Displaying items by tag: Maintenance
Switzerland: LafargeHolcim has launched a four-year industrial automation plan called ‘Plants of Tomorrow.’ It includes Industry 4.0 concepts such as automation technologies and robotics, artificial intelligence, predictive maintenance and digital twin technologies for its entire production process. The plan is expected to show 15 – 20% operational efficiency gains. It also claims that the initiative is, “one of the largest roll-outs of Industry 4.0 technologies in the building materials industry.”
“Transforming the way we produce cement is one of the focus areas of our digitalisation strategy and the ‘Plants of Tomorrow’ initiative will turn Industry 4.0 into reality at our plants. These innovative solutions make cement production safer, more efficient and environmentally fit,” said Solomon Baumgartner Aviles, Global Head Cement Manufacturing.
The building materials company is presently working on more than 30 pilot projects covering all regions where the company is active. The company’s integrated cement plant at Siggenthal in Switzerland will be a trial site where the integration of all relevant modules will be tested.
One examples of where LafargeHolcim has started the plan include a partnership with Swiss start-up Flyability to use drones to increase the frequency of inspections at plants while simultaneously reducing cost and increasing safety for employees by inspecting confined spaces. The concept is being rolled out to several markets, including Switzerland, France, Germany, the UK, the US, Canada, India and Russia. It is also using a subsidiary, Maqer, to identify technology startups with promising technology. It aims to harness the potential of this through new partnership models with both manufacturing and software companies.
LafargeHolcim has already launched technology to track performance centrally and allocated resources to support the plant network in real time. More than 80% of LafargeHolcim’s cement plants are already connected to its Technical Information System that provides data transparency at plant, country, regional and global level. Some country operations have more than a decade of historic technical data available. Other systems allow the remote control of certain parts of the operations through online condition monitoring systems. Since its implementation in 2006, this system has saved over Euro70m and an additional 3Mt of cement sold through fewer breakdowns.
Egypt: ASEC Engineering has renewed its technical management contract with Misr Beni Suef Cement until the end of 2023. ASEC originally worked on the first production line at the plant in 2001. It maintenance contract was renewed in 2007 with the addition of a new production line. The cement plant has a production capacity of 3.1Mt/yr.
Unions warn of cement shortages in Paraguay
15 February 2019Paraguay: Union representatives at Industria Nacional del Cemento (INC) have warned of shortages in mid-February 2019. They have cited a shortage of bags at its Villeta plant and problems with the kiln at the Vallemi plant, according to the ABC Color newspaper. The president of INC has denied the claims. Local cement sales are expected to rise by 7.7% year-on-year to 1.4Mt in 2019 from 1.3Mt in 2018.
US: Eagle Materials’ revenue rose slightly to US$1.11bn in the nine months to 31 December 2018. Revenue from its Heavy Materials business, including cement, fell slightly to US$564m. Overall cement sales volumes remained stable at 4.41Mt. Operating earnings decreased by 10% to US$153m from US$170m.
“Adjusting for the effects of unusual weather trends during 2018 and a shift in the timing of wallboard price increases and related buying activity, we estimate that the overall market demand for our building materials, notably cement and wallboard, remained in positive territory in 2018, with growth rates in the low single digits,” said chief executive officer (CEO) Dave Powers. He added that in the quarter from October to December 2018 margins had been negatively affected by higher costs due to maintenance outages at two plants and upgrades to emission control equipment.
Production halted at McInnis Cement due to mechanical issue
03 January 2019Canada: Production has stopped at the McInnis Cement plant at Port-Daniel–Gascons in Quebec due to an unspecific mechanical issue. Maintenance is expected to take place until the end of January 2019, according to the Le Soleil newspaper. The cement producer refused to confirm whether that problem had been caused by the drive shaft overheating and damaging its metal shell. However, the company said that the repairs would only extend a planned maintenance period by a few weeks. No cost for the repairs have been disclosed.
Germany’s ThyssenKrupp Industrial Solutions (USA) was originally awarded the contract to build the plant in 2014. After a protracted building phase the plant produced its first cement in mid-2017 and was then inaugurated a few months later.
Malaysia: Cahya Mata Sarawak’s (CMS) cement division profits have fallen so far in 2018 due to planned maintenance shutdown at its integrated plant and rising clinker prices. Its profit before tax dropped by 14% to US$16.7m in the first nine months of 2018 from US$19.6m in the same period in 2017. The division’s performance was also hit by an increase in the price of imported clinker. The company said that this occurred due to a spike in global demand, following the reduction of clinker production in China and continued high demand for clinker especially from Bangladesh and the Philippines. Overall, CMS’ sales revenue and profit have risen so far in 2018.
Zimbabwe: Edith Matekaire, the commercial director of Lafarge Zimbabwe, has blamed a backlog of foreign currency exchange as the cause of a shortage of cement. The US$2m backlog has caused plant maintenance shutdowns to take longer than they normally would, according to the Herald newspaper. Due to the lack of adequate funding, the shutdowns have been forced to take place during periods of peak production, causing effects in the market.
Despite this, Matekaire said that the local cement sector has more than enough production capacity to meet customers’ needs. Demand is 1.3Mt/yr and cement production is 2.4Mt/yr. Demand is only expected to exceed production from 2020 onwards.
Gujarat Sidhee Cement extends shutdown period at Sidheegram plant
19 September 2017India: Gujarat Sidhee Cement has extended the shutdown period of its Sidheegram plant until 28 September 2017 due to additional maintenance work on the kiln and coal mill. The maintenance period was originally scheduled to last until 25 August 2017. The cement producer said that cement grinding and packing operations will continue as normal and that the plant will meet all despatch requirements. Cement sales volumes are expected to be unaffected.
Production rises at Sunchon cement plant following repairs
20 September 2016North Korea: Production has risen to full capacity at the Sunchon cement plant near Pyongyang. A kiln repair at the calciner was conducted to increase clinker production. The plant is now surpassing its daily quota by 20%, according to the Korean Central News Agency. The increased production has been targeted to support recovery efforts following floods in North Hamgyong.
FLSmidth signs operation and maintenance contract with Wadi El Nile Cement Company
15 September 2016Egypt: FLSmidth has signed a contract with Wadi El Nile Cement Company (WNCC) for operation and maintenance of its cement plant. The contract is a five-year continuation of the existing contract signed in 2010. In addition, WNCC also ordered an upgrade of the plant from 6000t/day to 7200t/day of clinker. The upgrade will be executed as part of the operation and maintenance contract. The value of the deal has not been disclosed.
"The continuation of the contract is visible proof of the successful partnership we have with WNCC. We have now operated their 6000t/day for almost five years. The performance delivered was the main driver for WNCC to expand and continue its partnership with FLSmidth. The extension of the operation and maintenance contract reflects our ability to increase our customers' productivity and preserve asset value," said FLSmdith Group Executive Vice President, Cement Division, Per Mejnert Kristensen.
The initial contract will expire at the end of 2016 and the new contract term is from January 2017 to December 2021. The upgrade to 7200t/day is planned to be operational from the summer of 2017.