ACC Ltd: Marching ahead

ACC Ltd is one of the front runners in the cement industry in India and produces some of the best quality cement in the country. It has a significant market share in the segments of housing, real estate, infrastructure and other development projects. With more and more developmental projects coming up, the profit and the market share of the company is expected to rise at a considerable rate.

In an era when mergers and acquisition were unknown, 10 cement companies belonging to the Tatas, Khataus, Killick Nixon and F E Dinshaw came together in the year 1936 and merged into a single entity, which is today known as ACC Ltd. The company has a pan-India presence, with operation spread across the country with 14 modern cement factories having a total installed capacity of 22.4 MTPA, a string of 20 sales offices and a countrywide distribution network of over 9,000 dealers. It has a workforce of more than 10,000 persons.

ACC has been credited of introducing many firsts in India. In 1947, India’s first indigenous cement plant was built by at Chaibasa by ACC. The company commissioned the country’s first million tonne kiln at Wadi in 1982, and has erected the world’s largest cement kiln with a daily capacity of 12,500 tonne. From a production capacity of one million tonne per annum in 1936, the company has achieved a capacity of 22.5 MTPA. ACC also set many trends in the cement industry. One of the most significant was the introduction of blended cements. It used industrial waste like slag and fly ash, which helped in lowering greenhouse emission and conserving mineral wealth.

The company manufactures 43 Grade Cement (OPC 43 Grade), 53 Grade Cement, Fly-ash based Portland Pozzolana Cement, and Portland Slag Cement. The OPC 43 Grade is the most commonly used cement in all constructions including plain and reinforced cement concrete, brick and stone masonry, floors and plastering. It is also used in the finishing of all types of buildings, bridges, culverts, roads, water retaining structures, etc. It has surpassed BIS Specifications (IS 8112-1989 for 43 grade OPC) on compressive strength levels. The 53 Grade Cement is an Ordinary Portland Cement which surpasses the requirements of IS: 12269-53 Grade. It is produced from high quality clinker ground with high purity gypsum. It provides high strength and durability to structures because of its optimum particle size distribution, superior crystalline structure and balanced phase composition. The fly-ash based Portland Pozzolana Cement is special blended cement, produced by inter-grinding higher strength ordinary Portland cement clinker with high quality processed fly ash-based on norms set by the ACC’s R&D division. This unique, value-added product has hydraulic binding properties not found in ordinary cements. The Portland Slag Cement is slag-based blended cement that imparts strength and durability to all structures. It is manufactured by blending and inter-grinding OPC clinker and granulated slag in suitable proportions as per norms of consistent quality. PSC has many superior performance characteristics which give it certain extra advantages when compared to ordinary Portland cement. The PSC is eco-friendly cement as reduces CO2 emissions and helps in conserving energy.

The cement plants of ACC are located in various regions of the country in a number of states. The gadgets and equipment are of high standards and comply with the international standards. Presently there are around 15 cement plants of ACC which cater to the different market segments of the country. The cement plants work in coordination with each other and also independently to increase the market share. All these cement plants use cutting edge technologies and services are equipped with advanced technological facilities which make them completely environment-friendly. The plants use some of the sophisticated pollution control devices in various parts such as raw mills, power plants, cement kilns, coolers and other equipments. In addition, the mining technologies that have been implemented in the cement plants of ACC are also based on environment safeguard norms. ACC’s cement plants consist of high quality Zero Water Discharge facilities which help in proper water management. The water that is used in the plant for the process of industrial cooling is recycled by the use of tanks, water ponds and cooling towers. Through this process, the company has been successful in water harvesting.

The subsidiary and associates of the company are ACC Concrete Ltd, ACC Mineral Resources Ltd, Bulk Cement Corporation (India) Ltd, National Limestone Company Pvt Ltd and Encore Cement & Additives Private Ltd. ACC set up India’s first commercial Ready Mix Concrete (RMX) plant in Mumbai in 1994. Today this business has been re-organised as a separate company called ACC Concrete Ltd which is one of the largest manufacturers of RMX in India with over 55 modern plants in major cities such as Mumbai, Bangalore, Kolkata, Chennai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Goa, Pune and Ahmedabad. ACC’s wholly owned subsidiary, The Cement Marketing Company of India Ltd, was renamed as ACC Mineral Resources Ltd (AMRL) in May 2009 with an objective of securing valuable mineral resources, such as coal for captive use. ACC Mineral Resources Ltd has entered into joint venture arrangements for prospecting, exploration and mining coal from the coal blocks in Madhya Pradesh and West Bengal. The company is also exploring other opportunities for securing additional coal and gypsum resources in India and abroad. The Bulk Cement Corporation (India) Ltd is situated at Kalamboli, Navi Mumbai and caters to bulk cement requirements. It has two cement storage silos with a capacity of 5,000 tonne each. The plant receives cement in bulk from ACC plants at Wadi. The plant has its own special purpose railway wagons and rakes and its own railway siding. A first of its kind in India, it is equipped with all the facilities required by increasingly sophisticated construction sites in a bustling metropolis, including a laboratory, a fleet of specialised trucks and site silos for the convenience of customers and is capable of offering loose cement in bulk-tanker vehicles as well as packed cement in bags of varying sizes from 1 ton down to 25 kg bags. It is situated strategically on the outskirts of Mumbai, just off the Mumbai-Pune Expressway and is spread over 30 acres of land. ACC acquired 100 per cent of the equity of Lucky Minmat Pvt Ltd. This company holds limestone mines in the Sikar district of Rajasthan, and helps supplement limestone supply to the Lakheri Plant. National Limestone Company Pvt Ltd is a wholly owned subsidiary and is engaged in the business of mining and sale of limestone. It holds mining leases for limestone in the state of Rajasthan. ACC acquired 100 per cent of the financial equity of Encore Cement & Additives Pvt Ltd which is a slag grinding plant in Vishakhapatnam in coastal Andhra Pradesh. This company became a wholly-owned subsidiary of ACC in January 2010.

The CSR activities of ACC revolves around the underprivileged community that lives in the immediate vicinity of cement plants and is thus more dependent on their welfare. The range of activities begins with extending educational and medical facilities and goes on to cover vocational guidance and supporting employment-oriented and income-generation projects like agriculture, animal husbandry, cottage industries by developing local skills, using local raw materials and helping create marketing outlets. At all the cement factories of ACC the amenities and facilities are shared with members of the local community. This includes sharing education and medical facilities, sports and recreation. The company also shares access to bore wells, drinking water and the usage of colony roads. In its endeavor towards greenery, the company has also started various types of afforestation, horticulture and tree planting programmes near its cement plants. It not only reduces pollution but also helps conserve the mineral resources. The vacant spaces in the mines and the cement plans are being utilised for the purpose of planting of trees. In cement plants at Chaibasa, Kymore, Jamul and Gagal, greenery has been added to around 40 per cent of the total area which is around 10 per cent more than the normal norms that has been set. The management of these plants is stressing on the green belt development programmes. Due to the high production as well as the dedicated effort towards maintaining ecological balance and nature conservation, the company and its cement plans have been the recipient of a number of prestigious awards.

ACC was the first recipient of ASSOCHAM’s first ever National Award for outstanding performance in promoting rural and agricultural development activities in 1976. Decades later, PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry selected ACC as winner of its Good Corporate Citizen Award for the year 2002. Over the years, the company has received many awards and felicitations for achievements in rural and community development, safety, health, tree plantation, afforestation, clean mining, environment awareness and protection.

The Wadi cement plant of ACC Limited, in India’s southern state of Karnataka, now enjoys the distinction of being the world’s largest cement plant. The company recently completed this challenging integrated cement project in Karnataka comprising an expanded clinkering line of 12,500 TPD at Wadi together with two satellite cement grinding plants manufacturing Portland Slag cement and flyash based Portland Pozzolana Cement.

All operations at Wadi are now mammoth in scale and setting new trends and benchmarks – the largest limestone mining operations, the largest captive power plant in the industry, largest in inward and outbound logistics and the largest in bulk cement operations. The project reinforces ACC’s commitment to environment conservation in more ways than one. The plant incorporates sophisticated environment management systems and equipment that are designed to maintain very high levels of emission control.