Tokuyama reported Sept. 1 that seven cement mills at its Nanyo plant improved productivity and reduced power consumption by adopting ABB’s Ability Expert Optimizer advanced process control (APC) software. The deployment enabled process control, stabilization and optimization, including achieving a better-than 90% automatic operating rate in its finish mills.

Following an initial test deployment on one finish mill in 2024, Ability Expert Optimizer was implemented on six more, including four cement ball mills and two vertical mills that perform pre-grinding and slag processing. Thanks to an earlier kiln optimization in 2022, Tokuyama had already reduced specific heat consumption by 3%, and cut manual operator actions on the cement kiln by 70%.

In addition, Ability Expert Optimizer helped Tokuyama establish an efficient production framework. This improved grinding throughput by 3%, and reduced specific power consumption by 3%, while maintaining stable operations.

“When we first introduced Ability Expert Optimizer for test purposes, results were clear, and the project was completed smoothly,” says Junya Doi, engineering section manager in Tokuyama’s cement manufacturing department. “We decided to extend use of the solution to the entire cement mill process.”

Hiromichi Yoda, local division manager for Japan in ABB’s process industries division, adds, “Ability Expert Optimizer delivered a level of control at the Nanyo plant that not only emulates operator actions, but enables process stabilization and optimization at the same time. The continued implementation of advanced digital solutions for Japanese industries supports a desirable pathway to autonomous operations.”