India is the second largest cement manufacturer in the world with a total production capacity of nearly 455 million tonnes, as of 2017-18, and a per capita consumption at approximately 225 kg. The country’s demand for cement is driven primarily by the housing and real estate sector and a renewed push to develop world-class infrastructure.

Business expansion, decentrailsed manufacturing, and industry demand for variants have contributed to the industry’s volume, which is estimated to be growing at 5- 6 percent every year. However, despite the growth rate, increasing competitive pressures, rising raw material and energy prices, coupled with stricter regulations for environmental protection are making efficient and sustainable use of resources a top challenge for the cement industry. Being an energy-intensive sector, cement production requires huge amounts of coal to power operations. Even a modest efficiency improvement can make a big difference to a cement producer’s carbon footprint and its balance sheet. The fast-paced and dynamic cement industry has started to adopt and adapt automation and digitalized technologies to help the cement industry become more competitive, efficient and sustainable.

One fine example of optimised cement production is Wonder Cement’s Greenfield plant in Nimbahera, Chittorgarh district, in Rajasthan. The company has differentiated itself by constantly investing in new technology to overcome traditional challenges like transportation cost of raw materials, finished cement, and utilization of pet coke. However, with the use of automation technology provided by Siemens, Wonder Cement has successfully made the leap to a higher level of capacity, efficiency, and flexibility.

This has been achieved by leveraging Siemens’ concept of Automation and Digitalization which uses real-time plant data to make precise predictions about quality parameters and can be integrated into the plant’s daily operations. From the quarry to the kiln and from the clinker silo to the shipping facility, the automation solutions, and energy-efficient drives and services cover the entire cement production process chain.

“Cement is one of the oldest and most matured vertical markets in which Siemens operates. We have over the last 40 years, consistently provided market leading innovative solutions to the Indian cement industry. Our engineering, vertical knowhow and top end products offer solid foundations to build digital solutions which assist our customers enhance productivity, reliability of operations and safety of personnel and environment,” Bhaskar Mandal, Country Division Lead, Process Industries and Drives, Siemens Ltd said.

Making A Smarter Cement Factory

At the heart of Wonder Cement’s smart factory is the Siemens CEMAT Automation software. The CEMAT automation standard, a distributed control system (DCS) based on SIMATIC PCS 7 helps give plant operators control of the complete steps within the production chain – from the extraction of raw materials through to packaging of the end products – and also offers supplementary modules for process optimization. However to ensure economical operation of the plant and avoid expensive standstills, further digitalization was essential.

For the Wonder Cement plant, Siemens also installed a Kiln Control System (KCS). An “autopilot” for cement kilns, KCS improves the quality as well as efficiency of clinker production. Working in tandem with Siemens’ Mill Control System (MCS) – a software which increases the efficiency of clinker milling - the cyber-physical systems ensure that plant operators have all the vital real time information they need about the manufacturing process. Another benefit of automating the factory was that operators were freed from monotonous routine work, so they could concentrate on key tasks. Furthermore, at any time the set points in the digital controllers can be adjusted to achieve stable production conditions at an optimum level. The solutions which are very user friendly can be easily tuned to ever-changing process conditions to optimally run the loops.

As a result of such advanced automation and digitalization, Wonder Cement’s Nimbahera plant has improved its efficiency through more stable production processes, and better quality thanks to well-balanced sintering conditions. Furthermore, the lifetimes of the refractory and the equipment have been extended, and emissions have been lowered. As a whole, the construction industry is being assessed in terms of “energy efficiency” and making cement with a lower carbon footprint goes a long way in making infrastructure development eco-friendly.

In addition to greater productivity, Siemens has also improved the flexibility with which Wonder Cement can control the scale of production. The plant currently has the capacity to produce 6.75 million tons per annum of cement, and Wonder Cement plans to increase its capacity to 10 million tons per annum.

With the thrust on expansion and upgradation of infrastructure and affordable housing in the country, the cement industry enjoys strong growth prospects. Due to the increasing demand in housing, commercial construction and industrial construction, the cement industry is expected to reach 550-600 million tonnes per annum by the year 2025 from 455 million tonnes in 2017-18. With an influx of foreign players expected to put pressure on the profit margins, companies need to level the playing field by integrating digitalization to the core manufacturing practices to achieve energy efficient and more sustainable production – and still deliver world-class quality.