During the last few years, the building materials sector is facing several challenges:
– A very large commercial offer in a context of crisis with prices that tend to be lower;
– Increasing weakness of the demand
– Presence of the informal sector.
Therefore, the structured companies are called to go through a process of continuous improvement. An upgrading of the production tool is necessary in order to make them more and more competitive and to ensure their durability.
To face manufacturers competitiveness issue, it is mandatory to have information on the production tool’s operating mode in quasi real time. Thus, this ensures the reactivity required to face a precise technical problem. The implementation of a real-time monitoring system can in some cases increase the production of a line by more than 60% without any human or material investment. The solution also enables production quality improvment.
In order to contribute to the improvement of industrial productivity, in 2016/2017, CETEMCO conducted a development project named: “Real-time monitoring of industrial productivity and quality parameters in the building materials sector”. This project is part of the general interest activities of the Center and has received a funding support from the Ministry of Industry, Trade, Investment and Digital Economy through the Support Fund for Technical Centers “FACET”.

This project aims to support five pilot companies to improve their industrial productivity by setting up a monitoring system of industrial productivity in real time on significant productions.

The project was carried out according to the following main actions:

– Diagnosis of about ten companies interested in the project in order to evaluate their ability to adopt the system of industrial productivity monitoring in real time.

– Selection of five companies motivated and capable of adopting the system;

– Monitoring systems implementation in the production units of the selected companies and follow-up of their productivity and energy consumption

– Promotion of the project results within the building materials sector.

– AMIB (French Acronym): Moroccan Association of the Concrete Industry

– Implementation of global mechanisms for the rationalization of production processes through real-time knowledge of production quantities, production stoppages, and production delays

– Improved productivity by introducing new processes based on productivity measurement and real-time control of production rate

– Following the recording of reference situations, simple measures have allowed the gain of more than 10 productivity points. Some companies have launched action plans, which are sometimes very ambitious. More than 40 productivity improvement projects have been carried out in the five companies, with investments exceeding 120 MDh, for payback periods of no more than two years.