The program has been finalized for the 35th annual International Cement Seminar and Exposition being held Dec. 5-8, 1999, at the Hilton at Walt Disney World Village in Orlando, Fla.

Among the highlights of this year's event, sponsored by Cement Americas, will be tours of two Cape Canaveral-area terminals on Wednesday, Dec. 8. The first is a 39,000-ton-capacity facility operated by Rinker Materials Corp.; the other is owned by Continental Cement Co. of Florida and has a storage capacity of 30,000 tons.

While the theme of this year's seminar is "Building to 2000: Increasing Productivity While Maintaining Quality," presenters also will discuss important industry issues such as new emissions regulations, market conditions in North and South America, cement supplements, and cost-saving technological advancements.

As always, an expansive technology exhibition is planned, and this year's event welcomes the return of our regular golf outing on Sunday, Dec. 5.

Presentations begin on Monday, Dec. 6, with the keynote address given by William Toal, chief economist, Portland Cement Association, who will present his North American forecast. A yet-to-be-announced speaker will give a similar talk on the current and future state of affairs for the Latin American cement industry. After this, Stephen Hanrahan, director, Ocean Shipping Consultants, will discuss the effects of shipping, imports, and exports on U.S. markets.

Randy Dunlap, vice president, general manager, Mineral Components Division, Holnam Inc., will offer up a look at his company's cement substitute/supplement called GranCem and discuss the impact of such products on the industry.

Industry consultant Roy Grancher will provide his annual industry analysis. To conclude the first day of papers, Tony Lombardo of Fike Corp. will present information on explosion protection when using pulverized coal.

Kicking-off a series of environmentally oriented presentations on Tuesday, Dec. 7 will be Mallory S. May III, president, PSM International, who will debate the effectiveness of the EPA's database and its usefulness to the cement industry. Next, Peter Welander, Chemical Products Group, Lechler, Inc. will speak about gas cooling and conditioning under the new EPA NESHAP regulations. Carrie Yonley, P.E., Schreiber, Yonley & Associates, will talk on managing a cement plant under the new MACT rules.

Thurman Elliot, traffic manager, Holnam Inc.'s Holly Hill, S.C. plant, and Dr. Henning von der Wroge, executive vice president and general manager, Beumer Corp., will discuss productivity increases realized in cement plants with upgraded bag packing, palletizing, and palletized load securing.

After lunch on Tuesday, an extended presentation on Florida Rock's troubled but successful road to building its Jacksonville, Fla. facility will be delivered by Fred Cohrs, president of the cement division of Florida Rock, and Segundo J. Fernandez, Oertel, Hoffman, Fernandez & Cole, P.A. Following that, Jim Melick, Lafarge Corp., and Mark Wauman of Fuller Co. will look at Lafarge's recently overhauled Richmond, B.C. plant.

Taylor Miller, production manager, California Portland Cement Co.'s Colton, Calif. plant, and Roger Serpan, president, MODCO will jointly look at dual pod pneumatic conveyors and how they reduce energy and maintenance costs at the Colton operation. Steve Bassler of Loesche America will provide a preview of Southdown's Clinchfield plant's 2000 expansion start-up. Finally, Peter Faraday of Sympatec Inc. will illustrate the practice of controlling and optimizing cement quality with laser diffraction particle size analysis and dry dispersion.

For more information on International Cement 1999, contact Intertec Exhibitions, 5680 Greenwood Plaza Blvd., Suite 100, Englewood, Colo. 80111; (+1) 720-489-3129; fax: (+1) 720-489-3101; or see our web site at www.cementamericas.com

The Hilton at Walt Disney World Village in Orlando, Fla., will host International Cement 1999, which will be held December 5-8.