Nigeria’s Dangote Cement PLC Turns to GE to Digitize Its Cement Plants

GE (NYSE: GE) and Africa’s leading cement producer signed an agreement to deploy GE’s Asset Performance Management (APM) digital solution to reduce unplanned downtime and enhance performance at its two cement plants in Obajana and Ibese, Nigeria. The project includes extending the current service agreement for an additional 50,000 operating hours for the seven GE LM6000PC aero-derivative gas turbines installed at the sites. GE’s total plant solutions will improve efficiency, reliability essential to continuous operations and the plants’ business strategy.

“Power supply is both a key input and in our manufacturing process,” said Ravi Sood, Operations Director, Dangote Cement Plc. “Operational performance is crucial to our cement plant’s overall productivity, directly affecting end products. Being at the front of cement production in Africa, we believe extending our services agreement with GE and the introduction of digital solutions will allow us to improve efficiencies, anticipate further reductions in unplanned downtime and become more self-sufficient in power production in a country which, with approximately 190 million inhabitants, is the most populous country in Africa and the seventh most populous country in the world.”

APM leverages cutting-edge technology to monitor the performance of power generation assets to reduce downtime, avoid turbines damage and remotely predict and resolve issues. APM sensors will be installed not only on the seven aero-derivative turbines but also on their associated generators and gearboxes to predict and accurately diagnose issues with greater accuracy before they occur.

“Energy infrastructure is getting smarter, and digital solutions allow not only the shift from traditional calendar-based repairs to predictive maintenance, but they also increase power asset availability and reliability,” said Elisee Sezan, CEO for GE’s Gas Power businesses in sub–Saharan Africa. “We are proud to continue our 13-year collaboration with Dangote Cement to help them support Nigeria and other African countries towards achieving self-reliance and self-sufficiency in the world’s most basic commodities.”

The agreement underscores GE’s commitment to work collaboratively with its customers using the APM software to optimize their performance of assets, increase reliability and availability, minimize costs and reduce operational risks. Earlier this year, GE announced the first digital solutions order in sub-Saharan Africa for Azito in Ivory Coast improving power plant output, reliability, availability and operational performance.

About Dangote Cement Plc
Dangote Cement is Africa’s leading cement producer with existing operations in 10 African countries. With a fully integrated quarry-to-customer producer with a production capacity of up to 45.6 million tonnes per annum (Mta) across Africa at the end of 2017, it has operational facilities in Cameroon, Congo, Ethiopia, Ghana, Senegal, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Tanzania and Zambia. With some of the finest engineers on the continent; their innovative minds and dedication to operational excellence are what enable Dangote Cement to achieve such high productivity on its assets, to the benefit of customers and shareholders alike.

About GE
GE drives the world forward by tackling its biggest challenges. By combining world-class engineering with software and analytics, GE helps the world work more efficiently, reliably, and safely. For more than 125 years, GE has invented the future of the industry, and today it leads to new paradigms in additive manufacturing, materials science, and data analytics. GE people are global, diverse and dedicated, operating with the highest integrity and passion to fulfil GE’s mission and deliver for our customers.

About GE Power
GE Power is a world energy leader providing equipment, solutions and services across the energy value chain from generation to consumption. Operating in more than 180 countries, our technology produces a third of the world’s electricity, equips 90 per cent of power transmission utilities worldwide, and our software manages more than forty per cent of the world’s energy. Through relentless innovation and continuous partnership with our customers, we are developing the energy technologies of the future and improving the power networks we depend on today.

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