Issue introduction

Managers regularly audit many parameters of cement plants including safety, emissions and production, but rarely, if ever, are the plant’s relationships analysed. Relationships can help or hinder a plant’s ability to communicate its most important initiatives to target audiences. Plant communicators may be blocking their own way if the groups or individuals it associates with do not aid in their efforts.

Cement plants demand a strict quality regime throughout production in order to maintain control of quality. This is of increasing importance today: New kilns are increasingly in the 10,000-12,000t/day range, meaning that loss of quality over even a short period can result in a large amount of unsaleable product. At the same time, cement plants are using an increased range of raw and supplementary cementitious materials, as well as increasingly complex fuel blends, making consistency more of a challenge than in the past.

When Al-Takamol Cement required a replacement gearbox for one of its cement ball mills, it approached Wikov. The gearbox manufacturing company implemented a side-drive solution with Separate Lubrication System (SLS).

The ability of cement, concrete and mortars to reliably meet physical quality parameters is paramount to ensuring safe and strong buildings and infrastructure. Indeed, such tests are becoming more important as blends with supplementary materials and advanced additives take hold. Below, TESTING Bluhm & Feuerherdt’s new Managing Director Hans-Heinrich Reuter, discusses a range of trends in the cement and concrete testing sector.