Concrete
Cement grinding capacity expansion
Published
4 years agoon
By
admin
Split location of a plant is an accepted concept. It is an easy route to add capacities where market exists. Shreekant Datar, who has wide experience of handling projects in multinational companies, shares details of one such case.
ABC Cement is a 10-year old cement manufacturing company. The plant started with a clinkering capacity of 1 MTPA, i.e., around 3,000 MT per day. Over the years, as the demand for cement grew, the plant has undertaken upgradation work in phases every year, and after all debottlenecking, the plant has stabilised with a clinker production capacity of 4,000 MT per day. This amounts to an excess clinker availability of 1,000 MT per day. All other plant capacities have reached their peak levels and finding a proper time for maintenance of equipment to ensure availability, has become a problem for the management. The management is forced to curtail the production to avoid overproduction of clinker as storage is a big limitation. The top management team has been mulling over an idea of investing some capital to enhance the capacities as market is growing at 8 to 10 per cent per annum. The management also thinks that this expansion will help in:
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retaining their market share as other players in the region are trying to take a slice of market, and
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maintaining cost effectiveness and competitiveness.
The existing cement plant has no space for expansion and management has thought to put up a plant away from clinkering unit. Questions that arose was, ??here do we put up this unit?? Since it required a thorough study before taking any further decision and a project team was made and they were given the task of formulating this plant project. The team consisted of personnel from technical, financial, legal and marketing department. The technical person heading it was the most senior and had back up experience of installing a project.
How did the project team work?
They prepared a project charter which was somewhat like this:
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Objective: To enhance cement grinding capacity and liquidate 1000 MT of excess clinker
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Project steps
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Find a suitable location
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List down all the necessary statutory requirements of government to be filled in.
Hire a consultant to understand and arrive at the overall requirements of project like technology selection, working out area requirements, capital cost involved, operating costs, logistics cost and finally the financial feasibility
Two teams were formed in which one worked on technical proposal and second on the location and market perspective.
Main equipment
Technical concept
The proposed plant should be a grinding unit with packing facility. It should be for making blended cement like fly ash based PPC or slag-based cement. Clinker to be handled by road by trucks. The cement despatch to be handled by road. The control systems shall be PLC/DCS based and remote control, with lowest manpower is possible.
The technology available for grinding is:
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Closed circuit ball mill system
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A vertical roller mill system
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A combined roller press and ball mill system
Required capacity is 1,550 TPD or 5.11 LTPA. (0.5 million TPA). After a lot of deliberation with consultant and internal team, it was decided to adopt a 75 TPH roll press + ball mill system technology. The advantages seen with this were a good and consistent surface (Blaine) generation, which the market valued and flexibility to use either fly ash or other additives in future.
Plant layout: In line process equipment and storage with provision for similar second line
Total plant area required: About 20 acres
Overall timeframe for project
1. Land procurement ??six months
2. Statutory approvals ??10 months after land procurement
3. Engineering ??three months after statutory approval
4. Procurement and delivery ??eight months after first critical order
5. Detailed engineering and construction ??eight months after two months of critical equipment ordering
6. Commissioning ??one month
Total ??30 months from start of land procurement. It was noted that this can be shortened by about six months if land procurement is expedited and some engineering work is done before necessary statutory clearances are obtained.
Location finalisation
To begin with, a brainstorming was carried out and it was zeroed on following characteristics:
1) The location should be close to our market place
2) The location should be within 500 km distance from main plant
3) Should have land availability at a reasonable price
4) Should have infrastructure like roads, railway, electricity source, water source, a reasonably big town for housing the operating personnel
5) Availability of trucks for final product transfer
6) The location should be close to an additives source
Considering the above factors, a land parcel of 22 acres was available close to a power plant and clinkering unit. This was a private agricultural land.
Land procurement
The land team verified following land characteristics
1. There are no man settlements or natural waterbodies with in arial radius of 2.0 km
2. The nearest highway is within 5 km of location
3. The railway station is with in 10 km
4. Airport is within 100 km
5. Electrical substation for power sourcing is within 5 km range
6. Water source(borewell) is available in the finalised land
7. An inhabitable township is within 30 to 50 km radius. This would help in housing the families of staff working in the area.
8. The political situation and people?? attitude towards Industry was assessed
9. The land parcels have no encumbrances and are free of any litigation. All the documents of the land lineage for 20 years were checked. Wherever mutations were pending they were done quickly with the help of Gram Panchayat and Tehsil office.
The team did a wonderful job of developing good relationship with influential and in power people and manged to procure land with reasonable price and applied for conversion of agricultural land to non-agricultural category with local district authorities. After winning confidence of local Gram Panchayat officials and the influential persons in the area, NA was obtained with in six months, i.e. a saving of four months in execution time.
Statutory clearances
The following were essential ones for starting the project
1. Register project with the district Industrial Development Corporation
2. Apply for environmental clearance from MOEF (essential for clinker grinding)
3. Engage environmental consultants to establish the TOR and furnish for EC
4. Meetings were held with the concerned officials and EC was obtained six months period
5. Application was made to State pollution control board and consent to establish a plant was obtained in three months. Hence a saving of one more month in execution.
6. Application was made to Electricity Board for getting power connection. All clearances were available and the liaison team developed good relationships. The board agreed to provide connection with in six months. They also agreed to provide construction power from a nearby agricultural line.
7. Other local clearances like those from Gram Panchayat were obtained along with above activities.
8. Further clearances necessary like factories inspectorate, electrical inspectorate, town planning, etc. were listed, scheduled and completed very religiously
Procurement and Engineering
Tenders were prepared with the help of engineering consultants and floated to prospective vendors in a month after obtaining the consent to establish with efforts by engineering team. Important conditions in the tender were:
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The battery limits for supply, engineering deliverable were very critically set to ensure that there are no grey areas and miss outs
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The core equipment load data and GA drawings will be furnished within two months
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Complete system engineering and layout with in battery limit to be done by suppliers
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The engineering data furnishing and deliveries were fully aligned with project execution requirements and payment terms were purely based on these outputs.
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Separate tender committee was formed under existing purchase department and equipment ordering was done quickly in three months??time from getting the Consent to Establish from pollution control board.
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In due course, contracts were made and agencies for execution of civil, mechanical and E&I work were released after some engineering outputs were received.
Project management
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A core team of six persons (project manager, planner, process engineering, mechanical engineering, drawing and design and E&I engineering)
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Review of drawings was made by sitting together by above team as a conference and a quick review and progress of drawings was made possible.
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Whole project execution plan was made using project planning software like MS project and monitored closely by above team. Alarms were incorporated in way of Flags and milestones. This would act as an early warning system for both time and cost matters.
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Regular visits were undertaken to debottleneck and expedite consultant?? drawing output.
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The floor areas of multi-storeyed building were critically examined and areas were optimised, which lead to a saving 5 per cent cost of such buildings in normal course
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All statutory requirements of factories Inspectorate with respect to safety,
Site management
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A team of dedicated engineers with experience in construction work as well as operation was made and placed at site under an able project leader who had a record of executing five such projects
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The team made following arrangements before moving to site:
1. Locate a good hotel and make arrangements for stay
2. A local conveyance agency engaged for necessary vehicles
3. Doctors were identified
4. Good houses were identified for staff to stay
5. A bachelor?? accommodation with mess was tied up to begin with
6. Container offices were arranged for site work
7. Genset agency was hired for site power
8. Internet facility was tied up with a service provider
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The team made SOP?? for ensuring timely and correct inputs to contractor?? to ensure deliverance of a good quality in defined time limits based on their past experience and following are some of the important matters they incorporated.
1. Strict discipline to be followed to ensure only latest drawing is issued and used at site by exercising control to withdraw old drawings and stamp them as superseded. Give a regular communication to contractors and engineers as soon as a new version has been received. In some projects new drawings have been issued after construction was done which lead to serious re-working.
2. The area cleaning and grading was done based on the contour survey to optimise excavation and fillings. The plant lay out was suitably adjusted to ensure water flow out in natural slope direction. Slightly hilly area was not erased but some structures requiring elevation, like in case of clinker unloading tippler was placed there. Plant roads were laid and worked up to WBM level to ensure easy movement of vehicles during execution of project. Temporary drains were created to ensure no water logging during rains. Cross over pipes were laid in pre-defined way to ensure passage of cables during the construction.
3. The foundation designs were reviewed and corrected, based on the strata actually observed during excavations. This helped in reducing depths of certain structures like clinker silos
4. Areas for storage of equipment, steel fabrication, contractor?? office were so planned and established so that there is least interference in peak project period. It also helped in keeping project site neat and clean.
5. Discipline was inculcated to remove dirt and scrap on daily/weekly basis
6. Labour colonies were constructed using ready made structures and allocated to contractors for their labour housing just outside the plant area. Water and electricity arrangements were made but limits on consumption were laid and recovery made from contractors. This helped in reducing labour turnover in holidays and keep them in a healthy spirit.
7. Strict adherence to QAP?? for all construction activities and front release for next work was done very religiously to ensure smooth continuity and reduce re-working and time loss to minimum.
8. Payments were done to contractor on the bases of % work completed against plan and not only on random quantities presented. This was based on microplanning on weekly basis with contractors and regular monitoring to keep the project on course as desired.
9. Monthly meetings with contractor?? project head from their main offices were held at site and problems were troubleshot to achieve the rate of progress and be on the defined time course.
Commissioning
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The operations team was inducted about four months before the commissioning so that hey get familiarised with the plan, documentation and also were encouraged to come out with suggestion for convenience and unhindered operability.
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The pre-commissioning checklists were prepared by the commissioning team and religiously implemented to ensure a plant run at: ONE GO
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After the team worked so hard and dedication the plant got commissioned and went on production stream with in four weeks of commissioning. Least problems were faced due strict quality adherence at each stage and extensive pre-commissioning checks.
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In this period, consent to operate was applied for with Pollution Control Board and same was obtained in time to declare commercial production.
Hence it can be concluded that with a great team, planning and dedication, it was possible to complete half a MTPA capcity cement grinding unit in 26 months from the idea was frozen by top management team. Some of the points enumerated above may be of use to some one planning a project and I am sure; it can be improved further. There is always a scope for improvement.
Shreekant Datar
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Shreekant Datar is a mechanical engineer with 37 years experience in the cement industry. Out of which, he has 20 plus years experience in projects with organisations like ACC, UltraTech Cement and Indiabulls. He has international exposure of projects in Nigeria in the capacity as project management consultant. Presently, he is a freelance consultant on cement projects. He can be reached at: datarsv12@gmail.com.
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Concrete
Adani’s Strategic Emergence in India’s Cement Landscape
Published
5 days agoon
September 16, 2025By
admin
Milind Khangan, Marketing Head, Vertex Market Research, sheds light on Adani’s rapid cement consolidation under its ‘One Business, One Company’ strategy while positioning it to rival UltraTech, and thus, shaping a potential duopoly in India’s booming cement market.
India is the second-largest cement-producing country in the world, following China. This expansion is being driven by tremendous public investment in the housing and infrastructure sectors. The industry is accelerating, with a boost from schemes such as PM Gati Shakti, Bharatmala, and the Vande Bharat corridors. An upsurge in affordable housing under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY) further supports this expansion. In May 2025, local cement production increased about 9 per cent from last year to about 40 million metric tonnes for the month. The combined cement capacity in India was recorded at 670 million metric tonnes in the 2025 fiscal year, according to the Cement Manufacturers’ Association (CMA). For the financial year 2026, this is set to grow by another 9 per cent.
In spite of the growing demand, the Indian cement industry is highly competitive. UltraTech Cement (Aditya Birla Group) is still the market leader with domestic installed capacity of more than 186 MTPA as on 2025. It is targeted to achieve 200 MTPA. Adani Cement recently became a major player and is now India’s second-largest cement company. It did this through aggressive consolidation, operational synergies, and scale efficiencies. Indian players in the cement industry are increasingly valuing operational efficiency and sustainability. Some of the strategies with high impact are alternative fuels and materials (AFR) adoption, green cement expansion, and digital technology investments to offset changing regulatory pressure and increasing energy prices.
Building Adani Cement brand
Vertex Market Research explains that the Adani Group is executing a comprehensive reorganisation and consolidation of its cement business under the ‘One Business, One Company’ strategy. The plan is to integrate its diversified holdings into one consolidated corporate entity named Adani Cement. The focus is on operating integration, governance streamlining, and cost reduction in its expanding cement business.
Integration roadmap and key milestones:
- September 2022: The consolidation process started with the $6.4 billion buyout of Holcim’s majority stakes in Ambuja Cements and ACC, with Ambuja becoming the focal point of the consolidation.
- December 2023: Bought Sanghi Industries to strengthen the firm’s presence in western India.
- August 2024: Added Penna Cement to the portfolio, improving penetration of the southern market of India.
- April 2025: Further holding addition in Orient Cement to 46.66 per cent by purchasing the same from CK Birla Group, becoming the promoter with control.
- Ambuja Cements amalgamated with Adani Cement: This was sanctioned by the NCLT on 18th July 2025 with effect from April 1, 2024. This amalgamation brings in limestone reserves and fresh assets into Ambuja.
- Subject to Sanghi and Penna merger with Ambuja: Board approvals in December 2024 with the aim to finish between September to December 2025.
- Ambuja-ACC future integration: The latter is being contemplated as the final step towards consolidation.
- Orient Cement: It would serve as a principal manufacturing facility following the merger.
Scale, capacity expansion and market position
In financial year-2025, Adani Cement, including Ambuja, surpassed 100 MTPA. This makes it one of the world’s top ten cement companies. Along with ACC’s operations, it is now firmly placed as India’s second-largest cement company. In FY25, the Adani group’s sales volume per annum clocked 65 million metric tonnes. Adani Group claims that it now supplies close to 30 per cent of the cement consumed in India’s homes and infrastructure as of June 2025.
The organisation is pursuing aggressive brownfield expansion:
- By FY 2026: Reach 118 MTPA
- By FY 2028: Target 140 MTPA
These goals will be driven by commissioning new clinker and grinding units at key sites, with civil and mechanical works underway.
As of 2024, Adani Cement had its market share pegged at around 14 to 15 per cent, with an ambition to scale this up to 20 per cent by FY?2028, emerging as a potent competitor to UltraTech’s 192?MTPA capacity (186 domestic and overseas).
Strategic advantages and competitive benefits
The consolidation simplifies decision-making by reducing legal entities, centralising oversight, and removing redundant functions. This drives compliance efficiency and transparent reporting. Using procurement power for raw materials and energy lowers costs per ton. Integrated logistics with Adani Ports and freight infrastructure has resulted in an estimated 6 per cent savings in logistics. The group aims for additional savings of INR 500 to 550 per tonne by FY 2028 by integrating green energy, using alternative fuel resources, and improving sourcing methods.
Market coverage and brand consistency
Brand integration under one strategy will provide uniform product quality and easier distribution networks. Integration with Orient Cement’s dealer base, 60 per cent of which already distributes Ambuja/ACC products, enhances outreach and responsiveness.
By having captive limestone reserves at Lakhpat (approximately 275 million tonnes) and proposed new manufacturing facilities in Raigad, Maharashtra, Adani Cement derives cost advantage, raw material security, and long-term operational robustness.
Strategic implications and risks
Consolidation at Adani Cement makes it not just a capacity leader but also an operationally agile competitor with the ability to reap digital and sustainability benefits. Its vertically integrated platform enables cost leadership, market responsiveness, and scalability.
Challenges potentially include:
- Integration challenges across systems, corporate cultures, and plant operations
- Regulatory sanctions for pending mergers and new capacity additions
- Environmental clearances in environmentally sensitive areas and debt management with input price volatility
When materialised, this revolution would create a formidable Adani–UltraTech duopoly, redefining Indian cement on the basis of scale, innovation, and sustainability. India’s leading four cement players such as Adani (ACC and Ambuja), Dalmia Cement, Shree Cement, and UltraTech are expected to dominate the cement market.
Conclusion
Adani’s aggressive consolidation under the ‘One Business, One Company’ strategy signals a decisive shift in the Indian cement industry, positioning the group as a formidable challenger to UltraTech and setting the stage for a potential duopoly that could dominate the sector for years to come. By unifying operations, leveraging economies of scale, and securing vertical integration—from raw material reserves to distribution networks—Adani Cement is building both capacity and resilience, with clear advantages in cost efficiency, market reach, and sustainability. While integration complexities, regulatory hurdles, and environmental approvals remain key challenges, the scale and strategic alignment of this consolidation promise to redefine competition, pricing dynamics, and operational benchmarks in one of the world’s fastest-growing cement markets.
About the author:
Milind Khangan is the Marketing Head at Vertex Market Research and comes with over five years of experience in market research, lead generation and team management.
Concrete
Precision in Motion: A Deep Dive into PowerBuild’s Core Gear Series
Published
1 month agoon
August 16, 2025By
admin
PowerBuild’s flagship Series M, C, F, and K geared motors deliver robust, efficient, and versatile power transmission solutions for industries worldwide.
Products – M, C, F, K: At the heart of every high-performance industrial system lies the need for robust, reliable, and efficient power transmission. PowerBuild answers this need with its flagship geared motor series: M, C, F, and K. Each series is meticulously engineered to serve specific operational demands while maintaining the universal promise of durability, efficiency, and performance.
Series M – Helical Inline Geared Motors: Compact and powerful, the Series M delivers exceptional drive solutions for a broad range of applications. With power handling up to 160kW and torque capacity reaching 20,000 Nm, it is the trusted solution for industries requiring quiet operation, high efficiency, and space-saving design. Series M is available with multiple mounting and motor options, making it a versatile choice for manufacturers and OEMs globally.
Series C – Right Angled Heli-Worm Geared Motors: Combining the benefits of helical and worm gearing, the Series C is designed for right-angled power transmission. With gear ratios of up to 16,000:1 and torque capacities of up to 10,000 Nm, this series is optimal for applications demanding precision in compact spaces. Industries looking for a smooth, low-noise operation with maximum torque efficiency rely on Series C for dependable performance.
Series F – Parallel Shaft Mounted Geared Motors: Built for endurance in the most demanding environments, Series F is widely adopted in steel plants, hoists, cranes, and heavy-duty conveyors. Offering torque up to 10,000 Nm and high gear ratios up to 20,000:1, this product features an integral torque arm and diverse output configurations to meet industry-specific challenges head-on.
Series K – Right Angle Helical Bevel Geared Motors: For industries seeking high efficiency and torque-heavy performance, Series K is the answer. This right-angled geared motor series delivers torque up to 50,000 Nm, making it a preferred choice in core infrastructure sectors such as cement, power, mining, and material handling. Its flexibility in mounting and broad motor options offer engineers’ freedom in design and reliability in execution.
Together, these four series reflect PowerBuild’s commitment to excellence in mechanical power transmission. From compact inline designs to robust right-angle drives, each geared motor is a result of decades of engineering innovation, customer-focused design, and field-tested reliability. Whether the requirement is speed control, torque multiplication, or space efficiency, Radicon’s Series M, C, F, and K stand as trusted powerhouses for global industries.

Klüber Lubrication India’s Klübersynth GEM 4-320 N upgrades synthetic gear oil for energy efficiency.
Klüber Lubrication India has introduced a strategic upgrade for the tyre manufacturing industry by retrofitting its high-performance synthetic gear oil, Klübersynth GEM 4-320 N, into Barrel Cold Feed Extruder gearboxes. This smart substitution, requiring no hardware changes, delivered energy savings of 4-6 per cent, as validated by an internationally recognised energy audit firm under IPMVP – Option B protocols, aligned with
ISO 50015 standards.
Beyond energy efficiency, the retrofit significantly improved operational parameters:
- Lower thermal stress on equipment
- Extended lubricant drain intervals
- Reduction in CO2 emissions and operational costs
These benefits position Klübersynth GEM 4-320 N as a powerful enabler of sustainability goals in line with India’s Business Responsibility and Sustainability Reporting (BRSR) guidelines and global Net Zero commitments.
Verified sustainability, zero compromise
This retrofit case illustrates that meaningful environmental impact doesn’t always require capital-intensive overhauls. Klübersynth GEM 4-320 N demonstrated high performance in demanding operating environments, offering:
- Enhanced component protection
- Extended oil life under high loads
- Stable performance across fluctuating temperatures
By enabling quick wins in efficiency and sustainability without disrupting operations, Klüber reinforces its role as a trusted partner in India’s evolving industrial landscape.
Klüber wins EcoVadis Gold again
Further affirming its global leadership in responsible business practices, Klüber Lubrication has been awarded the EcoVadis Gold certification for the fourth consecutive year in 2025. This recognition places it in the top three per cent
of over 150,000 companies worldwide evaluated for environmental, ethical and sustainable procurement practices.
Klüber’s ongoing investments in R&D and product innovation reflect its commitment to providing data-backed, application-specific lubrication solutions that exceed industry expectations and support long-term sustainability goals.
A trusted industrial ally
Backed by 90+ years of tribology expertise and a global support network, Klüber Lubrication is helping customers transition toward a greener tomorrow. With Klübersynth GEM 4-320 N, tyre manufacturers can take measurable, low-risk steps to boost energy efficiency and regulatory alignment—proving that even the smallest change can spark a significant transformation.

Adani’s Strategic Emergence in India’s Cement Landscape

Precision in Motion: A Deep Dive into PowerBuild’s Core Gear Series

Driving Measurable Gains

Reshaping the Competitive Landscape

CCU testbeds in Tamil Nadu

Adani’s Strategic Emergence in India’s Cement Landscape

Precision in Motion: A Deep Dive into PowerBuild’s Core Gear Series

Driving Measurable Gains

Reshaping the Competitive Landscape
