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Digitalization as a Catalyst for the Cement Industry

Article in Cement International · August 2018

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 4E. Gallestey, M. Hollender, ABB AG, Ladenburg, Germany
SUMMARY
ABB Ability is about taking expertise, physical devices,
connectivity and software to deliver solutions that enhance
productivity and safety. ABB Ability solutions are built on a
common platform using Microsoft components, which also
gives a benefit in terms of security, scalability and speed of
deployment. Wherever possible, humans are removed from
harsh or dangerous environments. Artificial intelligence,
machine vision, automation and applied robotics create solu-
tions to increase safety and productivity. Sensors give infor-
mation in real time about raw materials, production assets,
and the process itself. This information is made available in
full to all stakeholders, for immediate decision-making but
also for learning and modelling. Production plans are updated
in real time and so will be the production and maintenance
schedules. The digital opportunity is here to stay and will
transform many aspects of the cement industry. Industry-
standard platform components will leverage an ecosystem
of innovation.3
PROCESSING
(English text supplied by the authors)
20
ZUSAMMENFASSUNG
Bei ABB Ability geht es darum, Fachwissen, Geräte, Konnek-
tivität und Software zu nutzen, um Lösungen bereitzustellen,
die die Produktivität und Sicherheit erhöhen. Die Lösungen
von ABB Ability sind auf einer gängigen Plattform unter Ver-
wendung von Microsoft-Komponenten aufgebaut, was auch
Vorteile in Bezug auf Sicherheit, Skalierbarkeit und Geschwin-
digkeit der Implementierung bietet. Wo immer möglich, wer-
den Menschen aus rauen oder gefährlichen Umgebungen
entfernt. Künstliche Intelligenz, maschinelles Sehen, Auto-
matisierung und angewandte Robotik schaffen Lösungen zur
Erhöhung der Sicherheit und Produktivität. Sensoren geben
in Echtzeit Auskunft über Rohstoffe, Produktionsanlagen und
den Prozess selbst. Diese Informationen werden allen Betei-
ligten in vollem Umfang zur Verfügung gestellt, für sofortige
Entscheidungen, aber auch zum Lernen und zur Modellbil-
dung. Die Produktionspläne werden in Echtzeit aktualisiert,
ebenso die Produktions- und Wartungspläne. Die digitale
Zukunft ist da und wird viele Aspekte der Zementindustrie
verändern. Branchenübliche Systemkomponenten werden
ein innovatives Ökosystem schaffen.3
CEMENT INTERNATIONAL 4 4/2018 4 VOL. 16
Digitalization as a Catalyst for the Cement Industry
Digitalisierung als Katalysator für die Zementindustrie
1 Introduction
The cement industry is a capital intensive, energy consum-
ing industry vital for sustaining the infrastructure. Cement
production releases large amounts of carbon dioxide and per-
sistent organic pollutants. The solution to these challenges
and the future of cement production, lies in automating and
integrating information and using it for real-time optimization
of the cement production processes.
Just producing information (sensing & analyzing) and pre-
senting it in dashboards and reports is not enough – it has
to be used to optimize production - we have to “close the
loop”. New possibilities in digital technology have already
massively changed our everyday life and are now quickly
becoming relevant for the cement industries too. The digital
revolution is coming to industrial markets.
Technological innovation in the consumer space, such as
mobile phones, social networking, artificial intelligence,
machine learning and streaming media, has led to explosive
improvements in computation, storage, and connectivity
(� Fig. 1). Those technologies are now spilling over to the
industrial markets and are causing a massive opportunity
for new value creation. Other industries like music (Spotify),
video (Netflix), news (Facebook), hotels (Airbnb) and taxi
(Uber) have already been revolutionized by digital technolo-
gies. And while process industries generate huge volumes of
data, their process-management and information-technology
capabilities are not as advanced as those of other industries.
As a result, thus far manufacturers have lagged behind in sys-
tematically deploying data analytics to extract the substantial
value hidden in the insights they contain [1].
Figure 1: Technology drivers for digitalisation
CEMENT INTERNATIONAL 4 4/2018 4 VOL. 16
2 How ABB is creating industry leading digital
solutions: the ABB Ability™ platform
Cloud computing is a major trend in general Information
Technology. Computing resources no longer need to be pro-
vided by local on-premise computers, but can be consumed
from large centralized computing centers. This can provide
significant advantages for cost, flexibility and security. In
addition, having data available in the cloud can also break
up information silos, foster collaboration between suppliers
and customers and enable new types of service business.
Many of ABB’s digital solutions have historically started
“at the edge”. Today, this is increasingly being called “fog-
computing” (because fog, unlike the cloud, is closer to the
ground) (� Fig. 2). ABB has extensive experience in building
mission-critical automation systems that reside on-site. Many
of ABB’s systems are now being extended with a connection
to the cloud. For example, the 800xA system now comes
with an option that allows customers to upload data to the
cloud so more analytics can be carried out at this level.
More than 200 ABB Ability solutions in various industries
are already available.
Unlike what has happened in consumer markets, ABB be-
lieves that business-to-business markets won’t converge
towards a single cloud environment [2]. Industrial customers
have highly specific needs (regulatory, safety, and others
requiring domain-specific features) that can’t be provided by
one common, horizontal system. ABB therefore believes that
we need to “connect the clouds” to create an “intercloud”.
This is much easier to do at a cloud-to-cloud level where
computing, storage, and connectivity resources are plentiful
and cheap.
PROCESSING
21
 Figure 2: Fog, Cloud and Intercloud computing
ABB partners with Microsoft and uses Microsoft Azure as a
backbone for ABB Ability.
Over time more and more computing workloads will be
shifted to the cloud, but for some, like mission critical real-
time automation control it probably makes sense to stay
on-site in the foreseeable future.
3 React to asset condition in real time
An effective asset management strategy increases both
equipment availability and production rate by providing
insight into asset health, corrective action instructions and
organizational visibility. The result is not only higher asset
availability, but also significantly reduced maintenance costs.
A modern asset optimization system can help cement plants
to go from reactive to predictive maintenance strategies,
avoiding unnecessary maintenance and reducing operat-
ing costs. Extended automation solutions such as System
800xA can integrate modern maintenance systems from
suppliers such as IBM, SAP or Ventyx. Real-time data on
asset conditions can then be used to streamline mainte-
nance effectiveness and enable condition-based monitoring.
System 800xA Asset Optimization provides various levels of
mechanical condition monitoring from basic vibration moni-
toring to complete mechanical asset analysis with detailed
PROCESSING
root cause tools. Predictive maintenance results in reduced
production interruptions through identifying and addressing
issues before they happen [3].
The ABB smart sensor is a wireless, pocket-sized sensor
that can be attached to almost any low-voltage motor. It
adds powerful analytics capabilities without requiring huge
investments. The sensor collects vital data points, like vibra-
tion, sound and temperature. Data is uploaded via an ABB
gateway or smartphone to the cloud, where it is analyzed.
The results are sent back for optimizing performance and
predictive maintenance. Besides monitoring a motor’s health,
the ABB smart sensor enables the analysis of energy con-
sumption patterns. This helps identify poorly dimensioned
motors so that plant engineers can select the correct motor
for the actual load.
4 Just-in-time optimal process management
Just-in-time process management allows quarry operators to
schedule, dispatch and track operations in real time so that
22
extraction, processing and loadout are linked together. The
system is configured to manage, in real-time, the quarry ce-
ment raw materials in terms of location, quality and quantity.
The system captures the KPIs from the drills, the loaders and
the hauling units. Origin, weight and quality of the material as
well as the loader and truck cycles are captured. The system
is a way to link the quarry activities to the cement plant pro-
cess control activities. Pit loader scales optimize the load in
each truck. By loading closer to optimal weight, the number
of cycles can be reduced, fuel consumption and maintenance
cost can be minimized.
Both mobile and fixed equipment report local conditions, task
status and location. New task plans and loading sequences
are calculated and executed based on up-to-date information.
Production analyses and statistics can be retrieved on-line
both on-site and inside the corporate intranet where cen-
tralized specialists can support the plants. This creates near
real- time insight and visibility that is a basis for well-informed
decisions based on facts.
5 Lowest material costs at given quality
constraints
Highly variable material in the quarries, the usage of alterna-
tive raw materials (for instance fly ash and sewage sludge)
as well as the cost pressure regarding the employed correc-
tive materials: these factors total up to form a complex set
of tasks when manufacturing raw meal for the production of
cement clinker. This situation calls for the use of integrated
mixture control concepts starting in the quarry control the
blending bed stacking and assure minimum standard devia-
tion of the lime standard and other moduli upstream of the
mill and in the material taken from the corrective material
silos. The prerequisites for realization of this concept are
minimized raw material costs and reliable, consistent qual-
ity. As a mixture control system, it regulates the blending
bed stacking to ensure the achievement of a set material
composition upstream of the mill [4].
Depending on the characteristics of the quarries, it is not
always possible in the blending bed to adhere to the precise
set-point value for the control parameters. It is even possible
that the decision has been taken to define variable set-points
in the blending bed, so that different types of cement can
be produced. The material coming from the blending bed
therefore has to be mixed with corrective materials to attain
CEMENT INTERNATIONAL 4 4/2018 4 VOL. 16
the required set-point value for the control parameters. The
materials normally used for this purpose are limestone, alu-
minum oxide, iron ore and sand of very high quality, which
are stored in corresponding silos. Each silo is equipped with
a dosing device controlled by the control system.

To assure calculation of the correct set-point values for the

dosing devices, analysis of the mill feed or discharge material
is necessary. The classical variant is sampling downstream
of the mill in a homogenizing tank, with one sample being
dispatched every hour to the laboratory. On the basis of the
analysis data, the set-point values for the dosing devices are
then calculated. However, as the set-point values are avail-
able only once per hour, the possible degree of control is
limited, or it may even be very difficult to make corrections.
By using an online analyzer with higher sampling rate much
better results can be achieved. The combination of pre-
blending and raw mix proportioning software together with
an online analyzer results in a significant reduction of addi-
tives by providing raw meal with the correct kiln feed quality.
6 Lowest fuel cost at given emission constraints
The rotary cement kiln process is intrinsically unstable, with
potentially large delays and disruptions. The control problem
consists of maintaining a given temperature profile through-
out the kiln while simultaneously obtaining good burning
conditions. Further, the control strategy needs to achieve
these goals with the lowest energy consumption possible,
which means facing constraints such as the amount of air
in the exhaust gases. The problem exhibits relatively large
delays due to the slow transport of the raw meal along a
series of heat exchangers, cyclones and then the kiln. Actua-
tors are kiln speed, energy input (fuels), air and feed, while
the process parameters to be controlled are temperature in
the kiln front, temperature at the kiln inlet, and oxygen in the
gases traveling through the system. Additional complexity
might also come from the usage of alternative fuels, where
the control strategy needs to calculate the optimal fuel mix
for the given conditions.
Figure 3: Advanced Process Control
Therefore it is possible to optimize for maximum throughput, for
reduced fuel use, for maximum alternative fuel use, a combina-
tion of these, or many other options. It should be noted how-
ever, that Advanced Process Optimization is not a replacement
for the plant’s regular instrumentation and control technology.
Advanced Process Optimization is higher-level control sys-
tem software that calculates improved operating points for
the existing control loops. Predicting the process behavior
is also combined with knowledge the optimization solution
has “learned” from previous actions and outcomes. This
enables the solution to make small, frequent, well-informed
and tireless set-point changes which allow a more stable
process than a human operator could possibly achieve. Once
the Advanced Process Optimization software has stabilized
the process it is able to safely drive it closer to its operating
limits and thereby maximize the desired goals of the plant
where the optimization is in place.
Typical benefits plants can expect to see when their alterna-
tive fuels are under Advanced Process Optimization control
are in the order of:

The typical benefits a user can expect to achieve from using ❱❱ Increased alternative fuel use (5 to 20 %)
Advanced Process Control (APC) for cement kiln optimiza- ❱❱ More stable product quality (10 to 20 %)
tion are increased output, lower fuel consumption, longer ❱❱ Reduced fuel costs (5 to 20 %)
refractory life and better and more consistent quality [5] ❱❱ Lower maintenance costs and fewer pollution emissions
(� Figs. 3 and 4). (5 to 20 %) PROCESSING
A range of different alternative fuels are used across the 7 Optimize grinding plant schedule
plant. Variability in calorific value and tires that often pre-
sented energy spikes needed to be accounted for in the Grinding often takes place in huge mills, where rotating steel
new strategy, in order to maximize the benefits of using balls crush the material until the required grain size distribu-
alternative fuels. Many cement plants have not yet integrated tion is reached. The produced cement is then conveyed to
process control and emission control.
They cannot optimize available fuel stocks
inside their emission constraints.
Burning zone temperature [°C]

Expert Optimizer is an Advanced Process

Optimization (APO) solution [6]. Advanced
Process Optimization applications can be
thought of as “auto-pilots” for the parts
of the production process which they are
configured to take care of (e. g. kilns or
mills). The best possible control strategy is
implemented and continuously applied on Time between 13 November 2009 and 6 December 2009
a computer linked with the instrumenta-
Figure 4: Temperature stability with and without MPC (Model Predictive Control)
tion and control system.

CEMENT INTERNATIONAL 4 4/2018 4 VOL. 16 23

 different silos according to grade before being packaged and
shipped to customers. Cement mill scheduling (the decision
when to produce a certain cement grade and in which mill)
is often still performed manually, using heuristic rules and
relying on operator experience. However, the numerous
mills, grades and silos, plus the various operating constraints,
make the problem a complex one. Too often, the operator’s
choices are far from optimal.
Based on customer orders and energy price forecasts, an
algorithm for automatic scheduling can be used to create a
reference schedule for mill operation. Such an algorithm can
take into account the cost of electricity consumption and the
amount of low-grade cement produced (cement produced
during the switch from one grade to another). Electricity
cost reduction is achieved by committing the production to
time periods when the tariffs are lower, and by managing the
mills in such a way that contracted thresholds of maximum
electrical power are not exceeded. Reductions in low-grade
cement are obtained by penalizing the number of production
switches. The direct benefits are estimated to be a saving of
up to 5 % in thermal and electrical energy and a reduction
in low-grade cement [6].
8 Health and safety
Advances in image recognition, artificial intelligence and ro-
botics make it possible to assign more and more dangerous
or unhealthy jobs to machines. Robots are quickly becoming
more flexible and are increasingly being used for scenarios
outside the traditional automotive manufacturing. New types
of robots like ABB Yumi allow a tight collaboration between
the human worker and the robot. Yumi removes the barriers to
collaboration by making fencing and cages a thing of the past.
9 Optimized business processes
Data coming from the “operational technology” (OT) is not
typically integrated into a business’s “information technol-
ogy” (IT) network. ABB Ability is now helping to bridge that
gap meaning that companies can have tighter integration
of production data. IT/OT convergence transforms real-time
data into actionable insights that drive operational excellence.
Decisions are based on consolidated, consistent and trans-
PROCESSING
parent information in real-time (� Fig. 5). Data about material,
orders, quality, maintenance and production planning can be
tightly integrated with actual production data. Process his-
torians automatically consolidate data from heterogeneous
sources and calculate aggregations and important Key Per-
formance Indicators (KPI) such as energy consumption, yield
and throughput. Historians can be tightly integrated with the
control system to create a unified information platform. The
same information available in the control room can be made
available for office workers, data analytics experts (both from
the corporate headquarters and external suppliers) and other
concerned parties.
The full business process cycle can be supported from down-
loading process orders for production confirmations, sending
partial and final confirmations back to enterprise resource plan-
ning (ERP) and sending processing complete messages for
downloaded orders. Delivery documents can be made available
in the production environment and support a drill down of the
shipment data in multiple dimensions such as sales channel,
means of transport and packing type. The detailed information
24
Figure 5: Effective integration of data from across the enterprise is
essential
helps the production department to track the detailed workload
in the shipping department. If all required information is available
when it is needed, decisions can be based on facts guesswork
and gut feeling are no longer required.
10 Collaborative operation
As solutions are becoming more and more powerful, they are
often also becoming more and more complex to engineer, di-
agnose and maintain. In addition, economic pressure makes it
impossible to have all the required competencies permanently
available in each cement plant. ABB Collaborative Operations
is an approach to make a high level of expertise (both central-
ized resources from the cement company and experts from
ABB) available for each plant. The central focus of Collaborative
Operations is the cement plant. In a typical Collaborative Op-
erations application, ABB designs remote monitoring centers
for the customer and integrates monitoring into a Collaborative
Operations Center. Field devices are installed to gather data,
and data analytics are applied to quickly identify, categorize
and prioritize issues. Common communications protocols are
established between the cement plant and ABB technical
centers, as well as with the corporate headquarters for further
financial analysis and decision-making. Integrated digitalization
helps to improve asset availability and operational efficiency.
Asset and operational information is collected and analyzed at
Collaborative Operations Centers to identify, categorize and
prioritize actions.
Collaborative efforts of a multidisciplinary team are needed
in order to effectively troubleshoot, diagnose or optimize
process dynamics. In addition, the highly advanced sys-
tems in use to support plant operation may also require the
involvement of specialized expertise, often represented by
an external supplier. Unfortunately, collaboration between
personnel from different disciplines, locations and organiza-
tional boundaries is often hindered by the fact that the infor-
mation needed to solve the problem at hand is hidden within
numerous information silos. Knowledge workers in process
operation still spend too much time searching for data in
information silos or proprietary tools. Many companies also
lack the organization and work processes to support multi-
disciplinary collaboration, and therefore tend to execute work
based on a relay race approach instead of as a collaborative
effort. Digitalization, Internet of Things, Big Data, Artificial
Intelligence and Virtual Reality are some examples of rapidly
developing areas of technology with high impact on how
industrial processes will be operated in the future. Normal
operations are usually already highly automated and will be
CEMENT INTERNATIONAL 4 4/2018 4 VOL. 16
Figure 6: Collaborative Operation

even more automated in the future. Tasks like fault detec-

tion, diagnosis and process optimization are becoming more
complex. Many of those tasks can be best handled by inter-
disciplinary teams with broad expertise and knowledge about
process, plant, operations, maintenance, networks, sensors
and actuators. Collaborative Process Operations makes it
possible to efficiently bring disciplines together to focus
on the problem at hand. Big Data and Artificial Intelligence
tools support teams and make them as efficient as possible.
Previously isolated control rooms become networked control
centers for the Industry 4.0 high performance work force.
Work environments must support collaboration at all levels
and support high performance work around the clock [7].

Connect to experts (both from ABB and Enterprise Head-

quarters) anytime, anywhere to make the best data-driven
decisions possible (� Fig. 6). 3

LITERATURE

[1] Feldmann, R.; Hammer, M.; Somers, K.; Niel, Joris van.:
Buried treasure: Advanced analytics in process indus-
tries. McKinsey & Company, https://www.mckinsey. PROCESSING
com/business-functions/operations/our-insights/buried-
treasure-advanced-analytics-in-process-industries. (Re-
trieved on 2018-04-08)
[2] Jouret, G.: ABB Ability is changing the way we do busi-
ness. ABB Review (2017) No. 3, pp. 8–12.
[3] Gallestey, E; Colbert, C.: Mine of the future. ABB Re-
view (2014) No. 3, pp. 6–11.
[4] Wilson, A.: Integrated quality assurance from the quarry
to the raw meal silo. ZKG International (2013) No. 10,
pp. 40–49.
[5] Gallestey, E.; Lundh, M.; Alloway, T.; Martini; R.: Demys-
tifying MPC and how to deploy it with ABB’s Extended
Automation System 800xA. ABB Review (2014), No. 3,
pp. 52–59.
[6] Arantes, J.; Kiener, M.; Marcelo, C.P.: Maximizing
alternative fuel benefits with Expert Optimizer. ZKG
International (2010) No. 3.
[7] Hollender, M.; Graven, T.-G.; Partini, J.; Schäring, P.:
Process Operation 4.0. atp edition 59 (2017) No. 5,
pp. 52–58.

CEMENT INTERNATIONAL 4 4/2018 4 VOL. 16 25

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