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A
Ambuja
Ambuja Cement Foundation (ACF) has a long tradition of contributing to solutions on socio-economic and environmental issues. ACF engages with community stakeholders and works on two fronts: stakeholder engagement and community development
B
Bulk transportation
1st to innovate with this concept.
Currently a fleet of seven ships with a capacity of 20500 DWT ferries bulk cement by sea and thus sustains cost advantage.
C
CSR
Ambuja Cement Foundation (ACF) has a long tradition of contributing to solutions on socio-economic and environmental issues. ACF engages with community stakeholders and works on two fronts: stakeholder engagement and community development
D
Differentiation
An organisational transformation is now unlocking fresh leadership potential and unleashing creative energies.
Plant performance achieved the near impossible goal of 400 thousand tones of clinker during December 2008. It is one of the highest ever in company history.
The principles and tools developed during this pilot implementation are in the process of being rolled out to the other Ambuja plants. This will contribute to further improvement in cost efficiencies and sustained health of the plants.
E
Environment protection
At par with the best in the world. The pollution levels at all cement plants are lower than the rigorous Swiss standards of 100 mg/NM3.
F
Fly ash
Our plant in the vicinity of the Ropar Thermal Power Plant uses significant quantities of fly ash, a waste product generated by the thermal plant. It is hazardous to environment and agricultural land. Ropar will utilise 8 lakh tonnes of fly ash annually. It has become the first to implement 100% utilisation of fly ash.
G
Growth
It is embedded in our genes.
H
Holcim
Second largest in the world. This 90 year old Swiss giant has invested in Ambuja. It holds over 46% equity in ACL.
Holcim operates a capacity of over 150 million tonnes in 70 countries across continents.
I
ISO Standards
First cement company to receive the ISO 9002 quality certification. Ambuja also has ISO 14000 Certification for environmental systems.
J
Just in time
Materials and resources are monitored and managed in line with the best global practices. The outcomes vindicate the robust processes in place.
K
Kiln
Special innovations have now contributed to a further increase in productivity
L
Lowest cost producer in the world
The Company improved efficiency of its kilns to get more output for less power. Thereafter it set up a captive power plant at a substantially lower cost than the national grid.
The company sourced a cheaper and higher quality coal from South Africa and better furnace oil from the Middle East. As a result today, the company is in a position to sell excess power to the local state government.
M
Multiplier
We strive to achieve new benchmarks in operational excellence and logistics management through innovation.
Our current plant capacity is 25 million tonnes which is expected to reach 27 million tonnes by the end of 2010, resulting in a progressive increase in turnover.
N
Name dropping
Did you know that the name cement is derived from the Latin word caementum meaning rough stone. The name concrete is derived from the Latin word concretus; concretus is the past participle of the word concrescere meaning to grow together, to harden.
O
Opportunity
Our unique corporate philosophy has enabled us to cement the driving spirit of indigenous enterprise with robust Global Processes.
Thanks to this combination, Ambuja Cements has grown more than 20 times in just two decades.
P
People power
Ambuja Cements has always prided itself on its world class performance. In order to continue to deliver and improve upon performance, a project aptly titled ‘People Power’ has been launched at the Ambujanagar plant, with the aim of nurturing ‘highly productive people and healthy plants.’
Q
Quality
The only cement company to be awarded the National Quality Award in recognition of total quality management. The parameters adopted by the Government for this award are on the lines of the most prestigious international awards such as the Malcom Baldrige National Quality Award of the USA, the Demming prize of Japan and the European Quality Award.
R
Raw materials
The main raw materials used in the cement manufacturing process are Clinker, Fly Ash Metric, Gypsum, Silica, Iron ore, and Limestone. The main material, limestone, is usually mined on site while the other minor materials may be mined either on site or in nearby quarries. Another source of raw materials is industrial by-products. The use of by-product materials to replace natural raw materials is a key element in achieving sustainable development.
S
Surface miner
An Australian device to eliminate noise and vibration that is unavoidable during the conventional drilling, blasting and crushing process. This device is more energy efficient and enables more efficient recovery.
Currently Ambuja is the only company using this device in the Indian cement industry.
T
Types of cement
produced at Ambuja Cements are:
- Portland Pozzolano cement (PPC)
- Ordinary Portland cement (OPC)
PPC is manufactured by blending a mixture of ordinary portland cement and pozzolana materials such as fly ash, in proportions not less than 15 per cent and not over 35 per cent by weight of cement.
OPC contains a mixture of portland clinker and gypsum ground to a very fine powder.
U
Uses
About 75% of all the cement produced goes into ready-mix concrete, which is used for buildings, bridges, sidewalks, walls and all types of structures. The rest is used for building materials such as concrete blocks, pipes and pre-cast slabs in road building and repairs and other nation building applications.
V
Values
They are enshrined in our genes.
W
Workforce
At Ambuja, we recognise our social responsibility and aim to improve the quality of life of our workforce, their families and the communities around our operations.
The Company pursues a clear policy with regard to employment practises, occupational health and safety, community involvement as well as customer and supplier relations.
X
The unknown (X) factor
Cyclical change and market uncertainty are a given in this industry. And that’s what makes consistent performance commendable.
Y
Yin and Yang
The kiln at our Ambujanagar plant is 20 years old. Yet it keeps increasing productivity year after year. Many would consider this an impossible task, only made possible by holistic planning and innovation.
In Himachal, for instance, they've managed to push up production and bring down power costs at a plant that was already functioning above capacity.
At our cement shipping terminals in Gujarat, with a few minor modifications, they have succeeded in exporting clinker and importing higher quality and far cheaper coal and furnace oil for our captive power plants.
Our Mumbai terminal meanwhile, has increased the handling capacity to 100,000 tonnes as against the terminal’s stated capacity of 60, 000 tonnes, with no additional capital expenditure.
In the last decade we have managed to keep our power bills to 1989 levels.
Z
Zero harm
Occupational health and safety is one of the core values. At Ambuja Cements, we have allocated significant resources to strengthen the Occupational Health and Safety Management system. Efforts are on to implement OH&S pyramid elements and Fatality Prevention Elements to ensure that the "zero harm" objective is achieved.
