Following the successful implementation of the SLV Cement dispatching and logistics flow control package at the Jaypee Rewa Plant, Cachapuz Bilanciai Group together with the local partner String Automation Pvt Ltd was asked by Jaiprakash Associates Ltd (part of the Jaypee Group) to consider a project at the company’s Baga works. The aim was to improve the clinker dispatching and raw materials reception processes to optimise the plant’s dispatching capabilities.

However, this project presented a number of challenges. After a site visit to study the processes concerned and the main requirements, Cachapuz/String Automation realised that some of the main issues faced by the plant were related to its geographical location. The works is located in the Himachal Pradesh mountains in the northern region of India. With limited space and rough terrain, few and narrow roads to access the plant and a no truck parking zone. As such, trucks have to wait on the side of the road before they can access the plant premises, delaying the efficient turnaround of dispatches. Hence, finding a way to dispatch trucks in a quicker and more organised manner would yield a number of advantages, including:

• Improvement of inbound/outbound processes
• Avoidance of bottlenecks and accidents
• Reduced manual operations and human error.

During the plant visit, Cachapuz/String analysed on-site operations and was able to verify that were several areas, processes and bureaucratic procedures for each loading/unloading operation that take place inside and outside the plant. These procedures required resources (time and manpower), caused delays and were prone to errors because they consisted of numerous manual interventions and inputs.

Moreover, the Baga plant managed its data and processes via several nonintegrated systems, some of which were manual. This caused interruptions to operations and did not allow for a centralised consultation and analysis of the existing information.

Therefore, the new system needed to offer a more integrated approach and the connection between SLV Cement and SAP ERP was seen as essential to creating an integrated and vertical solution for the Baga plant.

The integration with the ERP of the customer is always one of the most important parts of any SLV Cement installation, including the Baga project. For this particular project, Cachapuz/String were able to count on the full support from Jaypee Rewa and JILIT IT SAP teams, which already had developed a crucial role in the implementation of SLV Cement for the Jaypee Group at the first Rewa works. For the Baga project, this previous experience and know-how, together with the full support and understanding of the Baga dispatching processes from the plant’s resident IT team, was leveraged to complete and stabilise this component of the project in the shortest time.

SLV Cement was integrated with SAP ERP so that the master data and planned operations can be synchronised to SLV Cement (products, customers, vehicles, etc) and the result of each loading and unloading operation (date and time, tare, gross and net weight, etc) can be synchronised to SAP ERP. Most of these processes are performed by SLV Cement automatically and in online mode by using the integration modules, which are synchronised and use standard technologies for heterogeneous systems integration: web services and RFC.

Additionally, the operators can obtain master data and planned operations manually using SLV Cement front-end modules, reading from SAP the necessary data to complete the check-in of the truck drivers. The operator validates the documentation from the driver, registers the check-in operation in SLV Cement, associates an RFID tag to the operation and delivers it to the driver. The driver uses the RFID tag to indentify himself in each zone of the plant and in each process, like the self-service weighing and loading processes. By using the RFID tag for identification purposes, the need of repetitive validation of documents by the operators in all the zones is avoided and the time to complete the operations is reduced.

All the methods and functions necessary for the integration between SAP and SLV Cement were developed in SAP with the support of JILIT headquarters and the collaboration between all the teams involved played an important role in the success of this new Indian project.

In the clinker loading silos three large information panels are installed to automatically call the trucks to load, as well as five SLV cement clinker loading kiosks, which allow the tare and gross weights of the operation to be obtained directly in the silos weighbridges. These kiosks are designed to be used by the operators in the silo, who can access all necessary information about the loading operation, including the truck licence plate, transporter name and requested amount, by presenting the RFID tag delivered to the driver. If all the weighing conditions are met, SLV Cement automatically registers the tare weight and synchronises this information with SAP (weight-in operation). The operator can then start the loading operation, monitoring the net and gross weights directly on the multimedia touchscreen display of the kiosk.

At present, the loading operation is controlled manually by the operator, but these kiosks are ready to be upgraded and connected to the loading automation system of the spout, allowing SLV Cement to automatically control the loading operation and accurately load the correct amount of clinker, based on the requested amount on the loading memo. After the loading operation, the net and gross weights are automatically synchronised to SAP (weight-out operation) and the driver can exit the loading silo and collect the prepared documentation from the dispatch office.

An SLV Cement digital signage kiosk was installed in the dispatch office, providing useful information for clinker loading monitoring. This module can be applied in several areas such as maintenance and control rooms, truck drivers’ waiting rooms and office, and, due to the flexibility and configurable features offered, can be used for different purposes depending on the project and customer requirements. The SLV Cement digital signage kiosk and its 42’’ LCD screen can be configured with different types of information in various formats such as charts, tables, web pages, IP cameras monitoring or videos and can automatically refresh its contents at preconfigured intervals.

In the Baga project, this kiosk was installed in the dispatch office to allow the monitoring of the clinker silo loading operations and also the performance of the dispatch processes. The users sitting in the office are able to see the progress of each loading and weighing operation by seeing in real-time the front-end of all the kiosks installed in the five loading lines. The users can also see the messages presented to the operators/truck drivers, the amount of clinker being loaded, the transporter name, the loading memo information, among other important data.

Because of the flexibility of the software front-end, the kiosks can be mounted in “landscape” or “portrait” position and the type and number of different panels displayed can be changed as necessary. In this case, besides the monitoring of the five loading lines, the kiosks were configured to display a chart with the number of trucks dispatched per hour during the current day and also a table with the list of the pending operations (with the check-in and loading memo stages completed).

The improvements achieved in the processes automated by SLV Cement are particularly in the areas of raw materials handling and the clinker dispatch. According to Jaype Baga officers, in the case of raw materials there has been a reduction in the number of processes required as now: “Check-in and Gatein is done in a single step through SLV Cement” and “Weight-out, Check-out and Gate-out is a single operation by showing the RFID tag to SLV Cement Kiosk, which was previously done in 2-3 process.” The weighing operations are now performed in self-service mode, which has allowed “time saving at weighing operations because weight of vehicle is done instantly by just showing the RFID tag to SLV Cement Kiosk”.

Regarding clinker dispatches, Jaypee Baga officers state that: “after the implementation of SLV Cement, the clinker dispatch has been improved from what we were doing previously, by SAP, by doing many processes like Check-in, Gate-in, Loading Memo in a single step through SLV Cement for clinker. Checkout and Gate-out are also done instantly by just showing the RFID tag to the SLV Cement Kiosk for clinker”. In this case it was also possible to save time in the weighing operations and “there is an overall reduction in total TAT [turnaround time].”