A big ‘Thank You’ goes out to all of our teams for continuing to develop and implement their ideas that will help make CEMEX a safer place to work, with better quality and greater efficiency/effectiveness.

The following summary gives a brief overview of the ideas from the August 2022 competition:

• Yorkshire Readymix team – Undertakes a monthly “Safety Stand Down” delivered by the Plant Managers to increase understanding and engagement.
• Brighton Wharf – Moved a pipe in the middle of the Sand plant that created an obstruction, especially carrying tools and equipment.
• Bramshill quarry – Purchased large concrete block to barricade the site entrance during out-of-operational hours and help minimise current high levels of trespass.
• Angerstein Wharf – Introduced a pedestrian system incorporating a ‘Green / Red’ man to show when it is and isn’t safe to cross over the walkway.
• Midlands (Hereford) Readymix – Purchased a cheap wireless CCTV system that allows the Loading Shovel Operator to see inside the receiving hopper via a screen in the cab and confirm that it is clear of build up before replenishing material. This has helped eliminate cross-contamination.
• Berkswell quarry – Have worked with Metso to increase Crusher metals wear life from 42 to 150 hours, reduce kilowatt demand from 55kw to 45kw per hour, and better predict replacement schedules /times.

Our congratulations go out to Berkswell quarry who narrowly took the top award this month!

After donating their first competition win prize to help the people of Ukraine, the team has stormed to another victory with their work to improve the costs associated with their Crusher.

The initial wear life for a set of crusher metals was 42 hours with an electric kilowatt demand of 55kw per hour which was not sustainable. The manganese was of low grade.  Packing was occurring within the crushing chamber due to poor discharge chute design which increased kilowatt demand and wear.  Lack of void within the material grading allowed crushing to occur.  There was excessive loading on the Crusher head from the weight of material above, and an incorrect crusher metal profile.

After working closely with Metso over a two-year period to create a sustainable crushing operation, the team achieved the benefits:

• Increasing the wear life per set of metals from 42 hours to 150 hours (over 350% improvement).
• Reducing the kilowatt demand from 55kw to 45kw per hour (18% reduction).
• Refurbished an old Crusher head to allow for quicker changeovers and reduce Downtime.

For more detailed information on their improvements, please go the Ideation Portal

In the photo: The team is receiving their Tesco gift cards.