Concrete

Success Story: Achieving industrial excellence with superior lubrication

Published

3 years ago

December 13, 2022

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Focusing on the holistic vision to enhance overall operations.

As a fast-developing economy, India is currently witnessing enhanced demand across sectors including commercial and industrial construction, housing, core infrastructure, etc. Along with rising consumer demand, there is a parallel growth in demand for industrial raw materials. Here, India is doing well to capacitate its industries towards fulfilling evolving market demand and as the second-largest producer of cement in the world, the Indian cement industry’s production capacity is expected to reach 550 MMT by 2025. As the cement industry grows, businesses here are drawing their attention on adopting methods that can aid energy-efficiency in operations while ensuring productivity and profitability. The cement industry encounters a common problem in bearing and industrial gearbox failures due to inadequate lubrication. Most cement plant applications, therefore, require adequate and superior-quality lubrication to increase reliability as well as to improve the total cost of ownership through high-performance and high-pressure lubricants.
Addressing this challenge with a holistic vision to enhance overall operations, MobilTM is providing exceptional performance gear and bearing oils which have been designed to provide outstanding results in equipment protection, oil life, and problem-free operations – aiding increased productivity
and efficiency.

Providing solutions through premium lubrication
Recently, Mobil became associated with one of India’s largest cement manufacturing companies based out of Tamil Nadu that covers operations across five integrated cement units and has 6 grinding units spread across several states. Operations at the company require the use of a variety of in-house processes and machinery, demanding specialised and advanced quality hydraulic fluids and gear oils for smooth functioning. They approached Mobil with challenges in short oil drain intervals (ODIs), hindered productivity, and increased maintenance cost from existing lubricant usage. They sought Mobil’s assistance in developing condition-based monitoring for their crucial applications, and to enhance technical knowledge of their equipment to help overcome troubleshooting activities.
After a careful review of the situation, Mobil recommended the use of MobilgearTM 600 XP 320, a part of the MobilgearTM 600 XP Series. The premium gear oils under this series provide high performance, have outstanding tolerance to extreme pressure, and come with superior load-carrying properties. Mobil advised the usage of these advanced gear oils for the organisation’s raw miller roller lubrication, kiln main drive gear box, and cement mil VRM gearbox. The advanced gear oils are equipped for evolving needs of high technology gear boxes and have enabled the cement firm to increase its ODI by 4.5-times in raw mill roller lubrication, 2.25-times in kiln main drive gearbox, and 2.5-times in its cement mill VRM gearbox. Mobil also recommended the MobilgearTM 600 XP 220 which helped them to increase the ODI by 2.5-times in their coal mill main drive gearbox, resulting in net savings of INR 1,14,750.
To boost the ODI for their cement mill roller hydraulics, the cement manufacturers adopted the Mobil DTETM 24 Ultra high-performance anti-wear hydraulic oil with extended oil life capabilities. This helped them increase ODI by 4-times. These product upgrades along with a thorough root cause analysis to resolve the chromium alert issue in their roller lubrication application and the sodium alert issue in the main drive gearbox that hindered their productivity made them document a total savings of INR 3,031,400 in the year 2021.

Advanced technology to cater to evolving needs
To improve reliability and productivity of the organisation’s critical equipment and ensure profitability at the same time, the company also utilised the Mobil ServSM suite of services. They deployed the Mobil ServSM Lubricant Analysis (MSLA) program for receiving regular updates and reports on operations to aid them in planning periodic maintenance and reducing machine downtime. The company faced difficulty in monitoring equipment remotely for real-time oil conditioning and reducing man-machine interaction – an imperative in today’s era of digitalisation. To tackle this issue, Mobil assisted with its advanced IIOT sensors which provides customised solutions and in-depth analysis to the cement company.
Mobil also organised technical lube training every year to enhance knowledge on specific applications, products and their maintenance, which enabled them to handle troubleshooting efficiently. Additionally, MSLA helped the cement giant to continuously track lubricant and equipment trends. This helped enforce proactive maintenance for important applications, which resulted in longer ODIs and, thus, improved productivity and profitability.
Mobil also utilised the Planned Engineering Service (PES) process to provide the best possible solutions. These solutions have enabled them to improve performance through a planned “best practice” approach to lubrication maintenance. PES is a robust and consistent methodology that enables Mobil to deliver services that add value. It has four steps – mutual planning, objective execution, benefit documentation, and annual business review. Moving ahead, the PES process will continue to unleash productivity of equipment and help the organisation achieve maximum potential of its assets.
Overall, a combination of superior product solutions along with servicing that guarantees productivity and profitability has enabled the cement firm to unlock greater levels of performance.

For more details, please visit mobil.co.in/business
(Exxon Mobil Corporation has numerous affiliates, many with names that include ExxonMobil, Exxon, Esso and Mobil. For convenience and simplicity, those terms and references to ‘corporation’, ‘company’, ‘ExxonMobil’, ‘EM’, and other similar terms are used for convenience and may refer to one or more specific affiliates or affiliate groups.)

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Published

1 week ago

April 1, 2026

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The need of present time is stronger buildings, industrial or common utility buildings, such as Malls, Railway stations, hospitals, offices, bridges etc. For this, there is need of long durable, tough and stable concrete, which could stand under normal and seismic conditions. Tough railway bridges are required for bullet trains to pass without any damage. Railway tunnels, sea-links, coastal roads, bridges and multistorey buildings, are the need of the hour. The question comes, is the normal cement called OPC is sufficient to take care of such requirements or better combination of cements and sand mixtures is required?

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Concrete

NCB Signs MoU With Cement Manufacturer To Boost Construction Skills

Partnership to deliver nationwide training and certification

Published

1 week ago

March 31, 2026

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The National Council for Cement and Building Materials (NCB) has signed a memorandum of understanding with a leading cement manufacturer to strengthen skill development and capacity building in the construction sector. The agreement was formalised at NCB premises in Ballabgarh and was signed by the Director General of NCB, Dr L. P. Singh, and the head of technical services at UltraTech Cement Limited, Er Rahul Goel. The collaboration seeks to bring institutional resources and industry expertise into a structured national training effort.

The partnership will deliver structured training and certification programmes across the country aimed at enhancing the capabilities of civil engineers, ready?mix concrete (RMC) professionals, contractors, construction workers and masons. Programme curricula will cover material quality testing, concrete mix proportioning, durability assessment and sustainable construction practices to support improved construction outcomes. Emphasis is to be placed on standardised assessment and certification to raise practice levels across diverse construction roles.

Practical learning elements will include workshops, site demonstrations, technical seminars and exposure visits to plants and RMC facilities to strengthen applied skills and on?site decision making. The Director General indicated confidence that a large number of professionals and workers would be trained over the next three to five years under the initiative. The partnership is designed to complement flagship government schemes such as the Skill India Mission and to align training outputs with national infrastructure priorities.

By combining the council’s technical mandate with industry experience, the initiative aims to develop a more skilled and quality?conscious workforce capable of meeting rising demand in infrastructure and housing. NCB will continue to coordinate programme delivery and quality assurance while industry partners provide practical exposure and technical inputs. The collaboration is expected to support long?term capacity building and more sustainable construction practices nationwide.

Concrete

JSW Cement Commissions Nagaur Plant, Enters North India

New Rajasthan unit boosts capacity to 24.1 MTPA and expands reach

Published

1 week ago

March 30, 2026

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JSW Cement has strengthened its national presence by commencing production at its greenfield integrated cement plant in Nagaur, Rajasthan, marking its entry into the north Indian market.

With this commissioning, the company’s installed grinding capacity has increased to 24.1 MTPA, while total clinker capacity, including its joint venture operations, stands at 9.74 MTPA.

The Nagaur facility comprises a 3.30 MTPA clinkerisation unit and a 2.50 MTPA cement grinding unit, with an additional 1.00 MTPA grinding capacity currently under development. Strategically located, the plant is positioned to serve high-growth markets across Rajasthan, Haryana, Punjab and the NCR.

The project has been funded through a mix of equity and long-term debt, with Rs 800 crore allocated from IPO proceeds towards part-financing the unit.

Parth Jindal, Managing Director, JSW Cement, stated that the commissioning marks a key milestone in the company’s ambition to become a pan-India player. He added that the project was completed within 21 months and positions the company to achieve its targeted capacity of 41.85 MTPA by FY29.

Nilesh Narwekar, CEO, JSW Cement, highlighted that the expansion aligns with the company’s strategy to tap into rapidly growing northern markets driven by infrastructure development. He noted that the company remains focused on delivering high-quality, eco-friendly cement solutions while progressing towards its long-term capacity goal of 60 MTPA.

The Nagaur plant has been designed with sustainability features, including co-processing of alternative fuels and a 7 km overland belt conveyor for limestone transport to reduce road emissions. The facility will also incorporate a 16 MW Waste Heat Recovery System to improve energy efficiency and lower its carbon footprint.

JSW Cement, part of the JSW Group, operates across the building materials value chain and currently has eight plants across India, along with a clinker unit in the UAE through its joint venture.