Concrete

Increasing productivity

Published

4 years ago

December 21, 2021

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UCWL’s trials and use of grinding aids have been focused on towards increasing strength and output.

UCWL’s trials and use of grinding aids have been focused on towards increasing strength and output. The company believes that cement companies embracing the power of analytics and Industry 4.0 will earn a competitive advantage and build resilience.

Cement is the key material that is institutional to any future vision for growth and development of a nation. Being the second largest cement industry in the world, Indian cement industry stands at around total installed capacity of around 550 million tonne. It is one of the eight core manufacturing sectors that are considered by government for analysis of the Index of Industrial Production (IIP) of the country.

As India has a good quantity and quality of limestone deposits throughout the country, it provides for huge potential of growth in the cement industry w.r.t the growing demand in building infrastructure of the country. It is one of the most energy efficient industry around the world. According to National Council for Cement and Building Materials (NCBM), about 99 percent of capacity in the industry in India, based on latest dry technology and has state of art grinding systems installed with higher capacities and efficiency.

By the start of third quarter – FY 2022, as the Nation reached the 100 billion mark of vaccination coverage across the country, more confidence has been observed in the market w.r.t the demand of cement. Earlier, upon re-opening of markets, demand was mostly driven by state government projects in areas such as schools, roads and affordable housing and tier 1 and tier 2 cities. Now with the restart of infrastructure projects this growing consumption of cement can led to the pent-up demand translating into higher utilisations of capacities.

However, the only major issue at present is trend of rising prices of fuel since last two quarters, that have translated into serious concern for the cement manufacturers. The fuel related concern that has arisen out of multiple issue factoring in like, rising prices of crude oil in the international markets, non-timely payments in the supply chain systems that includes state governments, discoms and power generators, etc. This has a direct impact on the operating leverages of the energy intensive industries, resulting in increase in production cost of cement that is yet could not be successfully transferred to the consumer. Some other impacts of the rising fuel scenario include-factors like, increase in freight charges and cost of electricity.

At Udaipur Cement Works (UCWL), we have been exploring options through optimising process to maximum possible levels. In addition to conventional methodology of improving operational efficiencies we are also working on other key levers of cost like logistics and especially inventory management systems such as – just in time (JIT) along with material requirement planning and day sale inventory, etc. that allows company to save significant amounts of money and reduce wastage by keeping only the inventory they need to produce and sell products. This approach reduces storage and insurance costs, as well as the cost of liquidating or discarding excess inventory, however the system comes with a risk.

Cement Grinding

Operational Understanding

Cement grinding is the second to last major stage in the process of cement manufacturing, where the feed materials are reduced in size from several centimetres in diameter, down to less than 100 microns. This is accomplished by grinding, with the use of milling machines and equipment setup, such as ball mills, vertical roller mills, roller press mills, etc. The present system of cement grinding has become quite efficient, especially in terms of energy consumed and productivity. The energy, consumption per ton of cement product grinding is based on various factors, such as –

Type of grinding technology installed (ball mill, roller mill or roller press, etc.),
Process control parameters like Filling of ball mill chambers, piece weights for VRPM and roller press, mill inlet draft, energy consumption by separator fans, separator efficiency, bag filter energy consumption, etc.
Quality of material feed- chemical composition of clinker, hardness of clinker, fineness of blended materials, moisture content in the material, etc.

We at UCWL have focused diligently on our cement grinding process, with specific optimisation of process parameters along with energy consumption. Our specific energy consumption w.r.t cement grinding for blended cement stands better than the industry average.

Economic Understanding

Large integrated cement plants are established near the limestone reserves, which is the key raw material. But these reserves are localised to certain regions across the country’s geographical area. Hence in view of tapping on the demand of cement in different locations other than the cement manufacturing clusters, the concept of standalone grinding came into existence. Cement griding being independent of the clinker manufacturing process, provides flexibility of setting up grinding units anywhere, subject to the overall cost benefit analysis. The only dependency it has is in terms of major raw material i.e. clinker., which is met through supplying clinker from integrated unit via rail or road. So, most of the grinding units are strategically set up near a major cement consumption centre to capture the market demand, factoring in the basic key aspects like-

Maximum market coverage.
Quick and fast absorption of demand.
Reasonable vicinity to source of blending materials like fly ash, slag, gypsum, etc.
Increasing footprint of the company.

Drivers of cement grinding process

Grinding Technology

At UCWL, we understand the crucial science behind quality cement and concrete. The most important properties of cement, such as strength and workability, are affected by its specific surface fineness and particle-size distribution. These can be modified to some extent by the equipment used in the grinding circuit, particularly type of separator. including its configuration and control.

Considering grinding technology, at present there are various technologies available. The most common and widely used is Ball mill. Ball mills were first introduced way back in the1860’s, the main progress was made during the 1870’s to 1900’s in Europe (Germany), where the growing cement manufacturing and other industries demanded for finer grinding equipment and machines. Present Ball mill is a horizontal cylinder that’s partially filled with high-chrome steel balls (generally called grinding media) of suitable dimensions that rotates on its axis imparting a tumbling and cascading action to the grinding media. Material is fed through the mill inlet and initially crushed by impact forces and then ground finer by attrition (chipping and abrasion) forces between the balls.

Another efficient technology based on size reduction of many particles by compression of the particle bed using high pressure grinding rollers, were introduced in late 1970s and early 1980’s. Being implemented as pre-crusher and installed with ball mill close circuit and high efficiency separators made them high output and low energy consuming setup.

In addition to the ball mills and roller mills, another basic grinding method is use of high-pressure grinding rolls (HPGR). The material between the rolls is submitted to a very high pressure ranging from 100 to 200 MPa, griding the material by developing cracks. The comminution efficiency of a HPGR is considered better than ball mills such that it consumes only 30–50 percent of the specific energy as compared to a ball mill and is generally used as pre-grinder mill with ball mill closed circuit.

Grinding aids

The most significant development for the cement industry in view of grinding, started way back in year 1931, when an attempt was made in United States to mix carbon black in concrete to make a darker middle lane on US route 1, in Avon for passing*.

Since then, there have been various studies that has led to successful implementation of Grinding additives in the cement grinding for different purposes, such as- optimising and increasing productivity through mills, increasing strength of cement product, etc. The working of grinding aids includes principles such as- preventing agglomeration of cement particles caused by development of electrostatic charge, increasing reactivity through formation of complex, reducing surface energy of clinker, etc.

Grinding aids are common cement additives. They generally consist of several different types of compounds such as glycols, alkanolamines, or phenolic compounds. They are fed into the grinding mill mostly along with the material feed. Based on its type they are both solid and liquid in nature. In cement Industry they are mostly liquid and sprayed or poured over the feeding belt of grinding mills for better effectiveness.

At UCWL, being committed to our agenda of continual improvement and delivering research based superior quality product to our customers, we have been continuously conducting trials with multiple grinding aids. The methodology of adding grinding aids in grinding mills starts with defined objective and planned route of action, such as:

Step -1 Identifying objective for use of griding aid

Step -2 Lab based trials of Grinding aids

Step -3 Operational grinding mill trials of grinding aids

Steps-4 Cost based analysis in view of realisation of objective

Step-5 Continuation or Discontinuation of the griding additive under trial

UCWL’s trials and use of grinding aids have been focused on towards increasing strength and output. For which we conducted multiple trials as per our defined methodology. Details of some of the recent major trails conducted are given in the table below:

Mpa- Megapascal

The basic key parameters that were analysed as per the set objective were – One day strength, effect on IST/FST and workability, etc.

It is hence concluded by the trials that different types of grinding aids behave differently in each set of provided conditions, that includes the process parameters and most importantly the chemical and physical quality the raw materials fed. To our defined objective of increasing strength, certain grinding additives proved to be efficient. And however, some gave surprisingly opposite results of what was expected.

Indian cement industry has been using the grinding aids for different purposes over last many years. The aid not only helps to achieve the desired objectives but also leads to increase productivity, reducing energy consumption in grinding, lower maintenance of machines and equipment in the grinding circuit, etc.

Role of Analytics and AI/ML (Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning)

Technology embedded in ESG (environment, social and governance) related aspect for cement sector is the key to future of manufacturing, especially cement grinding. Cement grinding is the most sought section by the analytical agencies after the clinkerisation process in cement industry that allow better control and optimisation for gaining maximum efficiency.

Clinker grinding includes large share of the electrical energy consumed in a plant; hence the efficiency of grinding operations has a big influence on overall energy as well as product costs. Advanced process controls, fuelled with AI/ML powered by analytics and supported by grinding aids can optimise the grinding circuit to increase throughput and secure consistent output quality, while also lowering energy consumption.

Cement companies embracing the power of Analytics and the world of Industry 4.0, will no doubt earn a competitive advantage and build resilience.

Aspects such as deeper analysis of feeding rate w.r.t the quality of feed to grinding mill that in turn synchronised with further grinding circuit such as operation of bag house, classifier reject, regulating dosage of grinding aids, etc. need to be undertaken for improving system efficiencies. Advanced mathematical modelling based on AI/ML shall be incorporated to achieve the best results out of the established milling circuit.

With the optimistic projections of increasing demand in future, the cement sector eyes for a growth on sustainable fronts, maintaining its status as one of the most energy and resource efficient industry in its sector around the world using various measures including use of grinding aids.

ABOUT THE AUTHORS:

Naveen K. Sharma (Whole-time Director), Tushar Khandhadia (GM Production), Jitesh Singh Darmwal (Manager Sustainability), Manish Samdani (Asst. Manager-QC) from Udaipur Cement Works.

Concrete

Cement Demand Revives As Prices Decline In Q3 FY26

Nuvama reports improved volume growth after price correction

Published

2 days ago

February 24, 2026

admin

A report by Nuvama Financial Services (Nuvama) said cement sector demand revived in the third quarter of fiscal year twenty twenty six as prices declined, supporting volume growth across regions. The note indicated that sequential price correction helped replenish demand that had been subdued by elevated pricing earlier in the year. Nuvama quantified the price decline as a sequential correction that varied across states and segments, facilitating restocking by merchants and traders.

The report suggested that improved affordability after the price correction encouraged housing and infrastructure activity, with developers and contractors adjusting procurement plans. It added that regional dynamics varied, with some markets showing faster recovery while others remained reliant on seasonal construction cycles. Housing demand was driven by both affordable and mid segment projects, while infrastructure segment recovery was contingent on timely execution of public works.

Analysts at Nuvama assessed that the price moderation eased inventory pressures for manufacturers and distributors and supported margin stabilisation at several producers. Demand improvement was visible in both urban and rural segments, although the pace of recovery differed by state and trade channel. Producers were seen balancing price realisations with volume targets and managing input cost volatility through operational efficiencies.

The report recommended that investors monitor volumes and realisations closely as market equilibrium emerges in the coming quarters, noting that sustainability of recovery would depend on monsoon patterns and government infrastructure outlays. Overall, the assessment pointed to a cautiously optimistic outlook for the cement industry as price correction translated into tangible volume gains. Market participants were advised to track early signs of demand broadening beyond core construction hubs to assess the depth of the rebound.

Concrete

Refractory demands in our kiln have changed

Published

6 days ago

February 20, 2026

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Radha Singh, Senior Manager (P&Q), Shree Digvijay Cement, points out why performance, predictability and life-cycle value now matter more than routine replacement in cement kilns.

As Indian cement plants push for higher throughput, increased alternative fuel usage and tighter shutdown cycles, refractory performance in kilns and pyro-processing systems is under growing pressure. In this interview, Radha Singh, Senior Manager (P&Q), Shree Digvijay Cement, shares how refractory demands have evolved on the ground and how smarter digital monitoring is improving kiln stability, uptime and clinker quality.

How have refractory demands changed in your kiln and pyro-processing line over the last five years?
Over the last five years, refractory demands in our kiln and pyro line have changed. Earlier, the focus was mostly on standard grades and routine shutdown-based replacement. But now, because of higher production loads, more alternative fuels and raw materials (AFR) usage and greater temperature variation, the expectation from refractory has increased.
In our own case, the current kiln refractory has already completed around 1.5 years, which itself shows how much more we now rely on materials that can handle thermal shock, alkali attack and coating fluctuations. We have moved towards more stable, high-performance linings so that we don’t have to enter the kiln frequently for repairs.
Overall, the shift has been from just ‘installation and run’ to selecting refractories that give longer life, better coating behaviour and more predictable performance under tougher operating conditions.

What are the biggest refractory challenges in the preheater, calciner and cooler zones?
• Preheater: Coating instability, chloride/sulphur cycles and brick erosion.
• Calciner: AFR firing, thermal shock and alkali infiltration.
• Cooler: Severe abrasion, red-river formation and mechanical stress on linings.
Overall, the biggest challenge is maintaining lining stability under highly variable operating conditions.

How do you evaluate and select refractory partners for long-term performance?
In real plant conditions, we don’t select a refractory partner just by looking at price. First, we see their past performance in similar kilns and whether their material has actually survived our operating conditions. We also check how strong their technical support is during shutdowns, because installation quality matters as much as the material itself.
Another key point is how quickly they respond during breakdowns or hot spots. A good partner should be available on short notice. We also look at their failure analysis capability, whether they can explain why a lining failed and suggest improvements.
On top of this, we review the life they delivered in the last few campaigns, their supply reliability and their willingness to offer plant-specific custom solutions instead of generic grades. Only a partner who supports us throughout the life cycle, which includes selection, installation, monitoring and post-failure analysis, fits our long-term requirement.

Can you share a recent example where better refractory selection improved uptime or clinker quality?
Recently, we upgraded to a high-abrasion basic brick at the kiln outlet. Earlier we had frequent chipping and coating loss. With the new lining, thermal stability improved and the coating became much more stable. As a result, our shutdown interval increased and clinker quality remained more consistent. It had a direct impact on our uptime.

How is increased AFR use affecting refractory behaviour?
Increased AFR use is definitely putting more stress on the refractory. The biggest issue we see daily is the rise in chlorine, alkalis and volatiles, which directly attack the lining, especially in the calciner and kiln inlet. AFR firing is also not as stable as conventional fuel, so we face frequent temperature fluctuations, which cause more thermal shock and small cracks in the lining.
Another real problem is coating instability. Some days the coating builds too fast, other days it suddenly drops, and both conditions impact refractory life. We also notice more dust circulation and buildup inside the calciner whenever the AFR mix changes, which again increases erosion.
Because of these practical issues, we have started relying more on alkali-resistant, low-porosity and better thermal shock–resistant materials to handle the additional stress coming from AFR.

What role does digital monitoring or thermal profiling play in your refractory strategy?
Digital tools like kiln shell scanners, IR imaging and thermal profiling help us detect weakening areas much earlier. This reduces unplanned shutdowns, helps identify hotspots accurately and allows us to replace only the critical sections. Overall, our maintenance has shifted from reactive to predictive, improving lining life significantly.

How do you balance cost, durability and installation speed during refractory shutdowns?
We focus on three points:
• Material quality that suits our thermal profile and chemistry.
• Installation speed, in fast turnarounds, we prefer monolithic.
• Life-cycle cost—the cheapest material is not the most economical. We look at durability, future downtime and total cost of ownership.
This balance ensures reliable performance without unnecessary expenditure.

What refractory or pyro-processing innovations could transform Indian cement operations?
Some promising developments include:
• High-performance, low-porosity and nano-bonded refractories
• Precast modular linings to drastically reduce shutdown time
• AI-driven kiln thermal analytics
• Advanced coating management solutions
• More AFR-compatible refractory mixes

These innovations can significantly improve kiln stability, efficiency and maintenance planning across the industry.

Concrete

Digital supply chain visibility is critical

Published

6 days ago

February 20, 2026

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MSR Kali Prasad, Chief Digital and Information Officer, Shree Cement, discusses how data, discipline and scale are turning Industry 4.0 into everyday business reality.

Over the past five years, digitalisation in Indian cement manufacturing has moved decisively beyond experimentation. Today, it is a strategic lever for cost control, operational resilience and sustainability. In this interview, MSR Kali Prasad, Chief Digital and Information Officer, Shree Cement, explains how integrated digital foundations, advanced analytics and real-time visibility are helping deliver measurable business outcomes.

How has digitalisation moved from pilot projects to core strategy in Indian cement manufacturing over the past five years?
Digitalisation in Indian cement has evolved from isolated pilot initiatives into a core business strategy because outcomes are now measurable, repeatable and scalable. The key shift has been the move away from standalone solutions toward an integrated digital foundation built on standardised processes, governed data and enterprise platforms that can be deployed consistently across plants and functions.
At Shree Cement, this transition has been very pragmatic. The early phase focused on visibility through dashboards, reporting, and digitisation of critical workflows. Over time, this has progressed into enterprise-level analytics and decision support across manufacturing and the supply chain,
with clear outcomes in cost optimisation, margin protection and revenue improvement through enhanced customer experience.
Equally important, digital is no longer the responsibility of a single function. It is embedded into day-to-day operations across planning, production, maintenance, despatch and customer servicing, supported by enterprise systems, Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) data platforms, and a structured approach to change management.

Which digital interventions are delivering the highest ROI across mining, production and logistics today?
In a capital- and cost-intensive sector like cement, the highest returns come from digital interventions that directly reduce unit costs or unlock latent capacity without significant capex.
Supply chain and planning (advanced analytics): Tools for demand forecasting, S&OP, network optimisation and scheduling deliver strong returns by lowering logistics costs, improving service levels, and aligning production with demand in a fragmented and regionally diverse market.
Mining (fleet and productivity analytics): Data-led mine planning, fleet analytics, despatch discipline, and idle-time reduction improve fuel efficiency and equipment utilisation, generating meaningful savings in a cost-heavy operation.
Manufacturing (APC and process analytics): Advanced Process Control, mill optimisation, and variability reduction improve thermal and electrical efficiency, stabilise quality and reduce rework and unplanned stoppages.
Customer experience and revenue enablement (digital platforms): Dealer and retailer apps, order visibility and digitally enabled technical services improve ease of doing business and responsiveness. We are also empowering channel partners with transparent, real-time information on schemes, including eligibility, utilisation status and actionable recommendations, which improves channel satisfaction and market execution while supporting revenue growth.
Overall, while Artificial Intelligence (AI) and IIoT are powerful enablers, it is advanced analytics anchored in strong processes that typically delivers the fastest and most reliable ROI.

How is real-time data helping plants shift from reactive maintenance to predictive and prescriptive operations?
Real-time and near real-time data is driving a more proactive and disciplined maintenance culture, beginning with visibility and progressively moving toward prediction and prescription.
At Shree Cement, we have implemented a robust SAP Plant Maintenance framework to standardise maintenance workflows. This is complemented by IIoT-driven condition monitoring, ensuring consistent capture of equipment health indicators such as vibration, temperature, load, operating patterns and alarms.
Real-time visibility enables early detection of abnormal conditions, allowing teams to intervene before failures occur. As data quality improves and failure histories become structured, predictive models can anticipate likely failure modes and recommend timely interventions, improving MTBF and reducing downtime. Over time, these insights will evolve into prescriptive actions, including spares readiness, maintenance scheduling, and operating parameter adjustments, enabling reliability optimisation with minimal disruption.
A critical success factor is adoption. Predictive insights deliver value only when they are embedded into daily workflows, roles and accountability structures. Without this, they remain insights without action.

In a cost-sensitive market like India, how do cement companies balance digital investment with price competitiveness?
In India’s intensely competitive cement market, digital investments must be tightly linked to tangible business outcomes, particularly cost reduction, service improvement, and faster decision-making.
This balance is achieved by prioritising high-impact use cases such as planning efficiency, logistics optimisation, asset reliability, and process stability, all of which typically deliver quick payback. Equally important is building scalable and governed digital foundations that reduce the marginal cost of rolling out new use cases across plants.
Digitally enabled order management, live despatch visibility, and channel partner platforms also improve customer centricity while controlling cost-to-serve, allowing service levels to improve without proportionate increases in headcount or overheads.
In essence, the most effective digital investments do not add cost. They protect margins by reducing variability, improving planning accuracy, and strengthening execution discipline.

How is digitalisation enabling measurable reductions in energy consumption, emissions, and overall carbon footprint?
Digitalisation plays a pivotal role in improving energy efficiency, reducing emissions and lowering overall carbon intensity.
Real-time monitoring and analytics enable near real-time tracking of energy consumption and critical operating parameters, allowing inefficiencies to be identified quickly and corrective actions to be implemented. Centralised data consolidation across plants enables benchmarking, accelerates best-practice adoption, and drives consistent improvements in energy performance.
Improved asset reliability through predictive maintenance reduces unplanned downtime and process instability, directly lowering energy losses. Digital platforms also support more effective planning and control of renewable energy sources and waste heat recovery systems, reducing dependence on fossil fuels.
Most importantly, digitalisation enables sustainability progress to be tracked with greater accuracy and consistency, supporting long-term ESG commitments.

What role does digital supply chain visibility play in managing demand volatility and regional market dynamics in India?
Digital supply chain visibility is critical in India, where demand is highly regional, seasonality is pronounced, and logistics constraints can shift rapidly.
At Shree Cement, planning operates across multiple horizons. Annual planning focuses on capacity, network footprint and medium-term demand. Monthly S&OP aligns demand, production and logistics, while daily scheduling drives execution-level decisions on despatch, sourcing and prioritisation.
As digital maturity increases, this structure is being augmented by central command-and-control capabilities that manage exceptions such as plant constraints, demand spikes, route disruptions and order prioritisation. Planning is also shifting from aggregated averages to granular, cost-to-serve and exception-based decision-making, improving responsiveness, lowering logistics costs and strengthening service reliability.

How prepared is the current workforce for Industry 4.0, and what reskilling strategies are proving most effective?
Workforce preparedness for Industry 4.0 is improving, though the primary challenge lies in scaling capabilities consistently across diverse roles.
The most effective approach is to define capability requirements by role and tailor enablement accordingly. Senior leadership focuses on digital literacy for governance, investment prioritisation, and value tracking. Middle management is enabled to use analytics for execution discipline and adoption. Frontline sales and service teams benefit from
mobile-first tools and KPI-driven workflows, while shop-floor and plant teams focus on data-driven operations, APC usage, maintenance discipline, safety and quality routines.
Personalised, role-based learning paths, supported by on-ground champions and a clear articulation of practical benefits, drive adoption far more effectively than generic training programmes.

Which emerging digital technologies will fundamentally reshape cement manufacturing in the next decade?
AI and GenAI are expected to have the most significant impact, particularly when combined with connected operations and disciplined processes.
Key technologies likely to reshape the sector include GenAI and agentic AI for faster root-cause analysis, knowledge access, and standardisation of best practices; industrial foundation models that learn patterns across large sensor datasets; digital twins that allow simulation of process changes before implementation; and increasingly autonomous control systems that integrate sensors, AI, and APC to maintain stability with minimal manual intervention.
Over time, this will enable more centralised monitoring and management of plant operations, supported by strong processes, training and capability-building.