42

Sites across the UK

1,600

Sensors

Looking for a solution to build on

CEMEX is one of the world’s biggest producers of building materials, with operations in more than 50 countries. Its industrial-scale plants and equipment consume large quantities of electricity at hundreds of production facilities, quarries, distribution centres and marine terminals. Any energy savings and efficiencies, when applied throughout its operations, would deliver huge financial and production benefits.

Savings on an industrial scale

Centrica Business Solutions initially deployed its energy insights solutions at three CEMEX locations in the UK. The deployment involved applying wireless, self-powered sensors to monitor a range of essential machinery, including pumps, conveyors and crushers. 

The live data was transmitted to Centrica Business Solutions’ cloud-based analytics platform, PowerRadarTM, providing unique, comprehensive and real-time insights into energy consumption and asset performance, identifying inefficiencies, wastage and giving an overview of the overall health of the assets. 

Managers could see immediately that the granular data and accompanying reports enabled them to swiftly identify opportunities to save energy, to fix under-performing or faulty equipment and to organise its maintenance programmes more efficiently.

The results

Detailed analysis showed that an aggregate conveyor motor at one of CEMEX’s quarries was overloading and tripping out, creating a bottle neck in the process. Fixing it immediately increased production.  When added to further energy saving measures made possible by the PowerRadar analysis, the solution delivered significant annual savings.

As a result, CEMEX rapidly expanded the use of energy insights with more than 1,600 sensors now monitoring equipment at 42 of its UK quarries.