Digital solutions for the cement industry
Tap the full potential of your cement plants
For many branches of industry, the Internet of Things (IoT) is seen as a spearhead for a revolution in manufacturing. IoT is an essential part of an initiative called Industrie 4.0 – an initiative of the German automation industry. Its objective is to define the way forward for manufacturing companies in the Internet age. A core element is that process industries become more intelligent. Cement companies, too, can profit from digitalization which helps tackle the challenges facing the industry e.g. demand for increased productivity, efficiency, optimization and lifecycle time. Our digitalization solutions not only facilitate raw material and energy savings of up to 20%, they simultaneously ensure highest quality. Digitalization is a journey Siemens takes together with the cement customers.
Saving energy and raw materials and increasing sustainability: new approaches in cement production
Alongside the high requirements for quality, the construction industry cannot avoid issues such as “energy efficiency” and “eco-balance”. This even applies to objects where it is less apparent, such as bridges. Now, every phase of the construction process is examined in terms of sustainability, just like with energy-efficient houses. This includes the manufacturing processes for individual construction materials and their individual ingredients, which therefore includes cement. In energy-intensive industrial sectors such as cement production there is a huge potential for savings in this respect. An optimized production process makes reduced fuel consumption possible. Based on the overall use in the cement industry in Germany – approx. 3 TWh – more than 150,000 households could be supplied with the energy saved. The decisive step involves digitalization of operating and process control – so that in the end cement production will be just as “green” as the end product itself.
Optimization of production potential
The innovative process control system CEMAT on the basis of SIMATIC PCS 7 technology is the best solution for optimization of production potential in cement production. All the necessary function components are already in the system and standardized, even for special process optimization tasks. This includes optimization of the fuel supply for the oven – with fossil fuels or alternative fuels – as well as optimization of mills.
CEMAT allows a forward-looking process control that automatically gives a higher throughput while maintaining product quality. The use of energy and raw materials can be reduced substantially; quality requirements can be set at a high level and production organized in a more flexible way.
Decades long experience in the cement industry
Our products and solutions for the cement industry incorporate more than 35 years of experience and collaboration with the world’s leading cement companies. They are based on proven standards and tailored to the specific demands of your industry.
Advanced Process Control – stored knowledge for your control tasks
SIMATIC PCS 7/CEMAT includes a standard library containing a wide range of different types of Advanced Process Control (APC) control functions, making it possible to address the majority of complex closed-loop control tasks in the cement industry. This provides the user with easy access to an advanced functionality at no extra cost. Customer´s expertise can be easily integrated, planning and implementation are minimized and furthermore, the system is modular and open to future extensions and implementation of artificial intelligent solutions.
Minerals Process Analyzer – for better, data-based decision making
Minerals Process Analyzer (MPA) is a long-term achieving system which can be integrated to SIMATIC PCS 7 CEMAT or other process control systems, providing data for further analysis and evaluations. MPA helps cement manufacturers benefit from its many features for example: increased productivity by data comparison, cost saving and quality improvement through the analysis of the alarms and the integrated report system.
Process simulation – testing and optimizing ahead of time
The cement process simulator is an option to be integrated into SIMATIC PCS 7 CEMAT, enabling a realistic reconstruction of the behavior of a cement plant. The digital twin offers virtual commissioning, operator training and seeing the plant behavior by changing the process parameters before launching into real production. For the cement customers that spells safety, lower costs and higher efficiency.
Operations Intelligence – better information, better results
Siemens operations intelligence is tailored-made solution, which base on your installations of automation and IT infrastructure. This solution will collect, analyze and present operational and business data for plant dash boarding, thereby enabling real-time performance management and decision support at higher management level.
This data transparency can help cement companies optimize their entire supply chain not only for cement production but also complete material value chain and speeds up the decision making process up via smart and connectible field devices, cloud solutions and real-time plant data. Through the comparison of assets between the plants, it enhances the visual quality of the cost factors. Needless to say, Siemens state-of-the-art solutions fulfil the industrial IT security requirements.
