Coal Management Module (CMM) for power plant

Importance of coal management in power plant is very much significant and also one of the most critical areas in view of plant operation as well as cost involvement, so it forms an important part of the management process in a power plant. It deals with the management of commercial, operational and administrative functions pertaining to estimating coal requirements, selection of coal suppliers, coal quality check, transportation and coal handling, payment for coal received, consumption and calculation of coal efficiency. The results are then used for cost benefit analysis to suggest further plant improvement. At various levels, management information reports need to be extracted to communicate the required information across various levels of management. The core processes of coal management involve a huge amount of paper work and manual labour, which makes it tedious, time-consuming and prone to human errors. Moreover, the time taken at each stage as well as the transparency of the relevant information has a direct bearing on the economics and efficient operation of the power plant. Both system performance and information transparency can be enhanced by the introduction of Information Technology in managing this area. This paper reports on the design & development of Coal Management Module (CMM) Software, which aims at systematic functioning of the Core Business Processes of Coal Management of a typical coal-fired power plant.