A group company of an industrial pioneer, SANKO Holding, Cimko Cement Plant has a long-standing past track. Aiming at “sustainable efficiency” for 24 years, the plant stands out with its recent environment and energy investment.
As Çimko Çimento a group company of SANKO Holding, you have a long-standing past track of 24 years. Could you talk about your story of incorporation? What is the capacity of your current plant? Could you inform us about your turnover, number of employees and position in the industry?
Breaking into the industry by privatization of Adıyaman Cement Plant in 1995, SANKO has continued to grow by opening the Narlı Plant at the end of 2007. Being a group company of Sanko Holding, Cimko has cornered the market and region with its Adıyaman, Kahramanmaraş Narlı Cement Plants, Gaziantep packaging facility, Kilis packaging facility and 21 concrete plants in the region.
With its 3,300,000 mt/year production capacity, Narlı plant is one of the plants in Turkey, which has the largest capacity with one manufacturing line. Adıyaman plant is our plant which stands out the competition with special products, particularly Oil Well Cement and sulphite-resistant cement.
Cimko plants have a clinker production capacity of 4,000,000 mt/year and cement of 6,000,000 mt/year.
Our company steers the industry with striking investments and alternative efficiency improvement applications. It is one of leading cement companies in cement and clinker export.
As Cimko Cement, what activities are you carrying out to maintain sustainability in your plants?
We define main target of our company as “Happiness”. Happiness of employees is our core subject in order to maintain sustainability. We think and see that this target encompasses all other targets. Happiness is ranked first in our KPI list.
Each Cimko plant creates difference by being an energy-efficient plant in line with the target “Sustainable Efficiency”. Energy efficiency, namely production by using lesser energy, enables us to make a difference not only in the meaning of reduced production costs but also the preservation of the environment.
Equipped with modern equipment, and with the operations reached the process excellence, our Çimko Narlı plant is the plant, which has the lowest CO2 and NOx emissions in Turkey. Particularly, the current level we achieved in NOx emission (<500 mg/Nm³) is the best practice in the globe.
For the last two years, we have been using alternative fuels and alternative raw materials in our Narlı plant. Currently we achieved a level of 10% of our total fuel consumption. Our target is to reach a 40% substitution level in the next 3 years. Even with the 10% substitution level, we eliminated waste disposal of 80.000 mt/year.
Especially, we made a great progress in production of special products in our Adıyaman plant. We produce and offer our Turkish and international customers Oil Well Cement in our plant located in Southeast Anatolian region. This exclusive cement used in the deep wells is a product requiring a high level of precision in terms of cement, production and quality targets. Our capability of producing successfully this cement is, for us, an indicator of the high level we achieved. Our target in terms of quality is to offer our customers a product which is always top-quality.
As part of Sustainable Performance, we will mainly focus on Industry 4.0 and digitalization in the period to come. Just like any other issues, our top management guides and supports us on this issue.
Could you inform us about investments in environment and energy in the recent years?
We also regard the investments made for energy efficiency as an environmental investment. Our environmental and energy investments in the recent years mainly consist of automation system and NOx reduction in Adıyaman, and solid waste crushing-conditioning facility with a capacity of 200 mt/d, wet waste sludge feed system with a capacity of 200 mt/d and ORC Waste Heat Recovery Plant (WHR) with a generation capacity of 7 MWh in Narlı. Also, we persistently continue in investments aimed at OHS excellence in all our plants.
Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC) WHR System we commissioned in June, is a system used for the first time in our country. While turbine is driven by water steam in other similar plants, ORC system uses an organic liquid to drive this cycle.
What advantages does CTP’s ORC technology, used in Cimko Plant for the first time in Turkey, provide?
We procured the ORC plant from CTP firm. Installation of the plant was completed in 13 months. Without exception, entire equipment of the plant is European origin. We generate around 12% of our total electricity consumption from this plant.
Energy generation efficiency of ORC system is 2 points higher compared to water steam systems. In addition, we have found out that it has significant advantages in terms of maintenance costs during our feasibility studies.
ORC system stands out also in terms of operational safety. No operator is needed to operate it. Our kiln operators only monitors the system.
What are your opinions about the current outlook regarding the increased costs during 2019 from the perspective of the industry?
Just like other sectors, the current economic conditions, particularly the increase in energy prices, struggles the cement sector, too. We have to do the right things, find new methods and develop different perspectives.
70% of our costs consists of energy. Industry procures its energy mainly from foreign countries. Increased coal and electricity prices, coupled with the situation of foreign exchanges and market shrinkages forces the cement producers to make cost savings, review their ways of work. Alternative fuels, alternative production methods, innovative technologies, new and special product creations, etc. are indispensable actions for the industry.
I think that it is very important to clear the way for, and widen the horizons of, especially young managers and manager candidates in terms of our present situation and the future of our industry. Traditional management methods are outdated and underperforming from now on. Change is a must! Those who will apply new and alternative methods shall be adaptable and/or young brains.
Thanks to its long-rooted experience, cement industry has a very solid structure, having knowledge on the ways to overcome challenges. By adapting to the conditions of the period to come, by placing ever more importance on R&D and Innovation, our industry shall overcome this challenging period.
What are the important technological developments and innovations in the cement industry in the recent years?
In the recent period, WHR investments gained traction. Another priority of the industry is the investment necessary for alternative fuels and raw materials.
There are many academic studies and industrial trials in practice to produce alternative products in order to minimize the clinker consumption and its impacts on the environment. The primary example for this is the cement called LC3 (Limestone calcined clay cement) produced using calcined clay.
On the other hand, CO2 Capture is also one of the attractive innovations as it is an environment-friendly and alternative fuel, in particular.
In the period to come, it is evident that Industry 4.0 applications will steer the industry. Digitalization, robotic devices, smart plants are among important technological developments.
Could you talk about the steps you have taken in Occupational Health and Safety? What are the core points of your policy in this respect?
Where the ultimate target is Happiness, our Company is committed to Occupational Health and Safety without compromise. Our both plants were successfully passed 5-star audit of British Safety Council in June. Our purpose is to ensure motivation with the aim of 5-star and, beyond that, start steering OHS management using unorthodox modern-scientific methods. BSC audit questions our OHS management style from this perspective. And we observe that we have accomplished our aim.
This great success we achieved in OHS is an operational excellence, we think. Statistically speaking, the highest number of occupational accidents occur in the premises where unforeseen failures occur, unscheduled maintenances are done, the production is interrupted, emergency interventions are made, and employees work overtime very frequently. In our plants, production and maintenance activities are done following a schedule.