Consultant - indispensable partner in today’s competitive environment

In today’s cement producing industry it is more important than ever to ensure the most cost and time effective realisation of

• new green field cement plants
• modernisation of existing plants

The foundation for the correct decision is an objective view and detail knowledge of the best technologies available.

A qualified consultant can assist the client in choosing the correct decision and act at the same time as a trusted partner from initialisation of the project until reaching stable long term production. The following are some of the advantages a qualified consultant can offer to its clients;

A)

Establishing of an independent feasibility study; this is the base document for possible investors and finance institute to join in the project as well for the client’s internal management board to evaluate the project. The independence of the consultant is the guarantee of the impartiality of such studies and will be looked favourable by such decision making bodies and groups.

B)

Choosing the most appropriate process route and equipment; main plant suppliers will tend to favour their specific process technologies and may not be impartial when proposing their equipment.

Further there are several suppliers specialised in certain process plant sections only.

The consultant will develop together with the client the best suited technology by considering process efficiency, energy efficiency and environmental impact. This is unlikely realised with a single main supplier only.

Additionally the consultant will adjudicate the availability of spare parts, back-up service and equipment life cycle impartial from the supplier tendering for the project work.

C)

Selecting the most cost efficient project structure; the consultant is able to choose the most cost effective technology and equipment package irrespective of the supplier. In most cases this can result in more than 10% savings on the overall project investment costs. 

D)

Considering the present booming cement market by optimising between best technical solution and shortest delivery time. In most countries every cement produced can be sold and it is of utmost importance for the financial viability of a project to ensure the shortest possible project period or shut down period. The consultant can select for the time critical equipment (at the present moment gear boxes, fans etc.) the supplier with the shortest delivery time.

In some instances the project period for Greenfield projects can be shortened by 9 months in comparing with delivery times quoted by suppliers for the complete plant package. This way the plant is coming 9 months earlier on-line and in the present market condition this means a year production sold and income earned earlier. If required this profit made over the conventional project route may be utilised for spare parts for the first year annual shut down. Even on a relative small 2500 t/d clinker production (appr. 1,0 mill. Ton cement production) the income earned 9 months earlier is significant.

This supply advantage has been realised by ATEC as consultant in the present project of Messrs. STRABAG in Hungary where key equipment was ordered from reputable European suppliers and as general contractor CBMI was chosen. This project such realises the best technical solution with the shortest possible delivery period at significant lower project cost to total supply package offered by main plant suppliers.

E)

Providing qualified process and project personnel to cement producers; Independent cement producers are experienced in efficiently operating their existing plants. However in some cases their personnel is not experienced and trained in handling large projects over an extended project period or additional qualified manpower is not available.

Similar problems may be experienced by large cement groups which are facing numerous projects in their existing operations due to the booming cement market, stringent environmental regulations and increased energy costs.

In all those situation the consultant is able to provide the required experienced personnel to either assist an existing project group of the client or support the client by acting as an EPCM contractor (Engineering, Procurement and Construction Management).

At the present moment ATEC is acting as the EPCM-contractor for LAFARGE on the upgrading project at Wössingen Germany. The project comprises replacing existing plant sections with modern, environmental better suited technology based on the BEST principle.

F)

Providing supervisory services to cement industry new comers; faced with high cement demand and severe cement shortages even over the next years in certain market areas investors or government bodies are choosing to enter into the cement producing industry. For such groups it is most advisable to use the services of an independent and qualified consultant for the cement industry. The consultant can not only advise in all aspects of the project but in parallel is transferring specific knowledge to appointed client personnel and builds up a well trained project group which will take over the plant once it has reached stable production.

The Byelorussia government has recently appointed ATEC to fulfil such a function. Three complete cement works have been ordered from a Chinese engineering company and ATEC will supervise the whole project by establishing separate project teams in Byelorussia and China from the engineering stage until successful commissioning.

Based on the ATEC project approach there are three distinct project phases for Greenfield projects from the initial idea until successful realisation of such project in which the consultant can take over as a partner and adviser to its client.

Those can be defined roughly as:

Phase I

1. Local site inspection
2. Preliminary quarry development plan
3. Evaluation of different raw mix scenarios
4. Determination of burnability index

Phase II

1. Process design
2. Feasibility study
3. Basic engineering
4. Technical specification for main plant sections

Phase III

1. Project management services
2. Compilation of enquiry documents
3. Tender issue and coordination during tender negotiation
4. Coordination and interface clarification of all technical aspects during manufacturing period
5. Progress control and quality management during the manufacturing period
6. Supervision of erection
7. Supervision of commissioning
8. Training of plant operation and maintenance personnel

The technical information resulting from phase I will form the basis for any further evaluation and studies and has a significant influence on the project viability, process route chosen and equipment selected. It is therefore important that the collection of those data and subsequent evaluation is supervised by a qualified independent consultant. If possible investors or financing houses are requesting a feasibility study based on those data then the consultant shall be acceptable to those groups.Often test drilling, sample taking and quarry evaluation has been done by a local service company. However those data will have to be checked by the consultant to be acceptable for utilization in a subsequent feasibility study.

In the following typical scope of work is listed for the respective engineering work and may vary depending on the project.

The process design may include the following engineering work and documents:

• main process design data for each plant section
• overall fuel and energy requirements
• raw material input requirements
• estimate of consumables and plant medias
• projection on system efficiency
• heat and mass balance

The feasibility study will be based on the process data as specified above and may include:

• investment cost estimate
• operating cost estimate based on different fuel scenario
• production and maintenance personnel required
• return on investment forecast

After the feasibility study has been evaluated by the various interested parties the decision may be to continue with the project whereby specific limits and key data may be specified. This will be the basis for the basic engineering.

The basic engineering will be based on the engineering data as specified above and may include:

• mass and process flow sheets
• overall plant layout
• arrangement drawings of the various plant sections
• technical specification of the key equipment i.e. mills, preheater, kiln, clinker cooler
• single line diagram of recommended HT- and LT-plant distribution
• technical description of complete plant
• equipment list
• project plan

The basic engineering is based on certain assumption as plant and equipment influencing the various engineering is not ordered at this stage.

The updating of the engineering documents during the contract realisation and for as-built status is part of the detail engineering phase.

The basic engineering ensures that the best and most economic process route is specified. Based on these documents the client is able to proceed with the realisation of the project subject to the availability of sufficient and qualified manpower.

The client may request the assistance of the consultant in the final and third project phase for individual consulting work only or for the complete project work from compilation of enquiries until successful operation of the plant and training of plant personnel.

Independently of the scope of services provided by the consultant the following duties are intricate part of any consulting contract.

• Timely warning of any problems noticed for any part of the project work if within the consultants scope of work or not
• Recommendation of best practical and economical way of rectification existing problem areas
• Frequent reporting of the actual project status
• In all its activities the consultant has always to act as a true partner to its client and completely impartial to any of the suppliers