• The Cement major has 8 geographically dispersed plants - 5 Integrated and 3 Grinding Units.
• The plants have a wide range of technology and machinery.
• Overall installed capacity was 16 MT Clinker.
• The company engaged ECS to embark on an initiative to achieve Excellence in operation and Cost Reduction which will result to revitalize the organization.

Challenges:

• Quality of Limestone deteriorates with every passing year and hence operating Plants with multiple / heterogeneous deposits has become a reality today
• Fluctuations in Availability and Quality of Coal calls for a preparedness by the plants to use what is available in a more efficient manner
• Breakdowns and Minor stops plague the industry despite use of various advanced tools available for reliability
• Being an Energy Intensive Process requires an all out and all involving effort to stem the losses

ECS Approach:

• TPM instilled a sense of belonging and ownership and involved People in order to build reliability in the operations by setting up the appropriate Process & Asset Care regime, Visual Management & Mistake Proofing framework.
• Six Sigma projects focused on Process Improvement, Variability Control & Optimisation and led to the development of valuable optimisation algorithms for various parts of the process from Mines to Despatch.
• Finally the Lean & Sustainable Manufacturing toolkit provided the roadmap for world class excellence.

• Over USD 12 million of accrued benefits
• Average Plant Run Factor improved from 318 days to 340 days and average shutdown duration reduced from 35 days to 15 days
• Various Optimization Models developed
• Level Tracking of Key processes (MOST)
• Metrics for customer focus, sustainability, employee and partner satisfaction and lean management introduced and deployed
• 250 candidates trained on Six-Sigma - 22 Black Belts and 91 Green Belts certified
• A working Knowledge Management and Learning System established within units, gradually extending organisation-wide