Larsen & Toubro (L&T) is a US$13.5bn Indian conglomerate with business interests in engineering, construction, manufacturing goods, information technology and financial services. It has its corporate office in Mumbai, India and predominantly serves the Indian, Middle Eastern, East Asian and South East Asian markets. L&T is one of the largest and most respected companies in India's private sector with 75 years of customer commitment.
Introduction
L&T was founded in Mumbai, India in 1938 by two Danish engineers, Henning Holck-Larsen and Soren Kristian Toubro. Both were strongly committed to developing India's engineering capabilities to meet the demands of its industries.
More than seven decades of a strong, customer-focused approach and the continuous quest for world-class quality have enabled L&T to attain and sustain leadership in all its major lines of business. L&T has an international presence, with a global spread of offices. The company continues to grow its global footprint, with offices and manufacturing facilities in multiple countries.
L&T's businesses are supported by a wide marketing and distribution network and have established a reputation for strong customer support. L&T believes that progress must be achieved in harmony with the environment. A commitment to community welfare and environmental protection are also integral parts of its corporate vision.
L&T Construction
L&T's construction arm, L&T Construction, is the largest construction organisation in India. It has high rankings in various international contractor surveys, ranking fourth in a Newsweek list of 'green' companies and ninth most innovative by Forbes International. It also won the Infrastructure Company of the Year award at the EPC World Awards in December 2012.
L&T Construction's cutting edge capabilities cover every discipline of construction, be it civil, mechanical, electrical or instrumentation engineering as well as services extending to large industrial and infrastructure projects from concept to commissioning. It has played a prominent role in India's industrial and infrastructure development by executing several projects across the length and breadth of the country and around the globe.
L&T's Project Management expertise has repeatedly demonstrated its ability to deliver projects, even under critical conditions and stringent timelines. Its high standards of professionalism with its clients have helped it win over many difficult situations that would have otherwise caused bottlenecks in execution and successful commissioning.
Indian cement industry
L&T Construction's association with the cement industry dates back to the very early days of the industry and continues today with cutting-edge technology that covers every discipline of construction.
L&T Construction has an impeccable record in the cement plant construction for the design and construction of major cement plants on an engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) basis, meeting the complete requirements of its clients to world-class standards with speed, economy, quality and safety.
Being a pioneer in the construction industry, L&T Construction has constructed cement plants with a total capacity of about 80Mt/yr. In 2012 alone L&T added 12.8Mt/yr of cement production capacity to the Indian cement industry to international standards. Some of the recently executed Indian cement projects include:
- Vicat Sagar Cement, Karnataka.
- UltraTech Rajashree, Karnataka.
- Wonder Cements, Rajasthan.
- KCP Cement Plant, Andhra Pradesh.
- Zuari Cement, Yerraguntla, Andhra Pradesh.
- India Cements, Rajasthan.
First cement plant for Vicat Sagar Cements
A case study is presented here in its entirety, displaying the core competencies of L&T in the execution of a state-of-the-art cement plant. The superior technology implemented by L&T and the initiatives taken thereby provide an analytical frame for completion of plant erection within stipulated schedules. This ensures the highest standards of quality and safety.
Vicat Sagar Cement Plant constructed by L&T
Vicat Sagar Cement Pvt. Ltd., (VSCPL) a joint venture between the Vicat Group of France and Sagar Cements Limited of India, put up its first integrated greenfield cement plant at Chatrasala Village in Gulbarga District of Karnataka, India. The plant has a cement capacity of 2.75Mt/yr along with waste heat recovery (WHR) system.
VSCPL awarded the civil execution, structural, plate-work and equipment erection contract to L&T. The scope of work included the construction of all major process buildings including eight silos; one 16,000t blending silo, two 60,000t clinker silos, one 6000t fly ash silo and four 10,000t cement silos.
Innovations and construction methodology
To cater to the erection activity within the stringent time schedules of the cement industry, L&T implemented certain innovations and new technologies during construction to enhance productivity. Many advantages by the successful implementation of the new measures at Vicat Sagar have convinced L&T to use the technologies for other new and upcoming cement plant projects as well.
1. Mast Climbing System for silo post tensioning: The standard practice for silo post tensioning stressing works includes the use of staging and side tower arrangement. This standard practice involves movement of labour and post tensioning equipment to a height of around 50–60m, a laborious and time consuming process. Furthermore, labour productivity is low, owing to extensive scaffolding arrangements and in the construction of temporary platforms.
Thus, a new initiative for the silo post tensioning was taken up. A Mast Climbing System was provided for uninterrupted and smooth access to the stressing locations at both sides of the ribs.
In this arrangement, a rack-and-pinion system was assembled, along with a working platform to enable movement of the working platform to the full height of the silo. This contributed to higher labour productivity, reducing the costs related to scaffolding and additional manpower mobilisation.
Worker safety was better ensured by an auto-locking mechanism. The productivity increased to such a level that the post tensioning for the 60m-high silo was completed within a period of 15 days.
2. Optimised use of plant and machinery: L&T has consistently utilised tower cranes for equipment erection at elevated levels. The 165m-high preheater, which is the tallest structure in the plant, was the right location for effectively utilising tower cranes for equipment erection. This enabled completion of preheater mechanical erection in a short time-span.
To achieve the timelines, meticulous micro-level planning was performed which laid out activities right from the foundation stage to commissioning.
Two tower cranes, one 25t crane for mechanical erection and another 16t crane for civil works, were deployed right from the beginning of the project, which has helped in achieving the progress of both the civil and mechanical activities. The tower cranes positioned at the preheater also catered to the erection of other structures in the raw mill and coal mill building. Thereby, equipment in the adjacent buildings was also erected within a short period of time ensuring effective and optimum utilisation of plant and machinery resources.
3. Parallel progress of both civil and mechanical works in the preheater: In the preheater, mechanical erection clearance will be issued only after completion of de-staging and de-shuttering of the slab. This procedure was being followed for all the slabs in the preheater, leading to a delay in initiating the mechanical erection activities.
Considering the time impact this procedure has on the project schedules, the L&T formwork design team prepared a detailed staging and shuttering plan where the cyclones are erected before the staging works starts for the next slab. Subsequent slab staging was done using L&T's heavy duty towers around the cyclones where the structural members are used for supporting the entire slab shuttering arrangement.
This staging arrangement has a smaller footprint in the lower slab where the cyclone erection is carried out. This technique has yielded considerable reductions in time and labour. To implement this new system L&T's formwork team made a detailed implementation plan considering workers' safety and other execution issues.
4. Slip-form angle bracket for clinker silo ring beam: The standard practice for casting the ring beam in a clinker silo is by scaffolding. This demands shuttering and de-shuttering works that are not only very labour intensive but also call for an extensive lead time.
A new technique using slip-form angle bracket for the ring beam was initiated to cut down the huge costs incurred in mobilising these resources. The usage of a crane facilitated mechanised construction and reduced costs.
5. Automation in fabrication yard: The nature of the soil and regular rainfall obstructed crane and machinery movement inside the plant during construction. L&T therefore implemented micro-planning to enable maximum fabrication within the yard premises and customised the plant and machinery in order to suit the local soil conditions.
A modern gantry crane was installed, similar to that in a factory, to obtain the required output on time and easy movement of raw as well as finished material on site. The set-up was on a par with any self-reliant factory setup to meet the complete structural and plate fabrication requirement. This implementation enabled uninterrupted supply of fabricated items to the work site, speeding up the scope of mechanical works.
Safety standards
L&T has adopted and implemented various Quality Plans and Safety Plans to maintain and achieve benchmark results in quality and safety.
With over 172 acres of plant area, a workforce of more than 3100 and an average working height of 40m, L&T was able to successfully maintain its reputation of having the highest safety standards at its cement plants by clocking over 15 million injury-free safe man hours. This is L&T's second project site where it has received the most prestigious British Safety Council Award.
Achievements
The project was executed using advanced L&T formwork systems. L&T was able to mobilise 2600t of formwork material exclusively for this project while construction activity was at its peak. The formwork system was utilised efficiently to complete the civil works with high standards of quality and safety within the stipulated time schedule.
It was a momentous occasion when L&T was able to set the record for erecting the 467t, 4.75m-diameter, 74m-long rotary kiln shells in 23hr 35min.
The project achieved all the major milestones sequentially and has successfully despatched its first cement bag on 16 January 2013.
Cement trends in India
L&T consistently evaluates the problems faced by customers and initiates action plans to identify economical solutions for those issues. Due to various environmental factors, cement manufacturers are under continuous pressure to operate their plants at lower emission levels and reduce their specific energy consumption.
The market scenario also plays a major role in this area. India, one of the fastest growing economies, attracts foreign investment in cement production due to current policies and the country's future potential. Yet the per capita of cement consumption in India is still as low as 150kg/capita/yr, compared to the global average of 350kg/capita/yr.
Indian cement consumption has to improve if the economy is set to achieve high growth rates. This creates stiff competition in the domestic market making cement producers explore ways to cut their operational costs. The entire Indian cement industry is on an upgrade spree ranging from plant capacity enhancements, process optimisation, reduced emission control levels and implementation of alternate fuel firing systems, WHR systems and captive power plants. These upgrade activities will enable the manufacturers to stay competitive even in an environment where the demand is very low.
The environmental ministry has also implemented strict norms in terms of emissions and energy consumption levels where manufacturers would have to pay a penalty if the required government standards are not being met. These are the prime areas of focus for L&T's design team to provide solutions that suit Indian customers.
Cement plant upgrades are expected to be carried out without affecting production; hence plant manufacturers favour technologies that require the least down-time. These are the critical challenges in implementing upgradation projects, which L&T is gearing up to address.
Substantial progress has been achieved in construction areas where cutting edge machineries are deployed to speed up the construction progress and reduce time and labour. The first major step in reducing plant implementation time is to construct plants on an EPC basis.
EPC concept – The future
EPC concept came into existence many decades ago and is widely employed in thermal power plants, nuclear reactors, oil refineries and cross-country pipe lines. The EPC concept paved the way for faster completion of the project, thereby reducing project cost and break-even periods for the customer. In a volatile market scenario, customers do not have the privilege of absorbing the additional cost for delayed projects. The timelines need to be met, shareholders shown good returns and funds repaid to lenders. With such demanding scenarios, even the time available for decision making is very short.
Implementing a project despite all these constraints is becoming more complex day by day, thus making the EPC concept the answer to all these challenges. The entire project concept, engineering, procurement, supply-chain, erection and commissioning is completed faster if a single entity is entrusted with all these activities.
However the Indian cement industry has traditionally ordered equipment in packages, where all equipment is ordered by the client directly and the interlinking between departments is entrusted to the client. This methodology appears to be the choice for cost-effectiveness but the final figures show a completely different story. Direct ordering may be cost-effective during the initial stages of the project, but ultimately most of the projects end up spending more than the budgeted value due to various factors, including delays.
If any one of the following issues such as interfacing between different equipment suppliers, scope of each vendor, delivery of equipment and operation of the plant are not handled properly, the total project cost is expected to reach levels beyond the estimated budget, due to ever-increasing interest rates for the acquired capital.
Many cement projects are still under implementation four years from their start date, due to lack of funds, which is the kind of situation every customer wants to avoid. This risk is mitigated in EPC by pegging the project cost on the date the contract is signed. Hence customers can plan their cash flow according to the stages of the project, which are fixed in the past and no cost escalation can be possible.
EPC has been proven to be very cost-effective in the long run where better monitoring of the project progress is possible. The EPC provider will be held responsible for completing the project on time. The entire engineering, manufacturing and supply process becomes faster in EPC as the supplier is bound to perform, considering the responsibility he is vested with in order to avoid demurrages. This driving factor ensures timely completion of the project and insulates the customer from the effects of project delays and loss of revenue.
Innovative EPC solutions – One-stop shop
Only a few organisations have the capability to provide EPC solutions to the cement industry in which L&T Construction is a leader. It offers a wide range of turn-key solutions to cement plant customers on an EPC basis.
In-order to address the concerns and provide quality solutions to the cement and process industry, L&T has established an office in Hyderabad called 'L&T Cement & Process Plants.' It is dedicated to providing turnkey solutions for cement plants along with offerings to the food, paper, sugar and chemical industries. L&T Cement & Process Plants division specialises in providing turnkey solutions for total construction, balance of plant (BOP) and EPC.
This division's engineering department, with its multi-disciplinary approach to design and integrated solutions has a team of professionals with vast experience in cement and process plants. The team provides solutions from concept to commissioning on EPC basis to satisfy the needs of individual customer right from the enquiry stage. With the domain knowledge, requisite expertise and wide-ranging experience to undertake EPC/BOP of cement plants, L&T's specialisation extends to cost-effective and optimised design solutions.
In 2012, L&T Cement & Process Plants introduced retrofit specialisation to its profile, through which it can provide retrofits for the existing cement plants right from plant study to complete replacement and commissioning of equipment. This makes L&T a capable partner for simplifying cement plant solutions.