The cement industry has been TAKRAF India’s mainstay in the last 5 years and will continue to be a priority sector for the company in the coming years.  

“Since completing our first installation six years ago, we have supplied more than 150 machines,” says Kalyana Krishnan Gopal, Sales Director. “A full range of stackers and scraper-type reclaimers have been developed to meet specific customer requirements. Currently our market share in India for this type of equipment is around 50%. Customer satisfaction has resulted in several repeat orders. We have also supplied equipment to cement plants in Africa and the Gulf countries.”

With India forecasting healthy GDP growth of around 8% over the next few years, the Indian cement industry is in a comfortable position. The country’s fast-growing economy requires a more intensive pace of development in infrastructure. India is the world’s second-largest cement producer, but its per capita cement consumption is still a paltry 180 kg, whereas in other merging economies like China or Brazil, the figures are 1,100 kg and 290kg respectively. Blessed with massive local limestone reserves, the Indian cement industry is poised to grow at a staggering 10% over the next 10 years.

TAKRAF’s success stems directly from its R&D work on new equipment enabling important advances in plant operating performance and end product quality. TAKRAF has been a supplier of stockpile equipment for bulk materials for many years. Synchronized stacking and reclaiming are essential for proper blending in cement plants. TAKRAF India has developed special equipment to stack the limestone in a pre-programmed sequence and reclaim the material as a representative sample of the stockpile. This method ensures that the limestone conveyed out of the stockpile is blended to a high degree. Due to the high level of automation and safety features on the equipment, stockpiling and reclamation operations are fully automated, controlled from the cement plant DCS.

“2010 was a good year for us,” says Gopal. “We began with a major breakthrough right here in Chennai. For years, Madras Cement had been buying from our competitor. In January, they chose Tenova TAKRAF to supply three large circular blending systems for limestone and one longitudinal system for coal. Two of the circular systems have a 100 m diameter, the third system has an 82 m diameter. “Nine months later, when Madras Cement wanted to procure two longitudinal systems with portal scrapers, they chose us again.”

“Vicat, a major French cement maker, recently set up their first cement plant in India, in Karnataka. After lengthy technical discussions, in the first half of 2010 they ordered six machines from Tenova TAKRAF for their cement plant. Six months later, they ordered two machines for their captive power plant.

“In 2009, we made inroads into Chettinad Cement on their brown field expansion project near Chennai. Chettinad Cement again chose Tenova TAKRAF for their Greenfield project in Karnataka. So far we have supplied Chettinad Cement with 14 machines, and the customer is expected to set up two more plants in the second half of 2011.”