Ambuja Cements and ACC make Industry 4.0 investment

Holcim India companies, Ambuja Cements Ltd and ACC Ltd, are further investing in Industry 4.0 under the group's ‘Plants of Tomorrow’ programme.

The four-year programme aims to create a global network of over 270 integrated cement plants and grinding stations in more than 50 countries by applying automation technologies and robotics, artificial intelligence, predictive maintenance and digital twin technologies to the entire production processes.

Neeraj Akhoury, CEO India Holcim and managing director and CEO of Ambuja Cements Ltd, commented: "As an industry leader we are looking at 'Plants of Tomorrow’ as a big opportunity and responsibility to place India on the map of global cement manufacturing. This path-breaking project will lead to transformative outcomes not just in terms of operational and financial gains but also make cement manufacturing in the country environmentally sustainable and create a safe work environment for our colleagues across all our plants."

A “Plants of Tomorrow” certified operation promises 15-20 per cent more operational efficiency compared to a conventional cement plant, the company said.

Another Plants of Tomorrow initiative is PACT - the Performance and Collaboration Tool – which effectively focuses operational decisions based on data about weekly operations, monthly performances, projects and actions. Both companies have already implemented tools such as a Distributed Control System (DCS), Tool Location System (TLS) and Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) to increase plant efficiency and uptime.