Economy & Market

Green supply chain: Time to act now

Published

10 years ago

July 4, 2016

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The Indian cement industry, which can trace its beginnings back to 1914, has come a long way since then. India is the second largest market globally ~390 mt annual capacity (approximately 8 per cent of world capacity). Fueled by strong economic growth, rising population and rapid urbanisation, the construction sector is one of the fastest growing sectors in India today.

Second only to the agricultural sector, the cement industry currently employs 33 million individuals, with an incremental workforce requirement of about four million people per year. The productivity parameters are now nearing quality improvements with the use of alternate fuels and raw materials, which have not only ensured improvements in productivity but have also been able to reduce production costs. Effective environment management continues to play a key role in the efforts of the cement industry to operate in a sustainable manner.

Logistics planning involves efficient integration of suppliers, manufacturers, warehouses and stores and encompasses the firm’s activities from the strategic level through the tactical to the operational level. However, it has also been observed to playing a vital role in making the finished product conform to customer requirements. The effective planning and management of a logistics and supply chain is a challenge for most countries. Like in the case of the Nigerian cement industry, the supply chain cannot rely on the rail system due to its obsoleteness, therefore they are purely based on roads (i.e. use of trucks), which contributes to the increase in pollution levels. To bring the railways back into operation, new infrastructural developments would have to be put in place, which can lead to cheaper, less polluting and more efficient system for an effective supply chain process in Nigeria. This country is a prime example of steady economic growth, facing the risk of losing such a position if such prime economic indicators, as an efficient railway system continue to develop at a snail’s pace. The cement industry in India also faces challenges in terms of developing its logistics system. There is a lack of IT implementation, which at present is developing at a slow pace due to the implied additional costs. On the other hand, India has the largest railway network in Asia, which should have been the preferred means for bulk transport instead of using the country’s road systems for a more effective usage of the present infrastructure. However, since the rail network, rolling stock availability and last mile connectivity are major bottlenecks, road transportation on account of better road infrastructure, varied fleet mix and service requirements has become the preferred mode of transportation for the cement industry.

Going green is not a one-time proposal, but a continuous effort to recognise ways to diminish a company’s environmental impact and improve business standards. Considering the obstacles faced by the cement industry in the country, companies should aim at designing a supply chain which would ensure usage of the same amount of fuel for more products transported, covering more distance. This would enable the resulting savings to be passed on to the customer as well. Also, adequate monitoring and acquiring data is a fundamental way of making a supply chain more effective and safer for all stakeholders involved. Simple technologies can go a long way in achieving this goal such as installation of Radio Frequency Identification Device (RFID) and Global Positioning System (GPS) in all vehicles.

RFID and GPS together can ensure better visibility of trucks with complete transparency in the process, by tracking the historical data of trucks and time taken from Gate In and Gate Out of the plant. These modifications can help reduce waiting time for trucks, which is one of the main challenges of time efficiency and it also helps reduce hazards such as high accident rate on the road, product wastage and traffic congestion on the highways.

In the next decade, the Indian economy will have grown multifold and consumers will become much more heterogeneous, presenting organisations with a unique set of opportunities and challenges. The supply chain will be impacted by various evolving macro-factors such as mega cities, increased consumer segments, increased global trade and more importantly, affordable technologies. Therefore there is a need for a green supply chain system which can reduce the ecological impact of industrial activity without sacrificing quality, cost, reliability, performance or energy utilisation efficiency. It involves a paradigm shift from an end-of-pipe control aimed at simply meeting environmental regulations to adopting measures which succeed in not only mini-mising ecological damage, but also leading to overall economic profit.

Author: Tushar Dave, Sr Vice President, Central Logistics, ACC Limited

Economy & Market

TSR Will Define Which Cement Companies Win India’s Net-Zero Race

Published

3 days ago

April 27, 2026

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Jignesh Kundaria, Director and CEO, Fornnax Technology

India is simultaneously grappling with two crises: a mounting waste emergency and an urgent need to decarbonise its most carbon-intensive industries. The cement sector, the second-largest in the world and the backbone of the nation’s infrastructure ambitions, sits at the centre of both. It consumes enormous quantities of fossil fuel, and it has the technical capacity to consume something else entirely: the waste our cities cannot get rid of.

According to CPCB and NITI Aayog projections, India generates approximately 62.4 million tonnes of municipal solid waste annually, with that figure expected to reach 165 million tonnes by 2030. Much of this waste is energy-rich and non-recyclable. At the same time, cement kilns operate at material temperatures of approximately 1,450 degrees Celsius, with gas temperatures reaching 2,000 degrees. This high-temperature environment is ideal for co-processing, ensuring the complete thermal destruction of organic compounds without generating toxic residues. The physics are in our favour. The infrastructure is not.

Pre-processing is not the support act for co-processing. It is the main event. Get the particle size wrong, get the moisture wrong, get the calorific value wrong and your kiln thermal stability will suffer the consequences.

The Regulatory Push Is Real

The Solid Waste Management (SWM) Rules 2026 mandate that cement plants progressively replace solid fossil fuels with Refuse-Derived Fuel (RDF), starting at a 5 per cent baseline and scaling to 15 per cent within six years. NITI Aayog’s 2026 Roadmap for Cement Sector Decarbonisation targets 20 to 25 per cent Thermal Substitution Rate (TSR) by 2030. Beyond compliance, every tonne of coal replaced by RDF generates measurable carbon reductions which is monetisable under India’s emerging Carbon Credit Trading Scheme (CCTS). TSR is no longer a sustainability metric. It is a financial lever.

Yet our own field assessments across multiple Indian cement plants reveal a sobering reality: the primary barrier to scaling AFR adoption is not waste availability. It is the fragmented and under-engineered pre-processing ecosystem that sits between the waste and the kiln.

Why Indian Waste Is a Different Engineering Problem

Indian municipal solid waste is not the material that imported shredding equipment was designed for. Our waste streams frequently exceed 40 per cent to 50 per cent moisture content, particularly during monsoon cycles, saturated with abrasive inerts including sand, glass, and stone. Plants relying on imported OEM equipment face months of downtime awaiting proprietary spare parts. Machines built for segregated, low-moisture waste fail quickly and disrupt the entire pre-processing operation in Indian conditions.

The two most common failures we observe are what I call the biting teeth problem and the chewing teeth problem. Plants relying solely on a primary shredder reduce bulk waste to large fractions, but the output remains too coarse for stable kiln combustion. Others attempt to use a secondary shredder as a standalone unit without a primary stage to pre-size the feed, leading to catastrophic mechanical failure. When both stages are present but mismatched in throughput capacity, the system becomes a bottleneck. Achieving the 40 to 70 tonnes per hour required for meaningful coal displacement demands a precisely coordinated two-stage process.

Engineering a Made-in-India Answer

At Fornnax, our response to these challenges is grounded in one principle: Indian waste demands Indian engineering. Our systems are built around feedstock homogeneity, the holy grail of kiln stability. Consistent particle size and predictable calorific value are the foundation of stable kiln combustion. Without them, no TSR target is achievable at scale.

Our SR-MAX2500 Dual Shaft Primary Shredder (Hydraulic Drive) processes raw, baled, or loosely mixed MSW, C&I waste, bulky waste, and plastics, reducing them to approximately 150 mm fractions at throughputs of up to 40 tonnes per hour. The R-MAX 3300 Single Shaft Secondary Shredder (Hydraulic Drive), introduced in 2025, takes that primary output and produces RDF fractions in the 30 to 80 mm range at up to 30 tonnes per hour, specifically optimised for consistent kiln feeding. We have also introduced electric drive configurations under the SR-100 HD series, with capacities between 5 and 40 tonnes per hour, already operational at a leading Indian waste-processing facility.

Looking ahead, Fornnax is expanding its portfolio with the upcoming SR-MAX3600 Hydraulic Drive primary shredder at up to 70 tonnes per hour and the R-MAX2100 Hydraulic drive secondary shredder at up to 20 tonnes per hour, designed specifically for the large-scale throughput that higher TSR ambitions require.

The Investment Case Is Now

The 2070 Net-Zero target is not a distant goal for India’s cement sector. It starts today, with decisions being made on the plant floor.

The SWM Rules 2026 are already in effect, requiring cement plants to replace coal with RDF. Carbon credit markets are opening up, and coal prices are not going to get cheaper. Every tonne of coal a cement plant replaces with waste-derived fuel saves money on one side and generates carbon credit revenue on the other. Pre-processing infrastructure is no longer just a compliance requirement. It is a business investment with a measurable return.

The good news is that nothing is missing. The technology works. The waste is available in every Indian city. The government has provided the policy direction. The only thing standing between where the industry is today and where it needs to be is the commitment to build the right infrastructure.

The cement companies that move now will not just meet the regulations. They will be ahead of every competitor that waits.

About The Author

Jignesh Kundaria is the Director and CEO of Fornnax Technology. Over an experience spanning more than two decades in the recycling industry, he has established himself as one of India’s foremost voices on waste-to-fuel technology and alternative fuel infrastructure.

Concrete

WCA Welcomes SiloConnect as associate corporate member

Published

2 weeks ago

April 13, 2026

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The World Cement Association (WCA) has announced SiloConnect as its newest associate corporate member, expanding its network of technology providers supporting digitalisation in the cement industry. SiloConnect offers smart sensor technology that provides real-time visibility of cement inventory levels at customer silos, enabling producers to monitor stock remotely and plan deliveries more efficiently. The solution helps companies move from reactive to proactive logistics, improving delivery planning, operational efficiency and safety by reducing manual inspections. The technology is already used by major cement producers such as Holcim, Cemex and Heidelberg Materials and is deployed across more than 30 countries worldwide.

Concrete

TotalEnergies and Holcim Launch Floating Solar Plant in Belgium

Published

2 weeks ago

April 13, 2026

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TotalEnergies and Holcim have commissioned a floating solar power plant in Obourg, Belgium, built on a rehabilitated former chalk quarry that has been converted into a lake. The project has a generation capacity of 31 MW and produces around 30 GWh of renewable electricity annually, which will be used to power Holcim’s nearby industrial operations. The project is currently the largest floating solar installation in Europe dedicated entirely to industrial self-consumption. To ensure minimal impact on the surrounding landscape, more than 700 metres of horizontal directional drilling were used to connect the solar installation to the electrical substation. The project reflects ongoing collaboration between the two companies to support industrial decarbonisation through renewable energy solutions and innovative infrastructure development.