Jayanta Saha, Director, Penta Engineering.

We endeavour to build a reputation for being the consultant of choice for most cement plant personnel. We hope that our niche offerings in the realm of process expertise and systems engineering will remedy some of the major problems that beset many new projects as well as existing operations, says Jayanta Saha, Director, Penta Engineering. Excerpts from the interview.

What has made PICM one of the leading providers of design engineering and consultancy services to the cement industry?

PICM always strives to understand the customer’s requirement correctly and provide quality solutions / services which are case-specific and not off-the-shelf. This is possible because our core team has a rich engineering / project cache of experience from working with OEMs and end users. PICM also encourages continuous improvement and upgradation of skills in employees to enhance their professional knowledge and skills. Our global presence enables us to pick up best practices from all over the world. Our competitive edge lies in the collective expertise of employees as well as our data base.

Our USP is our ability to satisfy the customer and provide the best solutions, with respect to technology, cost savings for their current needs, as well as for future upgrades. Our customers have begun to perceive PICM as their growth partners.

What can you tell us about the major projects completed by PICM?

A few of the major projects done by PICM are the Lafarge Jojobera grinding unit, Heidelberg Damoh expansion project, Kuwait Cement Line 2 brownfield project and Dangote Group’s New Senegal, Ibese Line 3&4 and Tanzania projects.

When PICM was growing, one of the major challenges was to build a competent team to deliver quality services and to complete the projects within their tight schedules. PICM’s rigorous and strict screening process and dedicated efforts made it possible to build a good and effective team to not only deliver the projects to the satisfaction of PICM and especially clients, but also in getting repeat orders from most of the clients. For field engineering services, PICM’s extensive network within the engineering industry had to be tapped to find the right people for the right job at site as required by the client.

How do you tackle unforeseen problems that may come up while executing big projects?

PICM endeavours to carry out project planning in a manner that unforeseen situations are minimised. However, in case unexpected situations do arise, the personnel at PICM are quick to adapt and adopt.

Unforeseen problems are bound to come up while executing a project and one has to be alert and constantly on one’s toes to resolve them without affecting the schedule and staying within the budget.

Project management plays a vital role in this regard. The project manager has to keep the entire team tied up together to avoid lapses and gaps amongst various entities. With close co-ordination, regular meetings and follow- ups, suitable action can be planned before any unexpected development becomes a setback. Continous feedbacks and checks are a must.

Changing the layout, in many cases, seems to be a major issue. How do you tackle this?

Layout or engineering should ideally take place in the early stages of a project and not be changed at a later stage. Layouts have to be frozen in order to complete the project on time and within budget. Optimum layout design has to be carried out within the given constraints.

The role of project management is significant in controlling changes. Layout change at an advanced stage of project should not be welcomed unless the change is absolutely necessary and benefits outweighthe costs and delays.

In some cases, engineering is carried out before actual land acquisition to save execution time. Hence, changes in layout design may be warranted once the actual land becomes available. In such cases, the project management team should anticipate and keep options open accordingly.

What are the demands of the new age cement plants?

The cement industry has been in existence since 1914. In the earlier days, the requirement was to produce cement without too many other constraints. However, today’s cement plants are required to meet a lot of new challenges and demands, some of which is detailed below.

Land cost has increased considerably, and at times, the project becomes economically unviable only on account of land. Scarcity of land is another issue and the days are not far ahead when proper land may not be available for cement plants. So, every inch of land is going to be important in putting up a cement plant and smarter layout is going to be key here.

Strict pollution control norms. Whether it is dust emission or NOX or SOX , these norms are getting stricter and new cement plants have to comply with them.

Cost of production. Power and fuel are other major demands of new cement plants, to cut down on these natural resources. Efforts are to be put in not only in minimising the requirement of power and fuel but also in using renewable sources of energy. Costs. Improved means and ways have to be found to minimise capital as well as operating costs.

What is the scenario in the repair / retrofit of existing plants?

These kinds of projects are initiated due to various reasons. Some of them are:

• New environmental norms which mandate the adoption of new pollution control technology.
• Obsolete equipment makes the older plants non-competitive. Hence, improvements in certain sections to be carried out to improve energy efficiency or enhance production. Sustainability initiatives such as the use of alternate fuels/ waste derived fuels.
• PICM’s forte lies in offering out- of ûthe-box solutions to the problems faced by the customer. These could lie in the choice of new technology or smarter design. We act as thinking partners wherein we guide our clients in carrying out those incremental changes which can reap visible benefits before larger investments are made.

What kinds of energy efficiency measures do you recommend to your clients?

Some of the measures for existing operations are:

• Carrying out technical audit and optimisation of raw mix design, as well as operation optimisation and minor feasible changes in the design of existing equipment, mainly to reduce a pressure drop.
• Addition of pre-grinders to existing ball mill circuits.
• Addition of waste heat recovery systems.
• Use of alternate fuel.

Some of the measures for greenfield projects are:

• Working out optimum plant layout to achieve minimum material handling.
• Selecting state- of- the- art technology that gives minimum specific energy consumption.
• To this end, PICM always targets energy savings better than the best achieved so far in the industry.

How do you assess the interface between a consulting agency like PICM, cement manufacturers, various plant and machinery OEMs and auxiliary equipment suppliers?

All interactions between clients, OEMs, vendors and sub-contractors are aimed at creating a win-win situation for all parties. PICM works as the owner’s engineer to its clients. PICM guides them in preparing optimum packages and selecting the best in field suppliers in unbiased manner, and ultimately ensuring proper interface to get rid of any mismatch.

Another focus is on completion of the project in time and on a well- planned budget. PICM has been able to set right some mired projects by reopening communication lines between the client and OEMs, independently studying the systems, proposing changes both in the vendors` and client`s systems, and eventually achieving better than guaranteed results.

What is your take on the lack of highly skilled technicians and experienced engineers? PICM believes that in the long run, the right attitude in an employee is his/ her most valuable asset and the company’s, too. PICM adds youngsters to the experienced force and moulds them to company philosophy to achieve professional excellence.

Which are the geographical regions that are driving demand in your sector?

At the moment, India is facing a glut in cement capacity and expansion plans are limited. However, we see opportunity in the Middle East as well as in some regions of Africa.

What is the level of technology being adopted by cement producers in India?

The high competition in the cement market in India has resulted in owners adopting state- of- the- art technology in their plants. However, certain areas still requires technology advancement.

What are the opportunities and challenges that you foresee for PICM in India?

Although at present, the industry in India is going through a bad patch, we are confident of the future being very bright and are gearing ourselves to avail of the opportunity in the right manner. Challenges come in the form of competition but we can face them due to our efforts to upgrade our knowledge and skills along with providing our clients the best service and solutions. In fact, we view competition in a positive way as it helps us keep ourselves always updated. Many cement plants have now started recognising our services in the form of process audits and optimisation, setting right basic and system engineering defects, and maximising output from existing plant and machinery. In the present Indian scenario, the demand for these high- end engineering services is increasing day by day. We also perceive that with the entry of Chinese OEMS, many owners will be losing out on the thoroughness and design expertise inherent in European OEMs. In that situation, our talents will be in even greater demand in the days to come when owners begin to operate such systems.

Tell us about the growth story of PICM. What are your long -term and short -term goals?

PICM started its operation as a support office for its parent US- based consulting firm, Penta Engineering Corporation. Over the last seven years, we have been able to build a competent team with experts from the Indian cement industry. This has enabled us to become a leading solutions provider in our own right and a force to reckon with in the cement consulting industry.

In the short- term, beating the downturn, retaining our expert team and gradually increasing our client base and market share are our foremost concerns.

In the long run, we will endeavour to build such a reputation so that we become the consultant of choice for most cement plant personnel. We hope that our niche offerings in the realm of process expertise and systems engineering will remedy some of the major problems that are plaguing the success of many new projects as well as existing operations.