Leading International Cement Company

Challenge: Maximize Efficiency and Production

A subsidiary of an international cement company, is one of the premier cement and building materials producers in the Eastern United States.

The subsidiary’s operations include cement plants, ready-mix concrete plants, concrete block plants, quarries, import and rail terminals, and fly ash production facilities. In 2020, the company’s revenues totaled over $500 million.

Like many leading manufacturers, the company constantly strives to maximize efficiency and production by enhancing quality, minimizing process upsets, and decreasing operations and energy costs. The company sought an advanced process control (APC) system that would meet these objectives while leveraging its existing technology infrastructure.

After thoroughly reviewing APC systems and services offerings, the company turned to Rockwell Automation to help enhance production performance while reducing energy costs. Through its ValueFirst® program, Rockwell Automation provided the leading cement manufacturer with a phased project approach designed to evaluate and assure the company’s return on investment (ROI) before project deployment. The company launched the program on two cement mills at the cement facility at its headquarters.

Solution: Increasing Quality, Decreasing Energy Use with Rockwell Automation Closed-loop Control

Rockwell Automation and the leading cement manufacturer worked closely together  to deploy Rockwell Automation FactoryTalk^® Analytics™ with closed-loop, multivariable predictive control optimization capabilities, on the two finish mills (#10 and #11). Specific goals for the project included decreasing energy usage, increasing production, and improving product quality by decreasing deviation in cement. Finish mill #11 was a standard ball mill, capable of producing approximately 90 tons per hour of type I/II cement. Finish mill #10 was a ball mill configured with a roller press for pre-grinding, capable of producing approximately 130 tons per hour of type I/II cement. Leveraging the industrial analytics expertise of Rockwell Automation engineering, Rockwell Automation cement solution delivered a faster time to value and a more sustained value with lower maintenance costs than incumbent technologies like expert system-based toolkits. It combined steady-state optimization with model predictive control to deliver an advanced process control solution capable of managing process setpoints and transitions. The software solution is based on a dynamic model of complex processes (such as those in a cement mill), allowing for more robust real-time control and optimization than with traditional static, expert
system solutions.

“Rockwell Automation’s ValueFirst program underscores the company’s dedication to the success of our business. The program allows us to better understand the technology and the potential benefits with little financial risk. We entered into this relationship confident that the technology would deliver results, and they have delivered on that guarantee.”
- Process Engineer

FactoryTalk Analytics closed-loop control solutions define key process parameters in three categories: manipulated, controlled, and disturbance variables. The controlled variables are typically key product metrics. Manipulated variables are those process parameters that can be independently adjusted and that impact the controlled variables, like production rate and separator speed. Lastly, disturbance variables are those process parameters that impact the controlled variables, but generally cannot be independently adjusted. The solution’s predictive capabilities enable plant personnel to anticipate how the mill will perform considering significant external process upsets and through normal product transitions. The cement mill application continuously updates its predictions based on the internal models of future behavior, process interdependencies, and actual performance.

Results: Higher production and quality, while using
less power

At the company headquarter mills, the FactoryTalk Analytics solution reduced energy use, increased throughput, and improved product quality. The project met and exceeded projections of 3.5 decrease in KW/ton energy use and a production increase of 3-4 tons per hour. The company also reported a decrease in standard deviation in cement from 130 to 80 (38% reduction). In addition to these quantifiable benefits, the solution helped mill operators focus more attention on mission-critical process issues, improving production efficiency and impacting the bottom line.