Mike Doyle, general director of Holcim Vietnam, comes to his office at 7am every morning for a regular 12 hour day. Taking his new post in Vietnam more than a month ago, the 59-year-old Irishman says he is getting used to the lifestyle, the habits of his Vietnamese colleagues and the Vietnamese Government’s policies for investors. Doyle officially became general director of Holcim Vietnam in early November, when Thi Vai Clinker Grinding Station in Ba Ria-Vung Tau Province opened, and Holcim Vietnam employees were trying hard to fulfill the company’s target of producing 2.4Mt of cement this year.
Expanding fast Since its establishment with a registered capital of US$233.8m in 1994, Holcim Vietnam has almost doubled its capital to US$440m. The company’s facilities consist of a cement plant in Hon Chong in Kien Giang Province, a clinker grinding station in Ba Ria-Vung Tau and a cement packaging and distribution station in HCMC’s District 2. "We know Holcim is not the only cement supplier on the Vietnamese market so our strategies will focus on winning customers’ confidence in our service and quality," Doyle says. The company was rewarded for its efforts when consumers selected Holcim multi-purpose cement and Holcim mortar to be among the top five of quality building materials in Vietnam. Since last year Holcim Vietnam has marketed six types of cement for different applications. Striving for more growth Doyle expects Holcim Vietnam’s sales revenue will reach US$108m this year, up US$100m from last year. In the year’s first 11 months, the company sold 2.1Mt of cement.
"One of the important tasks for 2005 is to bring the Thi Vai Clinker Grinding Station to work at full capacity," he says. He adds the station is operating at 60-70 per cent of its capacity. Once the station stabilizes its production, Holcim Vietnam can supply 3.6Mt of cement to everywhere from Ca Mau in the Mekong Delta to Danang on the central coast. Doyle and his associates are also drawing up a plan to build another clinker grinding station at its cement factory in Hon Chong. The new station would be completed in 2007 and would help double Holcim Vietnam’s current output. (Edited report from Saigon Daily News).
