Displaying items by tag: software

World: The Global Cement and Concrete Association (GCCA) and Leadership Group for Industry Transition (LeadIT) launched the Green Cement Technology Tracker on 20 July 2023. The Green Cement Technology Tracker presents users with a real-time overview of active initiatives to reduce CO₂ emissions in the global cement industry. At present, the tracker covers carbon capture projects, which account for 36% of planned emissions reductions under the GCCA’s 2050 Roadmap for Net Zero Carbon Concrete. The partners plan to subsequently expand the scope of coverage to other emissions reduction technologies.

GCCA CEO Thomas Guillot said “Unleashing technology such as carbon capture, utilisation and storage is key to achieving our net zero mission in our sector. Carbon capture pilots, projects and announcements are picking up pace across the world. This technology works, and our next goal is to scale up, working with stakeholders such as governments and the investment community to help transform the industry worldwide.”

The Green Cement Technology Tracker is freely accessible here on the LeadIT website.

Qatar: Qatar National Cement Company (QNCC) has signed a partnership agreement with SAP and Mannai ICT. The deal is intended to help the cement producer use cloud computing products such as Google Cloud to manage its data. It will also use S/4HANA, a resource planning product, and SAP Success Factors, a employee management product.

Essa Mohammed Ali A M Kaldari, QNCC’s Chief Executive Officer, said “In undertaking this end-to-end digital transformation, our aim is to modernise and streamline our systems, increase efficiencies, and enhance the services we deliver to our customers and employees.” He added, “After implementation, our operations will be more agile and scalable, enabling us to capitalise on future opportunities in the market and region.”

Alaa Jaber, the managing director for SAP Qatar and Fast Growth Markets, said, “Through this digital transformation, QNCC is aligning itself with Qatar’s 2030 National Vision and supporting its sustainability plans. It is also ensuring its future success by increasing its visibility over all operations, enabling it to react in an agile way to changes in the market and expected rise in demand for its products. Moreover, QNCC will be able to make decisions informed by real-time insights and data analytics.”

Switzerland: Holcim has commissioned the world's first cement plant digital twin at one of its cement plants in Switzerland. The software models the plant and is integrated with sensors, analytics and machine learning technology. UK-based HyBird also participated in the development of the technology. Holcim expects it to help to optimise its operations. Under its Plants of Tomorrow automation strategy, it will now aim to roll out the system across all of its cement plants, beginning with those in Europe.

Holcim's global head of Plants of Tomorrow, Rozemarijn Wesby, said "Our digital twin in Switzerland is a breakthrough for the entire industry. By leveraging digital technologies like this, we are generating massive amounts of data, allowing smarter decision-making to take our operational efficiency to the next level."

UK: Carbon Re and A³&Co have signed a strategic partnership agreement to sell cement producers products to optimise production processes to reduce operational costs and carbon emissions. Carbon Re says that its Delta Zero industrial decarbonisation software product can cut fuel use by up to 10% and CO₂ emissions by up to 20% and has been piloted in cement plants in three continents. The product uses a machine learning approach to model a cement plant’s production environment and optimise processes for low CO₂ output and fuel use with no capital expenditure. A³&Co is a strategic and technical consulting company that is focused on the cement sector.

Sherif Elsayed-Ali, the chief executive officer and co-founder of Carbon Re, said "Our technology is already having a huge impact on some of the world's most energy-intensive industries. This strategic partnership with A³&Co will enable even more cement producers to benefit from the operational savings offered by AI as they tackle the challenge of cutting carbon emissions and rising fuel prices."

Philippines: Holcim Philippines carried out 70 upgrades aimed at increasing automation in its operations during 2022. The projects aim to optimise cement production, generate cost savings and ensure best safety practices. The Manila Times has reported that new Industry 4.0 initiatives include equipment monitoring systems offering 90-day performance projections, software capable of predicting cement's strength development and drones to replace visual inspections in remote spaces.

Holcim Philippines said that it is currently exploring the use of new predictive technologies in its operations.

Mexico: Cemex has extended its US$93.1m receivable securitisation programme with US-based Finacity. Contify Banking News has reported that Finacity will administrate the programme on Cemex’s behalf until mid-2025.

Morocco: NovaCim has ordered the SLV Cement logistics software product from Portugal-based Cachapuz for its forthcoming 1.2Mt/yr integrated cement plant in Ouled Ghanem in El-Jadida Province. The product is intended to improve and optimise dispatch processes. Denmark-based FLSmidth announced in 2019 that it was going to build the plant for TEKCIM in conjunction with the Société Générale des Travaux du Maroc (SGTM). The plant is expected to start production in 2023.

Mexico: Cemex has recorded a total of 50,000 users of its Cemex Go online sales platform since its launch in 2017. Exchanges via the platform account for 93% of the group's global cement customers and 85% of concrete customers. Cemex Go's net promoter score (NPS) customer satisfaction rating rose by 50% between November 2018 and November 2022.

Chief executive officer González Olivieri said "Cemex Go is an important enabler in our transition to a lower carbon industry by improving supply chain logistics, moving to a paperless industry and increasing efficiency throughout the construction sector."

Brazil: Germany-based INFORM has established a joint venture with its partner Portia LAC in São Paulo. The new company called INFORM PORTIA will take over sales, consulting and support for INFORM software products in Brazil.

Andreas Meyer, the chief executive officer of INFORM, said “With this joint venture, we are expanding our presence in South America to meet the growing demand for software solutions to optimise business processes.” He added, “This joint venture is an important building block in our global network. We strive to maintain a relationship with our customers based on partnership and trust. However, this is much more successful if you also have a local presence.” In addition to its headquarters in Aachen in Germany and new joint venture in Brazil, INFORM is represented by five other INFORM related companies in the US, Chile, Australia, Singapore, and Portugal respectively.

US: Titan America has successfully implemented machine learning monitoring and adjustment software systems at its cement plants at Pennsuco in Florida and Roanoke in Virginia. The producer says that the increased automation will enhance the plants' efficiency, reliability and product quality.

President and chief executive officer Bill Zarkalis said "I'm incredibly proud to mark the end-to-end digital transformation of our cement plants. A systematic process of test and learn that started several years ago has reached an important milestone.”