Bridging the Knowledge Gap

$20 billion or five per cent is the global annual production loss for cement, out of which, approximately 42 per cent is due to ineffective or unskilled operators and technicians. How serious are the challenges here in India, and how this knowledge gap can be bridged? ICR sheds light on some of the vital aspects of skill creation and skill management.

The cement industry took over eight long decades to create the first 100-MTPA capacity; the second 100-MTPA milestone was achieved in one decade, whereas the industry took just three years to cross the third 100-MTPA milestone. That tells no other story but how rapid the progress was made. RA Krishna Kumar, Executive Director, Dalmia Cement Bharat Ltd, sketches the outline of the cement industry today, ?India is the world?s second largest producer of cement after China with146 integrated cement plants and 55 grinding units. Total current installed capacity is 360 MTPA and production is 256 MTPA (as against 65 and 49 MTPA respectively in 1990-91). The production is expected to grow 665 MTPA in the next 10 years and the capacity to 750 MTPA @ 90 per cent capacity utilisation.

According to him, with the adoption of massive modernisation and state-of-the-art technology, resulting in 99 per cent dry process kilns, today Indian cement plants are the most energy-efficient and environment-friendly. He says, ?In fact, some of our Indian cement plants are operating with specific energy consumption numbers, which are best in the world. In the last 10 years, Indian industry average of specific power has been reduced from 112 kWh/t to 89 kWh/t and specific thermal energy from 815-734 kcal/kg of clinker. Krishna Kumar adds, ?India?s cement sector is expected to witness strong production and consumption growth of 9 per cent during the medium term in line with the economic growth because of the strong co-relation with GDP growth and the increased activity in the construction sector.?

Impact on ROI
This brings to us one of the most vexed questions – do we have a pool of skilled/and highly skilled workforce to draw from? Further capacity addition on the cards, and modern manufacturing facilities with highly advanced plant and machinery, process control and monitoring systems in place, how the industry been able to cope with the Herculean task? Is attrition rate high given the fact that engineers are exposed to opportunities in the global markets? What are the challenges faced by the cement manufacturers?

Dr. JD Bapat, Consultant, paints the industry scenario with vivid strokes. ?Cement industry requires large number of professionally qualified and trained engineers as well as other technical manpower to run the plants. Trained manpower is required right from the mining of limestone, pyro-processing, size reduction, material handling and, at the end, packing and dispatch of cement. The support services like repair and maintenance are also extremely important because if the plant has to run for the scheduled length of time throughout the year, then all the service providers must do an excellent job.?He adds, ?For a million tonne capacity plant, for example, the daily production amounts to about 3,000 tonne or 60,000 bags of cement. In the plant, kiln is in continuous operation. The control room (CCR) operators are again extremely important because they come to know the problems in the process immediately. The CCR operator monitors operation like performance of kiln section, its output, cooler, grinding, storage, transport and feeding of materials or any problem in the process, like sudden change in temperature or pressure, equipment malfunctioning, etc. In short, across the various steps of operations in cement plant, there are considerable inputs from trained manpower.?

Achieving a high-level of performance requires well-trained and effective operators who are capable of handling complex and multiple operating systems and interfaces. In the Indian context, given the subdued investment climate in adding capacity, cement manufacturers are investing in optimising and boosting their existing plants to improve return on investment (ROI). This is achieved through better service and maintenance practices of plant and associated equipment, in addition to better operations. While service and maintenance can be outsourced to a vendor, operations can?t be outsourced that easily and effectively. So availability and quality of trained and experienced operators is critical in improving ROI. And if they are available, it put a lot of pressure on plant operators who are available in fewer numbers over the years due to several socio-economic factors, according to Manish Chordia, Assistant Vice President, Market Segment Manager – Cement Sector Process Automation, ABB India. He adds, ?For this reason, many plants across a wide variety of industries are training personnel across disciplines to carry out necessary maintenance functions. One of the simplest ways to maximise operator/maintenance personnel productivity is to cross-train personnel. This also enhances skills of individuals and improves availability of skilled manpower. However, one needs to access the criticality of certain operations and maintenance functions an individual can or should perform.?

A reality check
Let us zoom in on the experience of Dalmia Cement. Krishna Kumar gives a reality check. According to him, challenges in skilled manpower, especially keeping in view the opportunities for the skilled and trained manpower in overseas plants resulting in high attrition, comes in seven major phases as per the Dalmia experience, as follows:

Project to operation: Dalmia Cement is a pan India player having cement plants in multi-locations in the country. During the growth phase, it is quite challenging to get the skilled resources for erection and commissioning and in next phase ramping up of operations and then stabilising and sustaining. For each stage, different skill sets are required where the challenge comes.

Continuous technological upgrading and assimilation of latest technology: Presently, 93 per cent of the total capacity in the industry is based on modern and environment-friendly dry process technology.

Wide range of products: Uniqueness of Dalmia Cement is the product variety, having nine variety of cements in a single location, ensuring quality and consistency, in accordance with BIS specifications.

Marketing skills: Another challenge is in having a well-moulded marketing team to sell the cement in the competitive market.

Leadership levels: Due to the impact of IT industries in the last decade, many of the engineers from mechanical, chemical, production, and instrumentation moved to the IT sector and not to the core sector which creates a big skill gap in the leadership positions and a lot of compromising is happening in getting good talents on board. Mobility of trained manpower to overseas: Now, there is a trend that many of our trained engineers from cement sector move abroad for lucrative remuneration, tax-free system and other attractions and the best of talents moves out of India in the recent past.

Raising trend in outsourcing support functions: This is yet another trend in cement industry wherein there are non-core functions getting outsourced wherein we will not have regular/long-term employees with us. There will be frequent changes in the employees as well as service providers but the organisation has to sustain its systems.

According to him, the focus areas are common for all in the cement industry. The growth of cement industry in north, east, and north eastern parts of India, the shortage of skilled manpower is a challenge compared to south India. The trend will continue like the next 5-6 years time as deep focus is required. Based on the current employment pattern, the projected growth of the industry, and changes expected in productivity, the projected human resource requirements are detailed in the following table.

Projected human resource requirements (in?000s)

Year Cement
2008 140
2012 155
2018 620

The number gap
On the operational side, we find there is a big gap in the number of process engineers working in the plants across the industry. In what way the gap can be minimised? Says Bapat, ?I do agree that engineers working on the process side are few. Today, there seems to be reluctance to work on shopfloor. Training a process engineer is a time consuming job. You need to invest by imparting knowledge and energy on it. They do not stay long after training and those who get trained want to move up in the ladder and become managers. The graduate engineer wanting to move up in the ladder is natural.?

What is the solution? According to Bapat, CMA or any such organisation can approach engineering colleges and polytechnics for the part of training on the cement manufacturing, to degree and diploma holders. The remaining part, which is practical training, can be conducted by the plants. Trained diploma holders are likely to stay longer than graduate engineers. Professionals working in the area, with longstanding experience, can offer service as resource persons.?

Improving productivity level
There is a big difference in the productivity at workforce level of ours and that of developed countries. How it can be improved? Productivity varies from plant to plant and from place to place. Average productivity of workmen in one plant is different from that in the other plant. It is very complex situation to explain. It depends on how a worker is treated by the employer. How sure he is about moving up in the ladder. It has very close relation with the culture of the organisation, progress path in terms of company HRD and welfare policies. Transparency in the organisational functioning is also an important factor.

Bapat adds, ?There is also a need to improve the productivity of existing workforce. We have a trade called instrument mechanic and we have another trade as electrician, for example, which complement each other. These two trades can be combined and could be called as electrician-cum-instrument mechanic, with proper training. That will lead to their optimal contribution during working hours. Similarly, fitters and welders are trades with overlapping work content. Productivity can be increased by combination of these trades. With improved productivity, they get better pay and more opportunities to grow. Same principle applies to engineers also. I believe, an engineer is an engineer, all the time. It does not matter if he is a mechanical, electrical or chemical engineer. He can be trained as a process engineer. Corporates can try out these options. This is nothing but ?multitasking?.

Advantage simulators
With increased production capacity, whether we will get sufficient time to get enough number of kiln operators and what is the way? What role simulation can play here? Kiln is the heart of the plant, therefore, kiln operation is extremely important. It is a continuous operation. The old way of training the operator is to ask him to work directly on kiln platform which is no more relevant today because in such situations, the operator learns through mistakes. It is a trial and error method. At present, the best way to train a kiln operator is on computer-based simulators. Though some of the simulation packages are rather old but for beginners these packages are good. However, a trained operator requires better simulator trainer. To develop a good simulation package, you need a good process engineer and good computer programmer. India is blessed with both the professions but still we have not developed a good simulation package.

Challenges
According to Chordia, some of the major factors impending the cement industry and affecting availability of skilled manpower is the changing socio-economic balance and many others mentioned below. Over the years, we have seen the increasing urbanisation (one of the identified global mega trends) taking place. As a result, people want better standard of life and a simple one. There are societal pressures to get ?The Job? and peer pressure to ?make it big?. These apart, lack of investment in training, poor infrastructure, career growth and opportunities are primary reasons attributed to a fall in availability of skilled manpower. This ultimately leads to lower operator effectiveness and sub-optimising plant operations.

Some of the other issues are that skills required to operate a plant successfully are different than 30 years ago on the one side and regulatory expectations for operational compliance have increased on the other side. Apart from change in human motivation and behaviour norms, available technology is also much different compared to couple of decades back.

Speaking on the initiatives taken by ABB, Chordia had this to say. ?One approach ABB has taken to improve operator effectiveness is by giving operators an environment and functionality that enable them to do their job better by addressing the following aspects such as workplace design, operator interface design, control room design, increased automation for repeatability and decreased risk, simplified procedures and workflows, alertness and fatigue due to prolonged work, operator competence, training and skills, and ergonomics. This has helped mini?mising risks of accidents, eliminating unscheduled downtime, and enhancing production and quality.

AFR – a new challenge
Today?s technology trend is to use alternate fuels and raw materials (AFR). Our operators so far have not been exposed to the use of AFR. How are we going to tackle this issue? According to Bapat, cement companies need to come together and form clusters to develop their own simulator-trainer. ?Today, the technology is changing fast; we need to have modern simulators with all built-in new features. The simulator-trainer available at NCB is providing useful service to the industry.? Bapat further adds, ?The general observation is that people are not ready for the change. Nobody wants to disturb the smooth working. For the use of alternate fuel like biomass in kiln, you need to change the burner, air-to-fuel ratio, even the raw mix design. In short, it is not that simple. There is a silver lining to it; some experience is available from the other countries which can be used to train our staff. The real challenge is burning industrial wastes, especially hazardous ones. The problem starts from how you collect and store wastes. How to transfer and feed it to the burner? How it is going to impact the final product and affect pollution levels from the exhaust gas? The countries where AFR has been successfully used, thermal substitution rate (TSR) is as high as 70-80 per cent. Why can?t we reach those numbers? The policy framework has to be in place. Today we are at 0.5 per cent and aim to reach 5 per cent in 2020. There are problems on the way. Some companies like ACC have full teams working on the subject. Our policies have to encourage the change. Training has to happen. All things have to happen together.?

Enhancing the skills
Says Rajnish Kapur, Business Head (Grey Cement Division), JK Cement, ?Presently, majority of cement units are running around 40-60 per cent of their capacity. Hence, industries with skilled manpower has ample opportunity to pool their futuristic requirement by synergising their workforce.? Says Kapur, ?Though 60-70 per cent of workforce is around 35 years in India, highly skilled operators and technicians have always been an issue. It is advisable that the operators as well as technicians under academics are subjected to industrial exposure for specified period compulsorily and resources are upgraded to Asia-Pacific level if not developed nations like Japan, China etc.?He adds, ?With rising manpower cost and demand for skilled manpower, it is advisable for the industries for multi-skilled workforce. Also it is smart for the industries to embrace new technologies and automation. In the last one year, we have reduced manpower by 10 per cent in one of our plants.?

Shedding light on some key areas to be addressed on a war footing, Chordia says, ?ABB continues to put in efforts to understand customer imperatives and address them through better value-added solutions like Extended Operator Workplace (EOW). This helps industry in turning challenges into business advantages through:

Increased asset reliability and utilisation through a well-managed maintenance strategy involving both preventative and predictive capabilities practised within a collaborative environment improves situational awareness, increases asset reliability and overall equipment effectiveness.
Improved operator productivity by improving control room ergonomics and operator effectiveness significantly reduces unforced errors while minimising reaction time to decode, decide and act. All these ultimately result in increased operator productivity.
Continuous improvement and safety by implementing an effective collaborative process automation system becomes the catalyst for improvement. It increases the robustness of the process and overall safety. Experience how empowering and engaging people with knowledge and authority will sustain exceptional business performance.

Multi-skilling
In cement industry, technology varies from time to time. In olden days, the industry had lengthy wet process kilns/ball mills and now, it has short dry process kilns with pre-heater/vertical roller mills in place. How this fast pace of advancement in technology has impacted the industry, especially from the availability of highly skilled workforce? Krishna Kumar had this to say. ?We have all set of equipment in the plant from the oldest to the newest and the operators are to be conversant with different operations and technologies. For example, in our KHD facility there is a set of operators and in FLS facility, there is a set of operators. The challenge before us is to keep the skill sets ready for any type of operation and in any type of technology. This includes erection in the brownfield, commissioning, operating, preventive maintenance, regular maintenance and sustaining the performance guaranteed figures by OEMs and upgrading performance indicators through modifications and keeping the ground needs.?

According to him, the team has to get tuned for skills with respect to basic operational skills from mining to dispatch, skills in sustaining the availability of equipment, skills in sustaining performance guarantees for each equipment, energy reduction skills, modification skills through internal projects, and management skills on various certifications for better marketing. Unless we work on this in a very structured manner, the skill gap will widen and we cannot sustain in the field for a long time. Dalmia Cement has a very clear process in place to address this skill nurturing in different ways and means.?

Automation – the way forward
Says Krishna Kumar, ?Cement is the prime field now having a lot of focus for reasons that the growth of cement industry will give growth for the nation. The phase of development in the industry is tremendous and it is foreseen that the industry has to revamp all its efforts to revive the Regional Training Centres and work actively with institutes like NCCBM and OEMs to have very structured programmes to get fully equipped technicians for future needs, otherwise the industry will face very hectic issues of skill gap.?

According to Venkat Kaushik, Managing Director, En Tech Consultancy Bureau Madras, automation is the way forward. He says, ?Every industry is vying for the same talent, there is no motivation for the young engineers to join this industry; factories are in the hinterland, polluted and remote. Technology such as video monitoring, field sensors and DCS/software ensure production. Robotic technologies for QC ensure quality. Thus, a higher capacity plant is able to afford all these necessities. Kapur is on the same page. He says, ?Automation being the future of industries, technicians with knowledge and skills of such automation shall be high in demand. At our unit, we provide ample training and opportunity under supervisory guidance for the tech?nicians to get hands-on experience in plant. Through a combination of theoretical courses and practical training, we enhance capability like research, innovations etc.?

According to Bapat, the industry is ready to face the challenge. He sums it up on a high note, ?We have good institutions like NCB in our country which can take up the job of training. Then in the private sector, companies like ACC, Ambuja, UltraTech, Dalmia Bharat, etc are capable of facing the challenge, through their R&D and training centres. Private consultants who have been associated with cement industry can join hands with cement producers. Some of the equipment manufacturers can also take part as stake holders.? And that is the way forward.

AREAS OF SKILL SHORT SUPPLY
Major skills short supply is experienced in the following areas:

• Qualified Mining Foreman and Mining Engineers
• Technicians for welding, fitters, riggers for hands on field work in crusher, CVRM, VRM, pyro, packing sections
• HEO operators with adequate skills to operate all kinds of mining and plant operational equipment
• Cement costing professionals with CA/ ICWAI
• Trained professionals in SAP applications across all modules
• Techno-commercial engineers to handle various commercial needs
• Good chemical engineers for process
• Cement based quality professionals with expertise in variety of cement
• Instrumentation technicians including DCS( Distributed Control System)
• Packing plant operation and maintenance professionals
• Civil engineers for massive construction work like green filed projects
• Erection engineers for mills, kiln, coolers etc
• HR professionals with cement knowledge
• Front line sales team with cement background
• Technical services team to support customer delight initiatives

Agith G Antony