Technology

Our main goal is to understand the user

Published

9 years ago

August 31, 2016

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Dr Andreas Echelmeyer, Director Conveying & Loading Systems, BEUMER Group speaks on how the company serves customers around the globe, across a wide range of industries.

You have been Director of Conveying & Loading Systems at BEUMER Group in Beckum for a few months now. What are your responsibilities and what would you like to achieve?
Since August 2015, I have been the head of the new Centre of Competence (CoC) for the Conveying & Loading Systems (CL Systems) segment. Under the leadership of the CoC, we would like to globally develop and implement complex system solutions for various industries, such as the mining and raw materials industries, and port handling. In order to achieve this, the customers have to notice us in those fields.

BEUMER is known for providing innovative intra-logistics solutions. Some are still surprised to learn how fast the BEUMER Group has grown in recent years. Today BEUMER also offers complex system solutions in the raw materials industry, a sector in which business was traditionally limited to sales of single machines. Our goal is to become internationally known as a reliable partner in the area of plant engineering as well. We have fewer inquiries from Germany, and increasingly more from Australia, the Far East, Africa, South America and the US. Our mission is to build an international team for conveying & loading Systems that works together on specific projects. In order to ensure a high standard internationally, we must get qualified colleagues from all our local companies on board in all regions.

?Qualified? means that they have to understand the customers in order to precisely communicate their needs with us and develop the perfect solution together with our team in Beckum. This means that we need to stay curious and open-minded for this type of teamwork.

What has changed now for the BEUMER Group with the introduction of the CL Systems segment?
We are rooted in material handling, which is specifically about the efficient movement of bulk materials. However, each industry we serve has very specific requirements. The cement industry, for example, relies increasingly on alternative fuels and raw materials to reduce the use of expensive primary fuels, such as coal and oil. This can also be achieved with household waste that is processed for a particular application. Due to the differing composition of this material, its handling is often very complex. We consult with our customers based on our extensive knowledge of system solutions and provide entire systems, starting from receiving the material at the factory gate, to storing, mixing, conveying and introducing it into the cement production process via the main burner or calcinator.

How do you define expertise in system solutions for your work?
In order to customise a solution, we have to listen very carefully and ask the right questions. These are often questions the customer has not even thought about. Some customers can also have very specific ideas about the solution. Together we analyse the task, and in this dialogue the user learns that we can supply the perfect system solution that can sometimes differ considerably from the original ideas. Our main goal is to understand the user. Another important prerequisite for us as a system manufacturer is flexibility. In order to successfully tackle specific tasks, we sometimes have to learn to let go of established solutions and find an entirely new approach, depending on the application.

How do you get in touch with the users?
Our globally operating colleagues are in close contact with our customers. We are constantly exchanging ideas. Our local colleagues are familiar with the country-specific customs, speak the language and know the market and customer-specific requirements. They can pinpoint the relevant potentials and priority areas. Ideally, the customers themselves approach us at an early stage. Together, we then develop the perfect system. If a new customer comes to us, we will send out experts from our Beckum site in Germany. A team from the local company, accompanied by experts from the CoC, will then discuss the problem in detail with the customer. As a third possibility, the customer sends us a request for quotation. We analyse and examine the request in regards to completeness, and whether all of our questions have been sufficiently answered, and then we evaluate the request. Together with our local colleagues from the responsible group company, we then develop a fitting solution.

Your administrative field is called Centre of Competence (CoC), a globally centralised organisation within a matrix structure. Do you also work together with other CoCs?
In the case of orders from the cement industry, for example, we work closely with our colleagues from the CoC Cement. We can mutually benefit from our respective expertise. Those collaborations are always project-specific.

From which industries do you get requests?
This can vary a lot, because our system solutions are used wherever you need to transport large quantities of bulk material. This is particularly the case for the ore and raw materials industry, but we also deal with applications outside of these core areas, such as food transport.

In ports, for example, we ensure that different materials are efficiently loaded onto ships.

What skills are you looking for in your colleagues?
As you can imagine, the engineers for this task are very experienced and highly qualified, and are able to think outside the box. Often they need to find new ways in order to find the perfect system solution. Particularly with large conveyor systems, the demands on engineers are becoming increasingly complex. Public acceptance of road transport by truck is declining throughout the world, which means that our conveyors have to deal with greater and greater challenges in overcoming topography. For example, we are designing systems with a length of more than 12 km that transport material over extremely steep inclines and declines ?and without transferring material on the way.

If we don?t want to send an expedition team first, we will have to use special software that allows us to merge satellite and aerial images of different resolutions with the respective topographical data. The challenge now for my colleagues is to estimate and analyse the project, in order to make a concrete offer to the customer. We usually don?t have a lot of time for this. It is only possible with an excellent global team.

What experiences do you bring into your new position?
I am familiar with the system manufacturing side, as well as the user side. I was working in the cement industry for eight years. As production manager, I had to oversee complex systems that manufacture more than 13,000 tonnes of steel per day. This is how I am familiar with the demands on system manufacturing coming from the users. I then switched sides and have now worked in systems manufacturing for 12 years. During this time I have set up a global customer support division, among other activities, and I therefore know the expectations of customers: they have ever increasing demands on machine availability and, therefore, on customer support.

How would you assess the current development for plant design in mining?
The prices for raw materials like iron ore or copper have been extremely low for the last two or three years now. This is why the market situation is very difficult at the moment. We feel the effects of companies cutting investments and stopping projects. We expect this low level of investment to continue for another two, three years, until the market stabilises. What else has changed? There is a general trend towards larger tonnages and throughputs because larger production facilities are more efficient. Many users don?t want to set up several parallel systems, but want to cover their entire requirements with one line or as few as possible. This trend considerably influences the development of our systems.

Today, the trend is towards a comprehensive product portfolio in order to offer complete solutions for the entire production process to the customer. Do all components come from BEUMER?
We want to offer comprehensive services to our customers, so that we can also avoid unnecessary interfaces. This is why we deliver everything from one single source. For many of the components that are not part of our portfolio, we always ask ourselves whether to purchase or manufacture them in-house. For gear units and electric motors, as well as systems to quantify material flows, we use selected partners. We also attend trade shows to get a clear picture of the current market developments. It?s the only way to make sure to provide the perfect solution to our customer in terms of profitability. It is not uncommon for plant manufacturers to purchase many of the components. This way we focus on our core competence and always provide the perfect solutions. Our goal is to always supply turnkey systems that allow the customer to work efficiently.

Are you planning on becoming an EPC (Engineering, Procurement and Construction) company for bulk material ? or even an EPCM (Engineering, Procurement and Construction Management) supplier for large-scale plants, also in order to avoid interfaces?
Not necessarily. As plant manufacturers, we want to focus more on the required system solutions and less on industrial construction, excavation and concrete construction. In addition, climate conditions and legislation can vary greatly from China to Tierra del Fuego, Australia or Alaska. This is why for every project we decide if we will be the single provider or if we will work together with a reliable partner in the region. Local partners are familiar with their environment and the pricing, and are usually well connected. We always want to be well aware of the interfaces. We usually decide on a case-by-case basis whether or not to use a local partner. We keep a very close eye on the EPC topic, however. Our customers appreciate that we are a competent expert. They don?t want to buy a tunnel or a foundation. They want a system that solves their problems.

Quick Takes

We are known for providing innovative intra-logistics solutions.
Our mission is to build an international team for conveying & loading systems that works together on specific projects.
In order to customise a solution, we have to listen very carefully and ask the right questions.
In the dialogue, the user learns that we can supply the perfect system solution that can sometimes differ considerably from the original ideas.
We want to offer comprehensive services to our customers, so that we can also avoid unnecessary interfaces.

Picture credits: BEUMER Group GmbH & Co. KG

Concrete

Redefining Efficiency with Digitalisation

Published

22 hours ago

February 20, 2026

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Professor Procyon Mukherjee discusses how as the cement industry accelerates its shift towards digitalisation, data-driven technologies are becoming the mainstay of sustainability and control across the value chain.

The cement industry, long perceived as traditional and resistant to change, is undergoing a profound transformation driven by digital technologies. As global infrastructure demand grows alongside increasing pressure to decarbonise and improve productivity, cement manufacturers are adopting data-centric tools to enhance performance across the value chain. Nowhere is this shift more impactful than in grinding, which is the energy-intensive final stage of cement production, and in the materials that make grinding more efficient: grinding media and grinding aids.

The imperative for digitalisation
Cement production accounts for roughly 7 per cent to 8 per cent of global CO2 emissions, largely due to the energy intensity of clinker production and grinding processes. Digital solutions, such as AI-driven process controls and digital twins, are helping plants improve stability, cut fuel use and reduce emissions while maintaining consistent product quality. In one deployment alongside ABB’s process controls at a Heidelberg plant in Czechia, AI tools cut fuel use by 4 per cent and emissions by 2 per cent, while also improving operational stability.
Digitalisation in cement manufacturing encompasses a suite of technologies, broadly termed as Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT), AI and machine learning, predictive analytics, cloud-based platforms, advanced process control and digital twins, each playing a role in optimising various stages of production from quarrying to despatch.

Grinding: The crucible of efficiency and cost
Of all the stages in cement production, grinding is among the most energy-intensive, historically consuming large amounts of electricity and representing a significant portion of plant operating costs. As a result, optimising grinding operations has become central to digital transformation strategies.
Modern digital systems are transforming grinding mills from mechanical workhorses into intelligent, interconnected assets. Sensors throughout the mill measure parameters such as mill load, vibration, mill speed, particle size distribution, and power consumption. This real-time data, fed into machine learning and advanced process control (APC) systems, can dynamically adjust operating conditions to maintain optimal throughput and energy usage.
For example, advanced grinding systems now predict inefficient conditions, such as impending mill overload, by continuously analysing acoustic and vibration signatures. The system can then proactively adjust clinker feed rates and grinding media distribution to sustain optimal conditions, reducing energy consumption and improving consistency.

Digital twins: Seeing grinding in the virtual world
One of the most transformative digital tools applied in cement grinding is the digital twin, which a real-time virtual replica of physical equipment and processes. By integrating sensor data and
process models, digital twins enable engineers to simulate process variations and run ‘what-if’
scenarios without disrupting actual production. These simulations support decisions on variables such as grinding media charge, mill speed and classifier settings, allowing optimisation of energy use and product fineness.
Digital twins have been used to optimise kilns and grinding circuits in plants worldwide, reducing unplanned downtime and allowing predictive maintenance to extend the life of expensive grinding assets.

Grinding media and grinding aids in a digital era
While digital technologies improve control and prediction, materials science innovations in grinding media and grinding aids have become equally crucial for achieving performance gains.
Grinding media, which comprise the balls or cylinders inside mills, directly influence the efficiency of clinker comminution. Traditionally composed of high-chrome cast iron or forged steel, grinding media account for nearly a quarter of global grinding media consumption by application, with efficiency improvements translating directly to lower energy intensity.
Recent advancements include ceramic and hybrid media that combine hardness and toughness to reduce wear and energy losses. For example, manufacturers such as Sanxin New Materials in China and Tosoh Corporation in Japan have developed sub-nano and zirconia media with exceptional wear resistance. Other innovations include smart media embedded with sensors to monitor wear, temperature, and impact forces in real time, enabling predictive maintenance and optimal media replacement scheduling. These digitally-enabled media solutions can increase grinding efficiency by as much as 15 per cent.
Complementing grinding media are grinding aids, which are chemical additives that improve mill throughput and reduce energy consumption by altering the surface properties of particles, trapping air, and preventing re-agglomeration. Technology leaders like SIKA AG and GCP Applied Technologies have invested in tailored grinding aids compatible with AI-driven dosing platforms that automatically adjust additive concentrations based on real-time mill conditions. Trials in South America reported throughput improvements nearing 19 per cent when integrating such digital assistive dosing with process control systems.
The integration of grinding media data and digital dosing of grinding aids moves the mill closer to a self-optimising system, where AI not only predicts media wear or energy losses but prescribes optimal interventions through automated dosing and operational adjustments.

Global case studies in digital adoption
Several cement companies around the world exemplify digital transformation in practice.
Heidelberg Materials has deployed digital twin technologies across global plants, achieving up to 15 per cent increases in production efficiency and 20 per cent reductions in energy consumption by leveraging real-time analytics and predictive algorithms.
Holcim’s Siggenthal plant in Switzerland piloted AI controllers that autonomously adjusted kiln operations, boosting throughput while reducing specific energy consumption and emissions.
Cemex, through its AI and predictive maintenance initiatives, improved kiln availability and reduced maintenance costs by predicting failures before they occurred. Global efforts also include AI process optimisation initiatives to reduce energy consumption and environmental impact.

Challenges and the road ahead
Despite these advances, digitalisation in cement grinding faces challenges. Legacy equipment may lack sensor readiness, requiring retrofits and edge-cloud connectivity upgrades. Data governance and integration across plants and systems remains a barrier for many mid-tier producers. Yet, digital transformation statistics show momentum: more than half of cement companies have implemented IoT sensors for equipment monitoring, and digital twin adoption is growing rapidly as part of broader Industry 4.0 strategies.
Furthermore, as digital systems mature, they increasingly support sustainability goals: reduced energy use, optimised media consumption and lower greenhouse gas emissions. By embedding intelligence into grinding circuits and material inputs like grinding aids, cement manufacturers can strike a balance between efficiency and environmental stewardship.
Conclusion
Digitalisation is not merely an add-on to cement manufacturing. It is reshaping the competitive and sustainability landscape of an industry often perceived as inertia-bound. With grinding representing a nexus of energy intensity and cost, digital technologies from sensor networks and predictive analytics to digital twins offer new levers of control. When paired with innovations in grinding media and grinding aids, particularly those with embedded digital capabilities, plants can achieve unprecedented gains in efficiency, predictability and performance.
For global cement producers aiming to reduce costs and carbon footprints simultaneously, the future belongs to those who harness digital intelligence not just to monitor operations, but to optimise and evolve them continuously.

About the author:
Professor Procyon Mukherjee, ex-CPO Lafarge-Holcim India, ex-President Hindalco, ex-VP Supply Chain Novelis Europe, has been an industry leader in logistics, procurement, operations and supply chain management. His career spans 38 years starting from Philips, Alcan Inc (Indian Aluminum Company), Hindalco, Novelis and Holcim. He authored the book, ‘The Search for Value in Supply Chains’. He serves now as Visiting Professor in SP Jain Global, SIOM and as the Adjunct Professor at SBUP. He advises leading Global Firms including Consulting firms on SCM and Industrial Leadership and is a subject matter expert in aluminum and cement. An Alumnus of IIM Calcutta and Jadavpur University, he has completed the LH Senior Leadership Programme at IVEY Academy at Western University, Canada.

Concrete

Digital Pathways for Sustainable Manufacturing

Published

23 hours ago

February 20, 2026

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Dr Y Chandri Naidu, Chief Technology Officer, Nextcem Consulting highlights how digital technologies are enabling Indian cement plants to improve efficiency, reduce emissions, and transition toward sustainable, low-carbon manufacturing.

Cement manufacturing is inherently resource- and energy-intensive due to high-temperature clinkerisation and extensive material handling and grinding operations. In India, where cement demand continues to grow in line with infrastructure development, producers must balance capacity expansion with sustainability commitments. Energy costs constitute a major share of operating expenditure, while process-related carbon dioxide emissions from limestone calcination remain unavoidable.
Traditional optimisation approaches, which are largely dependent on operator experience, static control logic and offline laboratory analysis, have reached their practical limits. This is especially evident when higher levels of alternative fuel and raw materials (AFR) are introduced or when raw material variability increases.
Digital technologies provide a systematic pathway to manage this complexity by enabling
real-time monitoring, predictive optimisation and integrated decision-making across cement manufacturing operations.
Digital cement manufacturing is enabled through a layered architecture integrating operational technology (OT) and information technology (IT). At the base are plant instrumentation, analysers, and automation systems, which generate continuous process data. This data is contextualised and analysed using advanced analytics and AI platforms, enabling predictive and prescriptive insights for operators and management.

Digital optimisation of energy efficiency

Thermal energy optimisation
The kiln and calciner system accounts for approximately 60 per cent to 65 per cent of total energy consumption in an integrated cement plant. Digital optimisation focuses on reducing specific thermal energy consumption (STEC) while maintaining clinker quality and operational stability.
Advanced Process Control (APC) stabilises critical parameters such as burning zone temperature, oxygen concentration, kiln feed rate and calciner residence time. By minimising process variability, APC reduces the need for conservative over-firing. Artificial intelligence further enhances optimisation by learning nonlinear relationships between raw mix chemistry, AFR characteristics, flame dynamics and heat consumption.
Digital twins of kiln systems allow engineers to simulate operational scenarios such as increased AFR substitution, altered burner momentum or changes in raw mix burnability without operational risk. Indian cement plants adopting these solutions typically report STEC reductions in the range of 2 per cent to 5 per cent.
Electrical energy optimisation
Electrical energy consumption in cement plants is dominated by grinding systems, fans and material transport equipment. Machine learning–based optimisation continuously adjusts mill parameters such as separator speed, grinding pressure and feed rate to minimise specific power consumption while maintaining product fineness.
Predictive maintenance analytics identify inefficiencies caused by wear, fouling or imbalance in fans and motors. Plants implementing plant-wide electrical energy optimisation typically achieve
3 per cent to 7 per cent reduction in specific power consumption, contributing to both cost savings and indirect CO2 reduction.

Digital enablement of AFR
AFR challenges in the Indian context: Indian cement plants increasingly utilise biomass, refuse-derived fuel (RDF), plastic waste and industrial by-products. However, variability in calorific value, moisture, particle size, chlorine and sulphur content introduces combustion instability, build-up formation and emission risks.
Digital AFR management: Digital platforms integrate real-time AFR quality data from online analysers with historical kiln performance data. Machine learning models predict combustion behaviour, flame stability and emission trends for different AFR combinations. Based on these predictions, fuel feed distribution, primary and secondary air ratios, and burner momentum are dynamically adjusted to ensure stable kiln operation. Digitally enabled AFR management in cement plants will result in increased thermal substitution rates by 5-15 percentage points, reduced fossil fuel dependency, and improved kiln stability.

Digital resource and raw material optimisation
Raw mix control: Raw material variability directly affects kiln operation and clinker quality. AI-driven raw mix optimisation systems continuously adjust feed proportions to maintain target chemical parameters such as Lime Saturation Factor (LSF), Silica Modulus (SM), and Alumina Modulus (AM). This reduces corrective material usage and improves kiln thermal efficiency.
Clinker factor reduction: Reducing clinker factor through supplementary cementitious materials (SCMs) such as fly ash, slag and calcined clay is a key decarbonisation lever. Digital models simulate blended cement performance, enabling optimisation of SCM proportions while maintaining strength and durability requirements.

Challenges and strategies for digital adoption
Key challenges in Indian cement plants include data quality limitations due to legacy instrumentation, resistance to algorithm-based decision-making, integration complexity across multiple OEM systems, and site-specific variability in raw materials and fuels.
Successful digital transformation requires strengthening the data foundation, prioritising high-impact use cases such as kiln APC and energy optimisation, adopting a human-in-the-loop approach, and deploying modular, scalable digital platforms with cybersecurity by design.

Future Outlook
Future digital cement plants will evolve toward autonomous optimisation, real-time carbon intensity tracking, and integration with emerging decarbonisation technologies such as carbon capture, utilisation and storage (CCUS). Digital platforms will also support ESG reporting and regulatory compliance.
Digital pathways offer a practical and scalable solution for sustainable cement manufacturing in India. By optimising energy consumption, enabling higher AFR substitution and improving resource efficiency, digital technologies deliver measurable environmental and economic benefits. With appropriate data infrastructure, organisational alignment and phased implementation, digital transformation will remain central to the Indian cement industry’s low-carbon transition.

About the author:
Dr Y Chandri Naidu is a cement industry professional with 30+ years of experience in process optimisation, quality control and quality assistance, energy conservation and sustainable manufacturing, across leading organisations including NCB, Ramco, Prism, Ultratech, HIL, NCL and Vedanta. He is known for guiding teams, developing innovative plant solutions and promoting environmentally responsible cement production. He is also passionate about mentoring professionals and advancing durable, resource efficient technologies for future of construction materials.

Concrete

Turning Downtime into Actionable Intelligence

Published

2 days ago

February 19, 2026

admin

Stoppage Insights instantly identifies root causes and maps their full operational impact.

In cement, mining and minerals processing operations, every unplanned stoppage equals lost production and reduced profitability. Yet identifying what caused a stoppage remains frustratingly complex. A single motor failure can trigger cascading interlocks and alarm floods, burying the root cause under layers of secondary events. Operators and maintenance teams waste valuable time tracing event chains when they should be solving problems. Until now.
Our latest innovation to our ECS Process Control Solution(1) eliminates this complexity. Stoppage Insights, available with the combined updates to our ECS/ControlCenter™ (ECS) software and ACESYS programming library, transforms stoppage events into clear, actionable intelligence. The system automatically identifies the root cause of every stoppage – whether triggered by alarms, interlocks, or operator actions – and maps all affected equipment. Operators can click any stopped motor’s faceplate to view what caused the shutdown instantly. The Stoppage UI provides a complete record of all stoppages with drill-down capabilities, replacing manual investigation with immediate answers.

Understanding root cause in Stoppage Insights
In Stoppage Insights, ‘root cause’ refers to the first alarm, interlock, or operator action detected by the control system. While this may not reveal the underlying mechanical, electrical or process failure that a maintenance team may later discover, it provides an actionable starting point for rapid troubleshooting and response. And this is where Stoppage Insights steps ahead of traditional first-out alarm systems (ISA 18.2). In this older type of system, the first alarm is identified in a group. This is useful, but limited, as it doesn’t show the complete cascade of events, distinguish between operator-initiated and alarm-triggered stoppages, or map downstream impacts. In contrast, Stoppage Insights provides complete transparency:

Comprehensive capture: Records both regular operator stops and alarm-triggered shutdowns.
Complete impact visibility: Maps all affected equipment automatically.
Contextual clarity: Eliminates manual tracing through alarm floods, saving critical response time.

David Campain, Global Product Manager for Process Control Systems, says, “Stoppage Insights takes fault analysis to the next level. Operators and maintenance engineers no longer need to trace complex event chains. They see the root cause clearly and can respond quickly.”

Driving results
1.Driving results for operations teams
Stoppage Insights maximises clarity to minimise downtime, enabling operators to:
• Rapidly identify root causes to shorten recovery time.
• View initiating events and all affected units in one intuitive interface.
• Access complete records of both planned and unplanned stoppages

Driving results for maintenance and reliability teams
Stoppage Insights helps prioritise work based on evidence, not guesswork:
• Access structured stoppage data for reliability programmes.
• Replace manual logging with automated, exportable records for CMMS, ERP or MES.(2)
• Identify recurring issues and target preventive maintenance effectively.
A future-proof and cybersecure foundation
Our Stoppage Insights feature is built on the latest (version 9) update to our ACESYS advanced programming library. This industry-leading solution lies at the heart of the ECS process control system. Its structured approach enables fast engineering and consistent control logic across hardware platforms from Siemens, Schneider, Rockwell, and others.
In addition to powering Stoppage Insights, ACESYS v9 positions the ECS system for open, interoperable architectures and future-proof automation. The same structured data used by Stoppage Insights supports AI-driven process control, providing the foundation for machine learning models and advanced analytics.
The latest releases also respond to the growing risk of cyberattacks on industrial operational technology (OT) infrastructure, delivering robust cybersecurity. The latest ECS software update (version 9.2) is certified to IEC 62443-4-1 international cybersecurity standards, protecting your process operations and reducing system vulnerability.

What’s available now and what’s coming next?
The ECS/ControlCenter 9.2 and ACESYS 9 updates, featuring Stoppage Insights, are available now for:

Greenfield projects.
ECS system upgrades.
Brownfield replacement of competitor systems.
Stoppage Insights will also soon integrate with our ECS/UptimeGo downtime analysis software. Stoppage records, including root cause identification and affected equipment, will flow seamlessly into UptimeGo for advanced analytics, trending and long-term reliability reporting. This integration creates a complete ecosystem for managing and improving plant uptime.

(1) The ECS Process Control Solution for cement, mining and minerals processing combines proven control strategies with modern automation architecture to optimise plant performance, reduce downtime and support operational excellence.
(2) CMMS refers to computerised maintenance management systems; ERP, to enterprise resource planning; and MES to manufacturing execution systems.