Wonder Cement: “Our Cements Have Extended Durability”

Mr. Vivek Patni

Mr. S.M. Joshi

Wonder Cement is a part of R.K. Marble Group, a family owned business entity based in Rajasthan. The antecedents of the group, as the name denotes, continued to produce and market marbles for real estate sector. Few years back, it decided to venture into production and marketing of cement by setting up its first greenfield cement facility at picturesque, Nimbaheda village in Chittaurgarh district of Rajasthan with an annual capacity of 3.25 million tons per annum amounting to (1,80,000 bags per day). The company has business presence in the states of Rajasthan, where it claims to have a market share of 8 percent with fifty percent of the produced cement sold in the state, followed by Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi and Punjab supported by a network of approx. 2400 dealers, marketing 70% of the products to the retail market. Buoyed by the steady demand from the infrastructure sector, Wonder Cement has embarked on a second phase expansion, backed by its captive limestone reserves for more than 100 years. The expansion entails a capital investment of Rs.1500 crores, doubling the present capacity. The new plant is expected to be commissioned in 3rd quarter of FY-2015. The company expects to monetize its expansion based on the quality production process, which it will incorporate in the new production line. P.P. Basistha had an opportunity to interact with Mr. Vivek Patni, Director, Wonder Cements and Mr. S.M. Joshi, President-Works and, following a visit to the plant with Mr. Dinesh Kumar, General Manager (Production) to have an elaborate insight on the company production systems that it claims to producing high strength durable cement. Excerpts:

Rising cost of raw materials inputs, mainly coal, has made it challenging for cement producers. This is coupled with the fact that inward based plants like yours have minimal accessibility to imported coal having higher gross calorific value as compared to coastal based cement plants. How are you addressing the situation and providing cements at competitive costs and yet attaining plant efficiency?
Yes! We are at a disadvantage, located almost inside 800 kilometers from the nearest Sea Port as compared to coastal based plants. To address this, we are using pet coke in place of bituminous coal with high sulphur content. Pet coke is cheaper than other fuel and requires less gypsum. It provides higher calorific value of 8000kl/kg as compared to 4000 kl/kg for bituminous coal. This provides us a cost advantage. Coupled with this, we are looking towards attaining plant efficiencies right from the sourcing of limestone to final production process deploying state-of-the- art technologies. Being located in Rajasthan, we are at an advantage of accessing higher volumes of limestone reserves. Based on the nature of hard stone, we mine the lime stone through- drilling-blasting and excavation process, with equipment, operated and maintained by us, delivering high uptime. We have chosen the three tier process as compared to cost intensive surface mining process, which otherwise is not feasible for our mines involving higher maintenance costs. This is followed by crushing of limestone at our 1500 TPH horizontal shaft impactor crushing plant. Raw materials sourcing and refining is considered to be the most important stages in cement production. This is carried out by our VRM technology, supplied and installed by Pfeiffer while equipment for Pyro processing and clinker grinding is done by ThyssenKrupp equipment. Latest packaging technology has also been installed at the plant. Other auxiliary equipment are sourced from the best of the industry, enabling us to attain plant efficiency and deliver quality cements at competitive prices.

Cement is chiefly a commoditized product. How do you look to leverage your brand through attaining the desired quality and specified product in accordance with the requirements of the contractors?
Advanced technology employed in our process is once again the key differentiator to meet the desired quality specifications for the construction contractors. We produce three variants of cement comprising OPC-43, 53, and PPC. High strength and Durability are the key deliverable character of any cement brand. Resultantly, this is the key differentiator among cement brands. Strength development and Durability has to extend across the project cycle beginning from its construction, when the cement actually goes in through a process stages followed by the remaining life of the project. Many of the competition brands have an early strength low durability; however they fail to perform in the long run. To have extended durability, it is quite essential that during the cement production stages, distribution of the particle size has to be uniform, further the testing has to be consistent across the stages of production. We have put in place, cross belt analyzer which tests every limestone piece being mined. It verifies the required quality and size.

Based on the analysis made, the uniformity in particles is made. State- of-the-art Thyssen Krupp separator eliminates the unwanted particles. Our state-of-the art robotic laboratory with AQCnet software created through sizeable capital investments ensures that the right grade of cement is produced providing high strength and extended durability.

Based on the trend of mix design concept of EPC contractors as required for core and industrial projects, requiring high final strength, do you provide certification for your cements?
Our testing laboratory is having accreditation from NABL. Further, we also provide our own certifications to the contractors using our cements. For concrete mix design-led quantity of cement is required when Wonder Cement is used, which gives substantial advantage to construction contractor.

Commensurate to production expansion, how are you expanding your distribution? Are you looking towards the ready mix concrete market having high concentration in the markets of Gujarat, Maharashtra, Delhi, and NCR?
We are looking towards expanding our dealership network distributing the products through two hundred depots. We are also planning to make our presence in the growing southern market. However, we will keep focusing on retail sales with maximum concentration in Rajasthan as we are able to attain best price realization here. Transporting cements beyond 500 kilometers does not make it feasible for us. Hence, we will focus on local concentration and will keep marketing our cements to contractors. We do not intend to enter into ready mix concrete market as of now.