There are many causes for complaints about cement quality from customers, some more justified than others. A brief review of some common perceived issues indicates that a deeper look at the potential causes for problems may help reduce the incidence of complaints.
Over a six-month period the complaints from customers of a single cement plant were categorised and 69 per cent of the complaints were found to relate to service matters, typically late or incorrect deliveries. Although there is frequently a certain smugness among the production teams at a cement plant when complaints relate to late deliveries rather than quality, these are issues which occur at the interface with customers and reflect badly on the company as a whole.
For the remaining 31 per cent of complaints, reasons were varied (see Figure 1) but still reveal something about the issues at the cement plant. For instance, the combination of complaints about lumps in the cement, fast setting and hot cement would suggest an issue with milling temperatures and gypsum dehydration.
