees staying to the end of the event was actually higher than with a more traditional two-day format. Cancun, however, was a special location, and the conference will now revert to its usual two-day format.

Secondly, the conference featured a significantly lower number of papers compared to previous years. This was largely because delegates had previously told the organisers that too many papers were being presented, and that they wished to have more networking opportunities. In fact, the event achieved the highest satisfaction figures (according to analysis of the conference delegate questionnaires) for networking of any Global Gypsum Conference. Delegates also suggested, however, that they would like to see some more technical papers at the conference, and the organisers aim to include a number of technical and pertinent academic papers at subsequent events.