Indian Cement Industry Plant Case Study

Agate B. A.*

Abstract Cement plant under question is a wet process integrated unit consisting of various unit operations such as Mining, Crushing, Transportation, Raw meal grinding, Blending, Pyro processing, Finish grinding and Shipment/Cement dispatch operations. Pyro processing unit operation has three long kilns (rotating furnaces of small capacity) out of which 2 kilns are in operation and 1kiln is kept stopped for want of adequate availability of raw material predominantly limestone. Once the raw materials (Limestone, Clay & iron ore) are processed through mining, crushing, transportation, raw meal grinding and blending unit operations, the product is known as raw meal/raw mix. This raw mix is burnt in rotating Kilns at 1400-1500 deg. centigrade to produce intermediate product known as clinker. Coal is used as a fuel for firing in the Kilns. At finish grinding stage clinker together with gypsum, fly ash is used to produce ordinary Portland cement and Portland pozzolona cement respectively. Residential colony, club, post office, bank, middle school, small hospital, commercial shopping complex facilities are made available near to Cement Plant in companys premises. Similar facilities are provided at the mines lease hold companys land which is situated away from the plant. Another integrated modern dry process high capacity plant (sister unit of the company) is situated at a distance of around 120 kms.in hilly terrain. Key Words: Pyro processing, Pozzolona, Integrated dry process plant. Introduction and Background This is an interesting real experience of a Cement Plant summarized in a Case Study. As stated the plant had three small kilns (rotating furnaces) out of which 2 kilns were in operation and 1kiln was kept stopped for want of adequate availability of raw material predominantly limestone. The subject plant was very old, constructed within the limited area and it had given its useful life. The plant was located just at the foot hills of clay mounds and around 2 km. away from the main state highway. Road entrance to the plant was too steep to carry high capacity truckloads of raw materials and finished product. This 2km road patch was public cum private property, passing from a thickly populated residential colony, commercial complexes and narrow railway under bridge. Rail connectivity to plant was quite good for shipping the finished goods. Adequate space was not available for parking as well as storing large volumes of raw materials and intermediate product clinker. State electricity boards grid power and water for the plant and colony was available. Plant also had its captive Diesel Generating Power set. The plant was operated at almost 100% rated cement grinding & dispatch capacity by producing 2/3 rd intermediate clinker product from 2 small kilns and the balance clinker was supplied from the nearby new modern sister plant of the company having a large capacity around 2.0 MTPA Cement.

It was economical to produce clinker and cement at the sister plant vis-a-vis old plant and to make the cement available in the nearby areas of old plant at competitive price. Though, the plant was very old timely and essential short term investments were being made to nurse it and to maintain the environmental pollution control norms as per the national standards. The plant was energy intensive in terms of fuel and power consumption. The revenue that was earned by the exchequer such as central excise, sale tax, railways and other statutory agencies was considerable and the plant was incurring losses every year as the cost of production was high. The captive limestone mine that was about 10 km. away from the plant and supplying basic raw material Limestone through ropeway transportation. Mines had independent union leadership to

(Limestone mining)

(Crushed limestone transportation)

Represent the workers of mines besides companys management team for operation and maintenance of the mines and heavy equipment machinery. The quality of limestone that was available for cement manufacturing from the captive mines was poor (low in lime content) while the market was asking for high grade cement for number of challenging projects including export. The plant had very high reputation in the market because it has supplied quality product to prestigious construction projects of the country as well as neighboring country. The Cement Plant had a registered recognized union. Both the union President and Secretary were working as Material handling in-charge and Tester in the Laboratory respectively. Manager Quality & Process Control of the Cement Plant reporting directly to General Manager for day to day performance of the Plant related to production, quality, cost, personal matters, procurement etc. while union president and secretary were under the direct control of Manage Q. & P.C. and Manager Human Resource and Administration. Union president of mines was reporting to Manager Mines & also Manager HRA. Organization structure of the plant is detailed in Fig.1 and Flow process diagram of plant & mines establishment in Fig.2. Though, good quality limestone deposit reserves were available in captive mines they were falling in the forest area. There was a high court ruling that limestone cannot be mined as per MOEF (Ministry of Environment & Forest) guidelines. Cost economics was not permitting to draw limestone from far off distances. Good quality limestone was available below the residential colony and school for a short term production. Coal was used as an important fuel for the furnaces which was quite expensive and quality too was inferior. Grid power of state electricity board was erratic and costly. Adequate space was a limiting factor to install coal based captive power plant. Company had number of cement plants spread across the country having their own mines as well as captive power plant. Strategically, the plant under question was situated at such location where there was good demand for the cement. To run this small capacity & old plant large work force consisting of more than 1000 wage board permanent employees, around 200 contract employees and 50 management staff was there. All the wage board employees were the members of the union while management staff had no union. The plant was the source of livelihood for the people and also the plant helped the local economy. The organization had a corporate office & regional office situated in metros, far away from the plant location and led by top management. General Manager was responsible and accountable to

managing directors, functional directors of the corporate office for the total performance, profitability, welfare of the employee and management staff of the plant; being an important link representing the top management at site. Plant Organization Structure (Fig.1)
General Manager
Dy. Gen.Mgr. (Technical) T Manager Mining Manager Maintenance Manager Health Services Dy. Manager H.S. Assistant Manager Manager Human Resource Dy. Manager HRA Assistant Manager Manager Finance Manager QPC

Dy. Manager Mining

Dy. Manager Maintenance

Dy. Manager Finance

Dy. Manager QPC

Assistant Manager

Assistant Manager

Assistant Manager

Assistant Manager

Union President

Shift Supervisor

Shift Supervisor

Shift Supervisor

Shift Supervisor

Union President & Sec.

Top management Managerial grade Officer grade Workman grade Flow diagram of Plant, Mines & establishment (Fig.2)
1/3rd Clinker from sister plant
Raw Material Extraction (Limestone) Raw Material Preparation (Crushing & storage) Raw Meal Preparation (Limestone, Clay & Iron ore ) Pyro-processing (2/3rd own Clinker Production) Cement Grinding (Clinker + Gypsum + Fly ash) Shipping/dispatch Station (Ordinary Portland / Portland Pozzolona Cement)

Time office Mines & Plant

Canteen Mines & Plant

School & Club Mines & Plant

Security Mines & Plant

Hospital, BNK. P.O.in Mines & Colony

Colony Mines & Plant

________________________________Purchased Power + Captive Power____________________________

Conclusion
This case study provides focused presentations towards plant operation limitations of production & quality, Human relations matters, environmental issues, supply chain management, marketing and customer requirements, so on and so forth. Study is mainly targeted to MBAs who are at the threshold of joining the industry to learn and develop the necessary overall techno managerial skills. Keeping in view what has been narrated and assuming that you have been posted as General Manager to take the charge of this plant; which options (strategic action plan) would you propose to handle this challenging task?

Acknowledgements *Author is Retd. Dy. Gen. Mgr. (Tech.) ACC Limited India (Holcim group) R.O. S. & W. Pune & Visiting Faculty Management Institutes Pune (Maharashtra) India acknowledges Ramit Budhraja

Chief Executive for sponsoring the case study presentation in the 14 th Annual International Business Summit INBUSH 2012 at Noida India. The author extend thanks to Rajiv Kumar Director Sales, Amresh Nakhawa Regional HR Head and Durga Shenvi Manager HR of ACC Limited India (Holcim group) R.O. S. & W. Pune for providing the data on planned investments, cement production & dispatch figures and photographs of ACC Holcim Wadi Cement Plant India (Karnataka).Author is also grateful to Rakesh Sinha Director Plant ACC Gagal Works (Himachal Pradesh) India and Dr. S. B. Singh Director Plant ACC Lakheri Cement Works (Rajasthan) India for respective photographs and clinker cement production figures of their Cement Plant.