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“AI should predict bottlenecks.”

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Anuradha Parakala COO, Fleetronix Systems, discusses real-time visibility, predictive intelligence and proactive control in cement logistics.

As cement logistics becomes increasingly data-driven, fleet visibility is emerging as a critical lever for improving asset utilisation. Anuradha Parakala, COO, Fleetronix Systems, discusses how real-time tracking, AI-led anomaly detection and connected logistics ecosystems can help eliminate operational blind spots.

How can real-time fleet visibility help cement manufacturers eliminate blind spots and improve control from plant despatch to final delivery?
For decades, cement logistics has been run on blind faith and periodic phone calls. A truck rolls out of the plant gates, and management essentially crosses its fingers, waiting for an update that might come three hours too late. That is not supply chain management; that is operational gambling.
Let’s look at the economics. Real-time fleet visibility doesn’t just put a moving dot on a digital map—it forces discipline onto the balance sheet. When you have live tracking of arrival times, route adherence, and unwarranted stoppages, you remove the guesswork that bleeds capital.
Visibility isn’t about micro-managing drivers. It’s about converting a volatile cost centre into a predictable, accountable business process. In our deployment data at Fleetronix, absolute visibility cuts operational exceptions by over 20 per cent right out of the gate. That’s because we are tackling anomalies while they happen, not holding a post-mortem after the cement is already spoiled or missed its delivery window.

What are the biggest fleet-level inefficiencies in cement logistics today, and how can technology help address them?
The real cash drain happens long before the truck hits the highway.
The stagnation trap: Excessive idle times rotting away at plant loading bays and unloading sites.
The accountability vacuum: Fragmented communication loops between transporters, despatchers and yard managers.
The reconciliation waste: Finance teams wasting hundreds of man-hours manually matching proof of delivery with transit logs.
Technology shouldn’t just give you more dashboards; it should eliminate noise. AI-driven platforms act as an early-warning system for behavioural abnormalities. AI should predict bottlenecks,
before they snowball into heavy financial losses.
The companies winning tomorrow aren’t the ones scaling up their fleet size blindly—they are the ones extracting double-digit productivity out of the assets they already own.

How can digital fleet management strengthen cargo security and proactively identify risks such as theft, route deviations and unauthorised halts?
In heavy building materials, cargo security is no longer just a local transport concern. It is a direct line item affecting brand reputation and business continuity. Traditional security reacts after a pilferage or highway theft is reported. That is too late.
Modern digital architecture deploys smart geofencing, tamper-proof sensor integration, and anomaly detection algorithms. If a truck stops in an unapproved high-risk corridor for longer than a designated threshold, the system flags it instantly. Security isn’t a passive logbook; it is an active deterrent. True ROI comes from intervention before a loss occurs.

What will the fully connected end-to-end logistics ecosystem of the future look like, and what role will data and AI play in transforming cement transportation?
The market leaders of the future won’t necessarily be the giants with the largest physical fleets. They will be the ones with the most intelligent nervous systems. We are moving toward a fully integrated ecosystem where plants, trucks, inventory pipelines, and customer destinations talk to each other in real time.
Artificial intelligence will ingest millions of data points to automate dispatch planning, streamline preventive maintenance, and execute dynamic routing without human friction. The future of cement logistics is not about tracking where your truck is right now. It is about knowing what is bound to go wrong three hours from now, and fixing it automatically before it ever happens.

Concrete

Shree Cement Expands Bangur Concrete Network with Patna Plant

New facility takes the company’s national RMC network to 36 plants

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Shree Cement has inaugurated a 60 m³/hour ready-mix concrete plant in Patna, Bihar, under its Bangur Concrete brand. The facility takes the company’s ready-mix concrete (RMC) network to 36 plants across India and strengthens its presence in eastern markets.

The plant was inaugurated by Neeraj Akhoury, managing director of Shree Cement, in the presence of senior company officials and other guests. It has been established to serve demand for ready-mix concrete in Patna and neighbouring areas, where infrastructure development, urban expansion and real estate activity are supporting construction growth.

The facility is designed to supply construction projects across Patna and surrounding markets. Its installed capacity of 60 m³/hour will enable Bangur Concrete to serve customers across the region while improving distribution and supply capabilities in eastern India.

The expansion is intended to improve customer service, strengthen the company’s market presence and support development activity in Bihar. The plant incorporates modern batching technology, material handling systems and quality control processes aimed at maintaining consistency in production and improving operational efficiency.

With the addition of the Patna facility, Bangur Concrete now operates 36 RMC plants across India. The business is expanding its footprint in key construction markets to improve customer access to ready-mix concrete, which is increasingly used in infrastructure, commercial and residential projects because it supports controlled production, consistent quality and more efficient material management at construction sites.

The facility will also follow environmentally responsible operating practices, in line with Shree Cement’s focus on sustainable construction solutions. The latest addition adds capacity to the company’s RMC operations and supports its efforts to serve regional construction markets as development activity continues across Bihar.

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Concrete

Ambuja Plans 2.9 MTPA Godda Cement Unit

Proposed unit forms part of Ambuja Cements’ Rs. 145 bn expansion

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Ambuja Cements has proposed a 2.9 mn tonnes per annum (MTPA) cement grinding unit in Godda district, Jharkhand, as part of a Rs. 145 bn expansion programme. The plan is intended to lift the company’s overall cement capacity to 155 MTPA by financial year 2029-30 (FY30), from its current 113.5 MTPA.

The proposal forms part of the Adani Group company’s wider manufacturing expansion across eastern and northeastern India, according to a company statement issued on Monday. The Godda unit would add grinding capacity to Ambuja Cements’ network and is intended to help serve demand in Jharkhand and neighbouring states.

Locating production closer to these markets is expected to reduce transportation costs and delivery times, while the project could support employment in plant operations, maintenance, logistics and administration. The company also linked the facility to indirect activity in transportation, contract services, construction, warehousing and local supply chains.

The expansion plan includes a 2.9 MTPA grinding unit each in Assam and Bihar, as well as additional clinker capacity in Assam. Together, the projects are designed to distribute manufacturing capacity more widely and improve the connection between clinker production and grinding operations, Ambuja Cements’ cement-business chief executive Vinod Bahety said.

Clinker is the intermediate material produced before it is ground and blended to make cement, making the Godda proposal part of a broader materials and logistics network rather than an isolated facility. Ambuja Cements has not provided a commissioning timeline, a Godda-specific investment breakdown, land details or a detailed employment estimate in the supplied announcement.

The project’s impact will depend on implementation of the plant, associated transport links and local supply chains. The announcement sets out the capacity objective but does not specify the project’s construction schedule or operational start date.

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Concrete

Capacity with Conscience

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Ambuja Cements has locked in its next phase of growth. The Adani Group company has earmarked 14,500 crore, roughly 145 billion, for greenfield and brownfield projects that will add 30 MTPA and lift its total capacity to 155 MTPA by FY2030.
It is hardly alone. The industry added about 55 million tonnes in FY2025-26, taking installed grinding capacity to an estimated 720 to 730 MT by March 2026. UltraTech Cement, Adani Cement, Shree Cement, Dalmia Bharat and JK Cement are expected to drive another 115 to 125 MT by FY2027-28. Production itself reached close to 490 million tonnes in FY26. The appetite to build is not in doubt.
Costs are another matter. The conflict in West Asia continues to push up fuel and freight bills, and the pressure on profitability is real. More capacity arriving in a market that is absorbing higher input costs leaves little room for inefficiency.
Then there is carbon. Indian cement emits around 0.62 tonnes of CO2 per tonne of cement, and the decarbonisation roadmap points to 0.56 by 2030 and 0.51 by 2047. Output, meanwhile, is projected to climb towards 1,546 million tonnes by 2070, the year India has set for net zero. Intensity can fall steadily while total emissions still rise. That is the arithmetic the industry must solve.
So, how does the sector sustain its expansion momentum while honouring its net-zero commitments? That question anchors the discussions at the Indian Cement Review Conference & Awards and Cement Expo 2026. More than 60 industry leaders will weigh how rising demand, capacity growth and productivity gains can sit alongside decarbonisation across the value chain. They will also examine which technologies, investments and strategies will make that possible.
The Expo runs from 15 to 17 December at India Expo Mart, Greater Noida. Come and be part of the answer.

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