Recent Developments in Automation of Cement Plants

Over a decade has passed since process computers were first applied to control parts of the cement manufacturing process. The path from there to the present has successes¿and failures¿along its way. Over 30 cement plants have installed such computers as part of their efforts to keep profit margins from shrinking. Progress in using these process control techniques has been largely evolutionary. Certain factors can now be identified more certainly as essential ingredients for success. Among these are the following. 1) "People factors" of the cement manufacturer stand as first in importance. These include management support, process know-how, training and supervision of operators, and an inner confidence and determination that "we can make it work." 2) Well-done interface jobs of adapting control room design and operators to each other, automation components with the process and its machinery, and plant design to fit automatic control fundamentals. 3) Designing the process to really be controllable. 4) Control hardware and software which fit the nature of this industry. Each of the foregoing factors is expanded with emphasis on how recent developments of better understanding, control functions, hardware, software, and of process and plant design are merging to help shape the future of automation in the cement industry.