SLV Cement Helps Improve the Jaypee Rewa Cement Plant
This article was published in CemWeek India Cement & Construction
Materials magazine (vol. 1, issue 1), in 1st of August, 2011. To
download the standalone version of this article, click here (3Mb file).
In early 2011 the Cachapuz Bilanciai Group and
its Indian partner, String Automation, completed the implementation of
their SLV Cement solution at Jaypee Rewa unit, the flagship cement plant
of the Jaypee Group. The project, which improves inbound and outbound
dispatching and logistics processes, has been a success for all
participating companies.
The Problem
The flow of materials into and out of any cement plant can often be
chaotic. Even the most well-orchestrated transportation plans are open
to the risk of human error and require numerous man hours to run
smoothly. For years, the transportation logistics aspect of plant
management has been ready for an improvement in technology that would
allow it run more safely and efficiently. Cachapuz helped the Jaypee
Group bring these improvements to the Rewa unit through the SLV Cement
system. Located in the state of Madhya Pradesh, the Jaypee Rewa plant is
the Jaypee Group’s main cement production unit. The plant has a
production capacity of 3.0 mtpy. Because of its importance for the
company, this plant was the first selected to implement the SLV Cement
system.
The Solution
Cachapuz customized the SLV Cement solution to meet the needs of the
Jaypee Rewa plant, providing the necessary tools and equipment for
complete automation of its functional areas, such as dispatching,
weighing, parking, entry/exit gates and raw materials unloading. The
tools for process management, business analysis and integration with the
SAP Enterprise Resource Planning program were also fully customized.
All required process operators use SLV Cement software front ends, which
were tailored to ensure that the software modules are simple and well
focalized on the business processes.
Using the SLV Cement system, the truck driver performs the
loading/unloading process in self-service mode, interacting with the
system components. First, he identifies himself in the parking kiosk,
which validates the permission to load/unload from SAP, and waits for
the system or the operators to call him. When called, he drives to one
of the entry weighbridges, identifies himself, and the system registers
the truck’s weight after checking with positioning sensors that the
truck is in the correct position on the weighbridge. When a traffic
light informs him to proceed, he goes to the indicated loading/unloading
area, where he performs the operation assisted by SLV Cement unloading
kiosks (in the case of raw materials unloading processes). Then he goes
to the exit weighbridge, identifies himself in the kiosk, and the system
registers the second weight and prints the necessary documentation. All
information is automatically synchronized with SAP to ensure that the
data is consolidated in the two systems. To conclude the process, the
driver goes to the dispatch zone to collect the legal documents, which
are prepared in SAP using the data registered by SLV Cement.
The installed SLV Cement solution comprised an SLV Cement framework with
SAP-ERP integration; a parking zone with two large information panels
that are fully visible at 150 meters, one SLV Cement parking kiosk and
one digital signage information unit; seven weighbridges with SLV Cement
check-in/checkout self-service kiosks (with color touch screen, RFID
card/tag reader, collectors and thermal kiosk printer), 14 positioning
sensors and traffic lights; and three raw materials unloading zones with
SLV Cement raw materials kiosks (with RFID card readers and embedded
traffic lights). The necessary SAP interface functions were developed by
SAP Consultants of JIL-Information Technology, an IT arm of the Jaypee
Group.
Satisfaction and Recognition
The success of the SLV Cement implementation in the Jaypee Rewa plant
was possible with the hard work, commitment and team spirit of all the
teams of Cachapuz Bilanciai Group, String Automation and Jaypee SAP/IT
and Maintenance teams. On April 4, 2011, almost three months after the
successful launch of SLV Cement in India, officers from Cachapuz
Bilanciai Group and String Automation visited the Jaypee Rewa plant and
met Mr. Sunny Gaur, Hon’ble Managing Director of Jaiprakash Associates
Limited (Jaypee Group), Mr. C. S. Jain, Senior President (Commercial) of
the Jaypee Rewa plant, as well as other personnel from several plants
of the same group. During the meeting the parties discussed the
implementation of SLV Cement in the Rewa plant. The Jaypee Group
provided very positive and motivating feedback. According to Mr. Sunny Gaur, “The SLV Cement solution is efficient, is running very well and we are very happy with it”. Mr. C. S. Jain, Senior President (Commercial) of the Jaypee Rewa plant, has been highly satisfied with the SLV Cement launch. According to Mr. Jain, the processes through SLV Cement “take
30 seconds, save 15 minutes at respective weighbridges, reduce the
manual interventions, chances of errors drastically minimized while also
eliminating chaos through disciplined movement of trucks inside the
Plant area. The Jaypee Rewa plant was the first Indian Cement plant to
receive the prestigious award of BSC Five Star as well as Sword of
Honour from British Safety Council, United Kingdom after successful
implementation of SLV Cement Software. After analyzing satisfactory
performance of the SLV Cement software implementation, the Jaypee Group
placed an order with Cachapuz Solutions, Portugal, to roll out the
solution across other cement plants in the Jaypee Group”.
Er. Bikramjit Singh, Director of String Automation,
Cachapuz’s exclusive partner in India, has also expressed satisfaction
with the SLV Cement arrangement and expects that it will be highly
successful in the future. Er. Singh has recognized a tendency towards
innovation and technology among Indian industrialists, stating that such
technology “amounts to enhanced efficiency, better safety and health care for their workers.”
String Automation is capitalizing on this trend by partnering with
Cachapuz Bilanciai Group to bring their SLV Cement product to the local
market and customize it to local needs and culture. Er. Singh reports
that the response has been “overwhelming” and that many more companies
will be adopting the SLV Cement system in the near future.
New Orders
Based on the success of this first implementation, Cachapuz Bilanciai
and String Automation received new orders to implement SLV Cement in two
more Jaypee Group plants: Chunar cement plant, located in Mirzapur,
Uttar Pradesh and Baga cement plant, located in Himachal Pradesh.
Additionally, Cachapuz/String were also awarded new orders to implement
an SLV Cement Bags Counting Module in Rewa and Chunar plants, with a
total of 22 bag loading lines. These new orders reflect the satisfaction
of Jaypee Group in SLV Cement and represent the consolidation of the
Cachapuz/String strategy for the Indian market.
Key Advantages of SLV Cement for Jaypee Rewa project:
- Automated raw materials reception and cement dispatching processes
- Well-oriented and business-focalized software front ends
- Self-service operations 24/7
- Increased organization of truck movement
- Reduced turnaround time to complete the loading/unloading operations
- Improved safety and security at the plant
- Integrated with SAP ERP
- Reduction of manpower and human errors
- Remote support to the system
About Cachapuz Bilanciai Group
Cachapuz is a Portuguese company that is a part of the Bilanciai Group,
one of the biggest industrial weighing groups with representation in
more than 30 countries worldwide. Cachapuz develops and implements
automated solutions in a wide range of business areas, including cement
plants and quarries. Cachapuz Bilanciai Group’s exclusive partner for
the Indian market is String Automation.
About SLV Cement
SLV Cement is an innovative solution for cement plants that provides the
complete automation of the main functional areas such as parking
management, self-service weighing, dispatching, entrance, bulk loading,
bagged cement loading and counting, raw materials unloading, exit, fleet
tracking and management, ERP integration and business analysis.
About Jaypee Group
Jaiprakash Associates is a 25,000 crore well-diversified industrial
conglomerate with a significant presence in engineering, construction,
and other industries. It is the third largest cement producer in the
country, specializing in a particular blend of Portland Pozzolana Cement
under the brand name Jaypee Cement (PPC). Its cement division currently
operates modern cement plants with an aggregate capacity of 22.80 mtpy.
The company is in the midst of capacity expansion of its cement
business throughout the country and is slated to have a capacity of
35.90 mtpy by FY12E with captive thermal power plants totaling 672 MW.
Cachapuz installation (Portugal) – Bilanciai Group
VISIT the WEB SITE http://www.slvcement.com
