In a new contract signed earlier this year, Chinese construction giant CBMI Construction Co., Ltd., part of the Sinoma Group, ordered the supply and engineering of three complete control systems for two existing and one new cement line at Kirene in Senegal.
Energy savings, higher fuel substitution rates and maintenance planning – digitalisation presents massive opportunities for the cement industry at a time when energy costs, over-capacity and new environmental regulations are major concerns to many plant owners.
With a complete and integrated control system across all three lines at Kirene, CBMI Construction creates the digital foundation for its customer to make data-driven decisions on process optimisation, stay on top of maintenance jobs and accelerate energy savings.
All three lines will have a shared digital infrastructure build on the FLSmidth ECS/ControlCenter™ platform. On top of that comes the FLSmidth plant data management software, ECS/PlantDataManagement. The data management software is the operational interface to all data, allowing plant management to transform performance data into real-time KPIs and giving operators access to critical process information via tailored dashboards.
According to CBMI Construction, the ECS software from FLSmidth is essential in operationalising the 12,000 data points at the new Kirene line (3) for the customer. “With a combination of extensive process knowledge and digital solutions that integrate across different equipment suppliers, FLSmidth is instrumental in securing the efficiency benefits our customer expects,” explains CBMI.
“With more than 1,500 active product and process control installations in the cement industry, this order reaffirms our strong digital expertise,” says Jens Adler, General Manager in Group Digital at FLSmidth. “The cement industry might be a little slow in adopting Industry 4.0 technologies, but digitalisation is transforming how many respond to increasing demands for emission reductions and efficiency. This is reflected in the emphasis on digital solutions as part of our MissionZero ambition to offer cement producers zero emission cement production by 2030,” Mr. Adler concludes.
Apart from the digital infrastructure, the new line at Kirene will be equipped with ECS/CemScanner® and QCX/BlendExpert™ from FLSmith to further optimise the performance of the plant. The order became effective in Q1 2021.
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