Smart cement manufacturing! Huai’an Southern Cement has won another award—system-wide digitalization and end-to-end intelligent operations are driving the company’s transformation and upgrade.

Recently, the “Intelligent Cement Production Control” project of Huzhou Huai’kan Southern Cement Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as “Huai’kan Southern”) was awarded the First Prize in the 2021 Technological Innovation Awards of China National Building Material Group.
To thoroughly implement the Made in China 2025 initiative and advance the digital and intelligent transformation and upgrading of the cement industry, while effectively putting into practice the strategic vision for the sustained modernization of the cement business—emphasizing digitalization, intelligence, green practices, and high-end development—proposed by Zhou Yuxian, Chairman of China National Building Material Group, Huai’an Southern has partnered with Sinoma Bangye (Hangzhou) Intelligent Technology Co., Ltd. and Tianjin Cement Industry Design & Research Institute Co., Ltd. to establish a deeply collaborative co‑construction model. Guided by the principle of balancing cutting-edge technology with cost‑effectiveness, this partnership is advancing intelligent manufacturing, rigorously identifying the digital and smart needs of cement production and operations, and exploring a roadmap for the digital and intelligent transformation and upgrading of the cement industry.

The intelligent production‑control system is built on cutting‑edge technologies, including fully automated laboratories and online analytical instruments, a full‑lifecycle smart equipment‑maintenance platform, an end‑to‑end intelligent real‑time optimization and control platform powered by APC, big data, and AI algorithms, and a digital production‑control platform based on the industrial Internet’s dual mid‑platform architecture. By deeply integrating best‑in‑class management practices such as Huai’an Nanfang’s Three‑Precision Management, lean manufacturing, and TPM (Total Productive Maintenance), it collaboratively establishes an intelligent manufacturing ecosystem that covers the entire cement production and operations process.
It innovatively implements a digital and intelligent transformation and upgrade of its production and operations model—“underpinned by data intelligence, safeguarded by smart operations and maintenance, and driven by intelligent manufacturing to enhance efficiency”—enabling automated plant operations, visualized management, proactive fault prevention, end-to-end coordination, and data‑driven, informed decision‑making, thereby helping to build a world‑class smart cement plant. Leveraging the data visualization, advanced analytics, and decision‑support capabilities offered by the cement smart manufacturing ecosystem platform, it optimizes resource allocation and production process control parameters, boosts operational efficiency, elevates product quality, and reduces operating costs.
 
System-wide digitalization and end-to-end intelligentization are driving Huai’an Nanfang’s transformation and upgrading.
By leveraging a domestically developed BIM-based 3D design and EPC construction management platform, the production line is seamlessly migrated to a digital MES platform for production control upon digital handover. The digital platform integrates over 500 equipment models, 6,687 real-time DCS data points, 1,620 energy‑monitoring data sets, 1,596 online vibration and temperature measurements, 2,918 offline inspection records, video feeds from 258 high‑definition cameras, 26 fully automated process‑quality‑control datasets, and 18 environmental‑emission data streams—totaling more than 13,800 data items. A time‑series big data repository and standardized data‑lake interfaces have been established to automatically collect multidimensional, heterogeneous data, while a data‑collection standards framework for the Southern Cement Group has been formulated. This enables 100% automated collection of production data and ensures 100% interoperability and integration across all subsystems.
By deploying advanced online analytical instrumentation, we have achieved a CNC‑enabled equipment rate of over 96%, an automated production data‑collection rate exceeding 98%, real-time quantitative monitoring of key kiln‑process parameters, and high‑frequency process‑quality data acquisition, enabling predictive quality management and closed-loop control. Furthermore, we have fully integrated seven existing information systems—including the legacy one‑card system and office automation platforms—providing a unified big‑data repository to support 21 newly deployed subsystems for intelligent control, equipment management, energy management, and quality assurance. This has enabled the seamless integration of heterogeneous data across all production‑operation processes, including manufacturing, energy use, quality, equipment, maintenance, spare parts, performance, cost, and procurement, with a production digitalization integration rate of 98%. Standardized data collection, digitized production processes, and visualized operational management lay a solid foundation for the full implementation of lean manufacturing and the “Three‑Precision” management approach.
Based on a big data warehouse, leveraging AI and advanced big data analytics algorithms, the system aggregates multi-dimensional data and automatically generates and delivers routine meeting reports, analytical reports, and monthly operational reports. It also provides quantitative performance evaluations of production line operations, conducts intelligent early‑warning analysis for critical equipment, and consolidates key resources to focus on and manage weak points, ensuring that digitalization, visualization, intelligence, and data‑driven decision‑making are integrated across the entire production and operational process.
 
By introducing state-of-the-art, fully automated laboratories and online monitoring and analytical instruments, the rate of real-time data acquisition has reached over 98%, establishing an initial closed-loop data chain. This ensures stable raw material quality, enables real-time quantitative monitoring of key process parameters in the calcination stage, and supports high-frequency collection and automated capture of process‑quality data. Equipped with closed-loop optimization algorithms for raw meal quality control and predictive models for clinker free calcium and 28‑day strength, the system has evolved into a comprehensive, end-to-end process‑quality management platform. As a result, process‑quality data is fully traceable, with raw meal quality pass rates improving by more than 10% and clinker quality pass rates increasing by over 15%.
Tailored to the safety and environmental management needs of cement enterprises, an information‑based safety and environmental management platform has been established, enabling real-time monitoring of environmental data throughout the production process, real-time tracking and early warning for workplace safety, mobile‑device notifications, and digitalized oversight, inspections, and compliance management. This enhances the efficiency and timeliness of safety‑related operations. Complementary policies have been put in place covering safety production, safety training, safety inspections, and emergency response planning, while also supporting online safety training and the development of a comprehensive safety and environmental knowledge base as well as occupational health management systems.
Establish an end-to-end, information‑driven production‑operation management platform that integrates manufacturing, energy, equipment, quality, safety and environmental protection, and performance metrics. This platform enables real-time visualization of the production process, delivers instant alerts for abnormal data, supports root‑cause analysis and traceability, and provides quantitative evaluation of production‑operation performance. It facilitates the timely identification of weak links, automatically generates optimal production scheduling and dispatch plans, and progressively evolves into a decision‑support tool for production operations, thereby further advancing the depth and sophistication of intelligent applications.
Through the digitalization, informatization, and intelligentization of its production lines, Huai’an Nanfang has comprehensively empowered production managers at all levels, fundamentally transforming the working methods of frontline staff and bringing about a qualitative shift in the overall production model. Operators have evolved from mere “operators” to “supervisors”; inspection personnel have moved from fixed‑route patrols to targeted inspections; and data‑entry staff have transitioned from simple form‑fillers to verification specialists. Digital technologies have effectively broken down information silos among employees, managers, and the shop floor. Looking ahead, Huai’an Nanfang will remain committed to a path of high‑quality, sustainable development driven by digitalization, informatization, and intelligentization, exploring technological pathways for the digital and intelligent transformation and upgrading of cement enterprises, thereby supporting Shanghai Nanfang’s smart‑upgrade initiative and helping it achieve its “dual first‑class” goals at an early date.
 
Huai’an Nanfang’s initiatives in intelligent and digital transformation and upgrading have delivered high‑quality, efficient, and resource‑conserving production, enhanced overall energy efficiency, and deepened the seamless integration of next‑generation information technologies—such as artificial intelligence, the industrial internet, and big data—with the cement industry across equipment, processes, manufacturing, management, and services. These efforts exemplify a concrete shift toward digital, green, and intelligent production models, significantly bolstering the company’s competitive edge while serving as a model for advancing and exploring intelligent development in the cement sector, with broad implications for replication and wider adoption.