Concrete

(Re)discovering Alternative Raw Materials are Essential to the Green Cement Plant

Published

4 years ago

June 10, 2022

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As the realities of climate change continue to hit home, social pressure on heavy emitters is increasing and financial pressure will follow, forcing cement producers to act. The cement industry has a responsibility to follow through on its promises to decarbonise.

As a leading supplier to the industry, FLSmidth feels this responsibility keenly. This article is an overview of the options to decarbonise – reducing the clinker factor. As we will learn, the green cement plant of the future may not look so different from a plant you would see today, but it is. The difference is in the way it is operated, what is being put into it, and some of the supporting technology.

Fly ash – set to get a second wind
As the cement industry faces increasing scrutiny over its environmental footprint – no stone is left unturned in attempts to reduce CO2 emissions. Fly ash has been used for decades to avoid the resource intensive limestone clinker, but shortages have led experts to debate; have we reached the full potential for fly ash in cement or could harvesting landfills give fly ash a second wind?
Fly ash is a great supplementary cementitious material – it has the right properties, meaning that it reacts with lime to form cementitious compounds. It is a by-product from coal-firing industries, but in some cases has ended up in landfills – especially up until 1929, when it was first used in concrete to minimise the use of cement when building the massive Hoover Dam on the Colorado River in the USA.
With the potential to replace up to 30 per cent of traditional clinker, fly ash quickly became very attractive to the cement industry and a sought-after commodity. Today, as the green transition of power plants and other heavy industry is accelerating – some countries are phasing out coal and turning towards green energy, natural gas, and/or biofuels, with the result being that fly ash is now in short supply.But just as steel, paper and sugar industries are eager to minimise their environmental footprint, so is cement. And the use of fly ash is both a proven and effective ingredient. The shortage of fresh fly ash has led more and more industry stakeholders to turn their attention towards the centuries of landfilled fly ash.
To date, billions of tonnes of fly ash have been landfilled. ‘Harvesting’ fly ash from these landfills makes some industry experts confident that this waste-product could have a second wind in cement.
“As we strive towards fulfilling our MissionZero promise of enabling net zero cement production by 2030, we need every tool in the toolbox. Reducing the clinker factor is a key element to that. Fly ash is a proven and well-integrated SCM – to pursue the exploitation of landfilled fly ash would obviously boost our efforts.”
To Thomas Petithuguenin, Head of Research and Partnerships for Cement, FLSmidth, every possible path to MissionZero needs to be explored.
“I am not saying that fly ash harvesting is a quick-win, but from a product point of view, it is a known ingredient and gives confidence in terms of quality and performance. The challenge is the logistics and infrastructure, which we need to investigate with stakeholders across the value chain.”

Upcycled concrete – a massive business opportunity
Repurposing of construction waste is a global, multi-billion-dollar business – to the cement industry it looks to be a win-win situation. As the world’s leading equipment supplier to both the Cement- and Mining industries, FLSmidth is well-positioned to support its customers in capturing a piece of the pie, says Petithuguenin.
At an annual growth rate of 4 per cent, the global construction and demolition waste management market is projected to be worth $142.92 billion in 2028. Combined with the cement industry’s acute need to reduce its environmental footprint, we see an increasing interest from customers exploring how to enter the market.
The recycling of concrete is not a new business case – different technologies and applications have been deployed for decades, but most often in terms of ‘downcycling’ where material will end up as road fill. Today, the average Construction and Demolition Waste (CDW) recycling rate in Europe is around 70 per cent and even though it still substitutes the use of virgin material, actual ‘upcycling’ has a massive potential of producing high-value materials out of tonnes of construction waste every year.
By upcycling concrete, we are not only able to leave virgin, raw materials in the ground, we are also able to reduce the need for traditional, resource-intensive clinker. At a time when no stone is left unturned in the quest for CO2 savings from cement production, reusing recycled cement fines as a filler, supplementary cementitious material (SCM) or by converting them into belite clinker is an attractive business-case.
The sustainability aspects of upcycling go hand-in-hand with cost-savings from eliminating the excavation of new raw-materials and a majority of the fuel and energy required for the calcination process of limestone.
According to the International Energy Association, the integration of emerging technologies like lowering the clinker-factor in cement and carbon capture is identified to provide some of the largest cumulative CO2 reductions in the 2-degree Celsius Scenario (2DS) compared to the Reference Technology Scenario (RTS) by 2050.
As we move into an industrial scale process of turning old concrete to a new cementitious material, we would need to do a few extra steps to get as pure aggregates, sand and cement fines as possible. A procedure that involves process knowledge within crushing and screening and just as important, some heavy-duty equipment such as a jaw crusher, impact crusher, cone crusher, elliptical screens, classifiers, and bag filters.
After crushing, the aggregates and sand are used in new concrete, with the potential to substitute 100% of the natural aggregates and sand needed. The cement fines, left from the crushing and grinding are ready to be converted into a belite clinker, most likely at an urban processing plant, whereafter it is mixed with OPC clinker at a 30-70 per cent ratio and reused on site – reducing the climate footprint of both the old and new building, bridge or road project. Another option is to take the cement fines back into the cement industry and carbonate them, which will activate them to SCMs – allowing their mixing with clinker (and reducing the clicker proportion, therefore, the CO2 emissions).
Today, an office building has an expected lifespan of 20 years, and a residential building a lifespan of 30-50 years. That’s extremely short and underlines the need for upcycling. If the industry is to support an accelerating urbanisation, the winners of the construction industry will be the ones who see opportunities in waste, which can be used again and again. And they will be the ones getting the building-licences from government authorities.

Mine tailings – a potential goldmine for cement
Tailings are both a safety issue and a huge financial burden to miners. But to cement and concrete producers they might hold a massive reservoir of untapped potential. With a shared ambition to reduce the environmental footprint of both cement and mining operations, FLSmidth is well-positioned to support its customers inturning mine tailings into value-added products, says Petithuguenin.
Mine tailings are the leftovers after the processing and extraction of metals and minerals from the basic ores. The total amount of mine tailings in active and inactive, closed storages around the world is estimated at more than 200 km3. Any attempt to describe the volumes easily fails as these enormous amounts are hard to grasp, but imagine a cube, six by six kilometres, weighing approximately 280 billion tonnes.
As an old proverb goes, ‘one man’s trash is another man’s treasure’. To miners, mine tailings are a costly by-product, which are difficult to manage due to the large quantities. They can pose a safety risk due to the instability of storage facilities further hampered by the material fineness and moisture content. Some of these challenges are mitigated with tailings storage solutions such as dry-stacking, backfilling the tailings material in old mine pits, and using them as aggregates in the construction industry. However, for many miners, safe and secure tailings storage is still a major issue.
To others, the mine tailings present an opportunity as an alternative building material or potentially even a carbon sink if there is a CO2 source nearby. Recent research shows that mine tailings can be processed to form supplementary cementitious materials (SCM) or geopolymers.
The mining industry recognises the prospect of turning mine tailings into value-added products, while also focusing on reducing tailings altogether.
“Increasing demand for metals critical to the energy transition, such as copper and nickel, will lead to greater production of mine waste like tailings under the current production processes. Alongside our members’ commitment to the safe management of their tailings facilities, ICMM’s goal is to significantly reduce or eliminate tailings. As part of this, we are working with members to make operations at their mine sites more circular by improving process efficiencies to reduce waste at its source, as well as creating value from waste such as tailings,” says Christian Spano, Director of Innovation, International Council on Mining and Metals (ICMM).
Reducing the use of the resource-intensive clinker in cement production is one of the technologies that will provide the largest cumulative CO2 reductions in the 2-degree Celsius Scenario (2DS), according to the International Energy Association. And with the urgency of climate change – no stone should be left unturned by the cement industry in its quest for CO2 saving – reusing mine tailings as a filler or an SCM can be an attractive business-case.
“As a leading supplier to both the cement and mining industry, FLSmidth is in a unique position to engage both parties to establish an efficient and commercially viable value chain for both industries,” says Petithuguenin – working closely with colleagues on both sides of the aisle to connect the dots. “The idea of using mine tailings in construction is not new, but the increasing need for sustainable SCMs is accelerating efforts to establish large-scale processes. In this work, which will include universities and experts from across different sectors, FLSmidth will use its vast process knowledge to optimise designs of the technology needed to produce a quality output.”

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Concrete

Refractory demands in our kiln have changed

Published

3 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

3 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.

Concrete

Redefining Efficiency with Digitalisation

Published

3 days ago

February 20, 2026

admin

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.