Today, more than 54% of the world's population lives in urban areas, a proportion that is expected to increase to 66% by 2050. As per "The 2014 revision of the World Urbanization Prospects" by UN's Department of Economic & Social Affairs (DESA) Population Division, the largest urban growth will take place in India, China and Nigeria. As a result, these countries will face numerous challenges in meeting the needs of their growing urban populations, including housing, infrastructure, transportation, energy and employment, as well as basic services such as education and health care.
Recognizing the importance of sustainable infrastructure, the Government of India is working on structural policy changes to provide a big push to the Indian economy. 'Make in India', one of the major national initiative that focuses on making India a global manufacturing hub with the objective to ensure that manufacturing sector which contributes around 15% of the country's GDP is increased to 25% in the next few years.
As a result, the Cement sector is expected to gain large benefits from this. Today, with a current production capacity of around 366 MT, India is the second largest producer of cement after China in the world. To meet the rise in demand, cement capacity is expected to increase to around 550 MT by FY20.
Cement being a commodity item does not allow much premium pricing and thus most manufacturers are price takers in the markets they operate in. In such a scenario, control over operating expenses is essential not only to maintaining cost competitiveness but maximising profitability.
The major operating cost for cement companies is power and fuel. The vintage of a cement plant also significantly influences its cost structure. While an older plant enjoys the advantage of lower capital cost, such benefit is usually offset by higher power and fuel costs, significant repair and maintenance expenses, and generally higher manpower expenses. Size is another factor that determines the overall cost structure of a cement plant, as larger plants usually enjoy better control over infrastructure and overhead expenses. Taking into consideration these facts, Indian cement manufacturers are setting up larger capacity plants to leverage volume handling.
From mines to packing, electrical and automation plays a vital role in the production of consistent high-quality cement, caring about environmental responsibilities, cost effective production and reducing capital employed. Automation solutions play a vital role in increasing the efficiency and reliability of cement production.
C&A has been committed to the cement industry since 1975 and continually developed standards for this industry. During the last 37 years, C&A has delivered successful process control systems to various cement plants with total capacity of 100 MTPA in India and abroad.
In this edition of CAnvas, we are featuring a case study on the latest automation system deployment at Gulf Cement Company for Waste Heat Recovery Based power Plant that highlights C&A's technical competence and automation expertise.
As a leading system integrator, C&A also offers Electrical & Automation solution to the Cement industry. Its engineering department, with their industry-specific validation procedures, ensure consistently high quality solutions in E&I domain.
Hope you will find this issue interesting and informative as always.
Happy Reading !
Sandeep Bhat
Cement industry plays a pivotal role in the infrastructure
Today, for a cement plant, consistently producing high-quality
Gulf Cement Company (GCC) is a leading cement producer
Education and training are necessities that open the doors
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