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Published

1 year ago

August 5, 2025

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Uma Suryam, SVP & Head Manufacturing – Northern Region, Nuvoco Vistas, shares details about how automation is helping the company make a shift towards an efficient and sustainable ecosystem.

As India’s cement sector embraces digital transformation, automation is emerging as the cornerstone of future-ready manufacturing. Uma Suryam, SVP & Head – Manufacturing, Northern Region, Nuvoco Vistas, sheds light on how the company is driving intelligent operations, improving energy efficiency and preparing for a data-led future.

What are the key drivers behind the adoption of automation in cement manufacturing today?
Automation in cement manufacturing is being increasingly adopted to meet rising demand due to rapid urbanisation, which drives large scale infrastructure development. To keep pace, manufacturers are embracing automation and digital technologies to streamline operations, reduce manual intervention and ensure consistent product quality.
At Nuvoco, we are strengthening our automation capabilities by adopting advanced technologies and digital solutions that optimise processes, boost operational efficiency and elevate customer experience. Our approach integrates structured innovation, robust quality management, and a comprehensive digital transformation framework—enabling us to stay agile, competitive, and sustainable in a dynamic marketplace

How is automation improving process efficiency and reducing operational costs?
We are continuously investing in automation and process excellence to enhance efficiency and reduce costs across our operations. The roll-out of plant automation at select sites is setting the stage for an Internet of Things (IoT)-enabled smart factory environment, where real-time data and connected systems help optimise production and decision-making.
We have also introduced Robotic Process Automation (RPA) in our Shared Services Centre to fast-track routine processes such as freight bill settlements, significantly reducing manual effort and processing time. To further strengthen supply chain efficiency, the Master Data Repository Management (MDRM) tool ensures improved inventory accuracy, eliminates duplicate stock, and provides better visibility to reallocate excess materials across locations.
Complementing these initiatives, our Integrated Business Planning (IBP) solution by SAP has transformed demand and supply forecasting, enabling inventory planning aligned with demand cycles and ensuring adherence to our Goto market strategies (GTM).
Together, these digital interventions are streamlining end to end operations—optimising resources, minimising wastage, improving cost competitiveness and ultimately creating greater value for customers.

How does automation support energy optimisation and emissions control?
Automation is a key enabler of building safer, smarter and sustainable energy management systems at Nuvoco. A major milestone in this journey was the commissioning of our Grid Integration Project, which connected three of our geographically isolated cement plants through a common transmission line, creating a unified power network and setting a new benchmark for energy optimisation in the industry.
The project, anchored by a Line-In Line-Out (LILO) substation at our cement plant and supported by an optical fibre network, enables real-time communication and automated energy distribution across the cluster. This has significantly reduced contract demand, eliminated power disruptions, enhanced operational flexibility and delivered substantial savings on fixed energy charges.
By minimising energy wastage and optimising power usage, automation directly contributes to lower greenhouse gas emissions, making our operations more environmentally responsible while ensuring safer and more reliable plant performance.

What kind of data infrastructure is needed to enable effective automation?
Effective automation in relies on a strong and secure data infrastructure that enables seamless, real-time connectivity across the plant. Smart sensors and PLCs integrated into key machinery—such as kilns, crushers, and packing units—collect live performance and process data, which is then analysed through a centralised control room or cloud-based platform to enable timely, data-driven decision-making. Equally important are strong cybersecurity protocols that safeguard operational systems and sensitive production data from disruptions or breaches, ensuring plant safety and uninterrupted performance.
We are advancing towards a more data-intelligent manufacturing ecosystem with initiatives such as an AI-enabled dashboard to optimise waste heat recovery systems and kiln operations, enhancing energy efficiency. Additionally, we are developing advanced AI models that identify the most cost-effective fuel combinations by factoring in variables like moisture content, pricing and other operational parameters. These initiatives are laying the foundation for next-generation, data-driven decision-making, driving operational excellence and sustainable performance at scale.
In parallel, recognising the growing cyber threat landscape, we have strengthened our digital security framework by deploying next-generation firewalls, endpoint protection, enhanced network segmentation and implementing multi-factor authentication across all applications—ensuring that our digital infrastructure remains as resilient as our physical operations.

What is your roadmap for scaling automation across the organisation in the next five years?
Over the next five years, the company will focus on automating critical processes especially in production and quality control to drive operational excellence. AI will be integrated to support real-time, data-driven decision-making across functions. Additionally, the organisation is evaluating next-generation digital platforms to simplify and integrate its IT landscape.
As part of this evolving roadmap, there is also a continued emphasis on building a digitally capable workforce to stay aligned with emerging technologies.
These efforts reflect a broader shift towards a connected, future-ready manufacturing ecosystem where people, processes and systems are increasingly integrated to respond with agility to changing business dynamics.

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Cement Makers’ Margins To Fall Rs 50-75 Per Tonne Amid West Asia Conflict

Crisil Sees Margins Easing Despite Steady Demand

Published

1 week ago

July 29, 2026

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Crisil said operating margins of Indian cement manufacturers are expected to decline by Rs 50-75 per tonne (t) this fiscal to Rs 925-950 per t due to higher input costs triggered by the West Asia conflict. The analysis covered 18 cement companies accounting for nearly 90 per cent of India’s domestic cement capacity and noted margins had improved sharply to around Rs 1,000 per t in fiscal 2026.

Crisil noted that the reduction would be driven mainly by higher power and fuel costs, which account for about 30 per cent of total costs, as petcoke and imported coal prices have surged amid geopolitical uncertainties. Freight costs, which account for about a quarter of total costs, are also expected to remain elevated because of higher diesel prices. The impact on profitability is likely to be more pronounced in the first half of the fiscal year before easing commodity prices moderate cost pressures later.

The rating agency said steady domestic demand and strong balance sheets should keep credit profiles stable despite the moderation in margins. Green energy currently accounts for 35-40 per cent of the sector’s total electricity consumption and is expected to partly cushion higher energy costs. Operating cash flows are likely to remain resilient, supported by projected 6-7 per cent growth in cement demand this fiscal.

Crisil highlighted that demand growth will be driven primarily by infrastructure spending, which meets about one-third of sector consumption, and by a nearly 18 per cent higher budgetary allocation for core ministries that should support project execution. Weaker rural housing demand amid pressure on agricultural incomes from a possible below-average monsoon may be offset by improved urban housing demand supported by favourable home-loan rates and a strong pipeline of Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana-Urban projects. Ongoing capacity additions will keep capital expenditure elevated and may lift net debt to EBITDA to between 1.2 and 1.4 times from around 1.0 time last fiscal, though ratios are expected to remain healthy.

Concrete

UltraTech Board Approves Rs 50 bn Fundraise Via NCDs

Company to issue half a million debentures for expansion plan

Published

1 week ago

July 28, 2026

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UltraTech Cement’s board of directors has approved raising Rs 5,000 crore (Rs 50 bn) through non?convertible debentures issued in rupees.

The finance committee cleared a proposal to issue up to 500,000 fully paid, unsecured, listed, rated, redeemable, rupee?denominated, non?convertible, non?cumulative debentures of Rs 1 lakh each (Rs 0.1 mn each), aggregating to the Rs 5,000 crore programme.

As of June 2026 the firm reported net debt of Rs 15,875 crore (Rs 158.75 bn) and said its capacity expansion projects under execution are backed by capital expenditure of about Rs 17,000 crore (Rs 170 bn) over the next two to two?and?a?half years.

UltraTech spent Rs 9,500 crore (Rs 95 bn) on capital expenditure in financial year 2026 and in April the group crossed 200.1 mn tonnes per annum of domestic grey cement capacity and 205.5 mn tonnes per annum of global capacity.

The chief financial officer indicated the company would take consolidated capacity beyond 242 mn tonnes per annum, with grey cement capacity reaching 212.7 mn tonnes per annum by the end of financial year 2027. He noted the net debt?to?earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation ratio stood at 0.87 times as of June 2026 and the company was confident of ending financial year 2027 with the ratio below one time.

In the first quarter of financial year 2026?27 UltraTech’s net profit attributable to owners rose 16.8 per cent year?on?year to Rs 2,599.3 crore (Rs 25.993 bn) and revenue from operations increased 15.9 per cent to Rs 24,648.20 crore (Rs 246.482 bn). The board approval is expected to complement internal cash flows as the company advances its expansion programme.

Concrete

Lokesh Lays Stone For Rs 31 Billion Cement Unit In Kadapa

Line-2 expansion to make Kadapa a major cement hub

Published

2 weeks ago

July 20, 2026

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Andhra Pradesh Education and IT Minister Nara Lokesh on Wednesday laid the foundation stone for the Line-2 expansion of Dalmia Bharat Cement at Chinnakomerla village in Mylavaram Mandal in Kadapa district. The project carries an investment of Rs 31 billion (bn) and is slated for completion by the third quarter of the financial year 2028. The expansion is intended to boost industrial growth and employment generation across the Rayalaseema region.

Once commissioned, the Kadapa facility will become Dalmia Bharat’s largest integrated cement manufacturing ecosystem in southern India, creating over 1,000 direct and indirect jobs and opening new business avenues for regional micro, small and medium enterprises and transport operators. Lokesh said the expansion signalled growing corporate confidence in the state and reflected the practical ease of doing business that secured repeat investment.

He placed the project within the government’s wider economic targets and recalled the Yuvagalam padayatra commitment to generate two million (mn) jobs within five years, noting that the state would cultivate talent while industry created opportunities. Lokesh highlighted Andhra Pradesh’s competitive pursuit of major manufacturing accounts, mentioning past successes and a personal initiative to engage global investors when persuading them to anchor expansion in the state.

The plant will leverage Kadapa’s abundant limestone reserves to scale production and sustainability. Clinker capacity is planned to rise from two point five million tonnes per annum (mn tpa) to six point one mn tpa, while overall cement output will increase from three point six mn tpa to nine point six mn tpa. The unit is designed to operate on over eighty per cent renewable energy and deploy waste heat recovery, zero liquid discharge, water recycling and advanced AI systems to optimise efficiency. Industries Minister TG Bharat, BC Welfare Minister S. Savitha and Jammalamadugu MLA C. Adinarayana Reddy attended the ceremony.