DG Khan Cement selects Schneider Electric for latest production facility

ISLAMABAD: DG Khan Cement Company Limited, Pakistan's leading cement manufacturer, has chosen Schneider Electric to provide a comprehensive electrification solution for its latest production facility.

DG Khan Cement Company's Balochistan plant will use a range of smart hardware, software and services that will not only ensure the site is fully powered, but also to work towards optimizing power usage to make the facility more energy efficient and sustainable.

Schneider's EcoStruxure equipment is internet-of-things enabled, allowing the operations team a full view of energy usage across the factory. Artificial Intelligence-powered software will help the company to take a predictive approach to maintenance, resulting in a facility that is much more productive.

Owned by Pakistan's Nishat Group, the DG Khan Cement Company is amongst the top three cement manufacturers in the country with a national market share of over 13 percent. The company has four production lines capable of producing over 8.2 million tons of cement annually.

The Balochistan plant is Pakistan's largest cement production site and has a capacity of 10,000 tons per day. DG Khan Cement is constructing both a 10MW waste heat recovery and a 30MW coal fired power plant, which are set to start electricity generation in December 2020 and March 2021 respectively.

"The most important criteria when selecting a solution was to have green technology that's state-of-the-art and which will help us improve our energy efficiency. It's important to us that we work with reputable suppliers who have a presence on the ground and a history in the country," said Raza Mansha, CEO, DG Khan Cement Company Limited.

Speaking during the signing, DG Khan Cement Company's Technical and Operations Director Dr Arif Bashir added: "Our goal is to monitor and manage power across our infrastructure efficiently, find electrical faults sooner, fix issues quicker, and achieve a faster return on investment. Thanks to Schneider Electric for introducing energy efficiency solutions that will improve performance."

The hardware supplied includes low and medium voltage equipment, special dry type transformers and speed drives. Power meters and sensors will help provide data to the operations team on equipment performance. Uninterruptible power supply devices will provide backup power. All of the hardware is Internet-of-Things enabled and will share essential information about energy usage and efficiency levels.

EcoStruxure Power Monitoring Expert (PME) software will be used to help maximize uptime and operational efficiency across the facility by maximizing operational lifecycle efficiency by using Artificial Intelligence to model power usage. Thanks to EcoStruxure Asset Advisor, the plant's equipment will be monitored 24/7 by Schneider Electric's Connected Services Hub, and management will be able to see performance data and recommended actions through an application on their phone. Any issues will be flagged immediately and rectified on-site.

"This plant will ensure that DG Khan Cement Company is catering to the energy requirement of its cement production site and can continue to meet the needs of Pakistan's construction industry for the years to come.

"We are delighted to be able to play a role in making this facility a leader when it comes to technology & innovation," said Humayun Akhlaq Country General Manager, Schneider Electric Pakistan.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2020