Industry 4.0 – are we there yet?

The world is currently experiencing the fourth industrial revolution – or Industry 4.0. This is an era of digital transformation characterised by the introduction of AI and machine learning, connectivity (the internet of things (IoT)), and big data – all of which are powered by cloud computing. To put it another way, there is much more computing power and much more storage. And, combined together, this is providing data analytics at an entirely new level. These are transformative times, with examples evident in nearly all aspects of life.

The pioneering cement producers who have integrated Industry 4.0 report remarkable benefits. Plants utilising smart sensors, IoT devices, and real-time data analytics have experienced up to a 20% increase in overall production efficiency, 15% reduction in energy consumption, and a 10% decrease in raw material wastage.1 The tangible benefits of AI-driven tools are many:

• Lower environmental impact – greater efficiency reduces fuel and power use per tonne of cement while optimising clinker quality, enabling a reduced clinker factor.
• Enhanced quality – real-time process adjustments optimise blending, fuel/raw material feeds, and pyro stability for more consistent output.
• Carbon capture readiness – stabilised flue gas composition increases CO2 concentration which simplifies carbon capture implementation – and makes it much more cost effective.
• Increased uptime – continuous monitoring and stability reduce the frequency of issues and prevents minor issues from escalating into major failures.

It is hard to imagine any other investment having a more attractive ROI. One would assume that virtually all plants would be embracing Industry 4.0 immediately, and many are, particularly for applications regarding condition monitoring and proactive maintenance. But, from the perspective of advanced process control, the cement industry is not quite there. That is the inspiration for this article. This is not intended to be an in-depth technical piece, nor is this for the purpose to promote a specific offering. Rather, the objective is to explore why the cement industry seems to be struggling to implement the latest digital technologies at speed and what can be done about it.

From Industry 3.0 to Industry 4.0 – the digital transformation of cement production

The latest estimates suggest that just 30% of cement plants worldwide have begun implementing Industry 4.0 technologies in various stages of the process. That may sound somewhat respectable, but that figure gives no indication of how far the plants have actually progressed with implementation, or even if the plant intends to rollout Industry 4.0 across the entire flow sheet rather than just isolated applications. So, what is going on here? Well, in short, it is not easy to move to 4.0 unless the plant has fully implemented 3.0 in a way that provides a solid foundation.

Let’s take a step back. Industry 3.0, also known as the digital revolution, initialised the automation and digitisation of manufacturing systems through solutions such as programmable logic controllers (PLCs). Process control focused on the automation of linear tasks, reducing manual intervention and increasing the precision and speed of processes, resulting in a marked improvement in process efficiency and an easier path to a high-quality end product.

The scope of the solutions was either specific applications such as the pyro process or perhaps even multiple applications at a site. But, with few exceptions, the solutions always stayed within the gates of the plant. Understandably, the cement industry was focused on squeezing out as much value as possible, as soon as possible, and was largely successful. But, at the same time, much less effort was given to laying the groundwork necessary to support easy adoption of 4.0.

What are the barriers of implementing Industry 4.0 at scale?

Given the capabilities of the latest APC solutions, why is it that so many plants are lagging on the adoption of smart technologies?

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Read the article online at: https://www.worldcement.com/special-reports/07042025/industry-40-are-we-there-yet/