EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Ready mix concrete is a modern trend of introduction in the Asian Countries. It

is already introduced long before in the European Countries. It is new concept
of use concrete in the construction area. Ready mix concrete has advantages in
the area where immediate requirement of concrete mixture like in the
preparation of bridge overhead roads on or the road construction. In India
there is a hopeful to get good scope of RMC within short period. The batching,
mixing, transportation, placing, compaction, finishing and curing are very
complimentary operations to obtain desired good quality concrete. The good
quality concrete is a homogeneous mixture of water, cement, aggregates and
other admixtures. Admixtures are chemical mixtures that are added to
concrete to enhance its performance is some fashion. Admixtures are
materials other than cement, aggregate and water that are added to concrete
either before or during its mixing to alter its properties, such as workability,
curing temperature range, set time or color. Some admixtures have been in
use for a very long time, such as calcium chloride to provide a cold-weather
setting concrete. Others are more recent and represent an area of expanding
possibilities for increased performance. Not all admixtures are economical to
employ on a particular project. Also, some characteristics of concrete, such as
low absorption, can be achieved simply by consistently adhering to high quality
concreting practices. The aim of quality control is to ensure the production of
concrete of uniform strength in such a way that there is a continuous supply of
concrete delivered to the place of deposition, each batch of which is as nearly
like the other batches as possible. India is the second largest producer of
cement in the world after China.
 CHAPTER- 1
INTRODUCTION
1.1 INTRODUCTION
In line with its strategy to develop its Aggregates& Concrete business in emerging
markets, Lafarge acquires 66 highly efficient concrete plants located across India. It has
key market sin Delhi, Kolkata, Mumbai and Bangalore, with total estimated volumes of
4.1Mm3 in 2008and a market share of approximately 25%.Lafarge has established itself
as the leader in the Indian ready-mix concrete market. The ready-mix concrete market is
still in an early stage of its development in India, but offers strong growth and value
creation potential. The Indian construction market is developing to meet significant
demand for new housing, urbanization and infrastructure .India offers strong potential
for introducing innovative products. Lafarge boasts the world's leading research facility
in building materials and has developed innovative, value-added concrete products over
the last ten years which contribute to improving construction methods and working
conditions on building sites. One of Lafarge's key strategic focuses today is innovation
in concrete, which translates into an accelerated roll-out of value-added concrete
products in both developed and emerging markets. Lafarge will be aiming to offer the
Indian market its most advanced and value creative solutions for construction. "Lafarge
was the first in its industry to move into Aggregates and Concrete in a significant way,
over 10 years ago, and to develop a unique expertise in creating value in the Concrete
business." The recent start-up of operations at Lafarge's first Greenfield ready-mix
concrete plant in Raipur, in the state of Chhattisgarh and marks a decisive step in
Lafarge's strategy to grow its presence in the Indian ready-mix market. Lafarge is
already present in India in its other businesses and is investing to develop its Indian
operations, in order to accompany market growth. In cement, Lafarge has emerged as a
major player in the eastern region of India, with a cement production capacity of 5.5
million ton sand a strategic plan to more than double its presence in the next five years
through Greenfield projects in several regions. In Gypsum, Lafarge is already supplying
the Indian market and is currently building a plasterboard plant near New Delhi,
Rajasthan, with an annual capacity of around 10 million m. Lafarge Cement currently
holds the leadership position in Eastern Indian markets, producing high performance
blended cements in Portland Slag Cement (PSC) and Portland Pozzolona Cement (PPC)
variants. Lafarge enjoys high brand equity through its different brands; Lafarge
Concreto, Lafarge Duragard and Lafarge Cement.
 Few things are more aggravating to produce on a worksite than concrete. Bags of cement,
sand, aggregate (gravel) and possibly other additives must be delivered to the construction
area. A supply of clean water is also necessary, along with a
rentedconcrete mixing hopper. Even after all the dusty and heavyingredients have been
loaded into the hopper, one small error in the wet/dry ratio can render an entire batch of
concrete unusable.One common solution to this messy and time-consuming problem is

READY MIX CONCRETE

Ready-mix concrete (RMC) is a ready-to-use material, with predetermined mixture of
cement, sand, aggregates and water. RMC is a type of concrete manufactured in a factory
according to a set recipe or as per specifications of the customer, at a centrally located
batching plant. It is delivered to a worksite, often in truck mixers capable of mixing the
ingredients of the concrete an route or just before delivery of the batch. This results in a
precise mixture, allowing specialty concrete mixtures to be developed and implemented on
construction sites. The second option available is to mix the concrete at the batching plant
and deliver the mixed concrete to the site in an agitator truck, which keeps the mixed
concrete incorrect form. In the case of the centrally mixed type, the drum carrying the
concrete revolves slowly so as to prevent the mixed concrete from "segregation" and
prevent its stiffening due to initial set.

However, in the case of the truck-mixed concrete, the batched materials (sand, gravel and
cement) are carried and water is added just at the time of mixing. In this case the cement
remain sin contact with the wet or moist material and this phase cannot exceed the
permissible period, which is normally 90
minutes.The use of the RMC is facilitated through a truck-mounted'boom placer' that can
pump the product for ready use at multi-storied construction sites. A boom placer can pump
the concrete up 80 meters. RMC is preferred to on-site concrete mixing because of
the precision of the mixture and reduced worksite confusion. It facilitates speedy
construction through programmed delivery at
site and mechanized operation with consequent economy. It also decreases labour, site
supervising cost and project time, resulting in savings. Proper control and economy in use of
raw material results in saving of natural resources. It assures consistent quality through
accurate computerized control of aggregates and water as per mix designs. It minimizes
cement wastage due to bulk handling and there is no dust problem and therefore, pollution-
free. Ready mix concrete is usually ordered in units of cubic yards or meters. It must remain
in motion until it is ready to be poured, or the cement may begin to solidify. The ready mix
concrete is generally released from the hopper in a relatively steady stream through a
trough system. Workers use shovels and hoes to push the concrete into place. Some
projects may require more than one production run of ready mix concrete, so more trucks
may arrive as needed or additional batches may be produced off site and delivered.

However there are some disadvantages of RMC to, like double handling, which results in
additional cost and losses in weight, requirement of go downs for storage of cement and
large area at site for storage of raw materials. Aggregates get mixed and impurities creep in
because of wind, weather and mishandling at site. Improper mixing at site, as there is
ineffective control and intangible cost associated with unorganized preparation at site are
other drawbacks of RMC. There are always possibilities of manipulation; manual error and
mischief as concreting are done at the mercy of gangs, who manipulate the concrete mixes
and water cement ratio. The first ready-mix factory, which was built in the 1930s, remained
in a standstill position till 1960s, but continued togrow since then. The leading ready-
mix concrete supplier world wide is the Mexican concrete and cement companyCemex,
and their main competitor is France-based Lafarge. The Ready mix concrete business in India
is in its infancy. Where as in developed countries, nearly 70 per cent of cement consumption
is in the form of ready mix concrete and 25 per cent in the form of recast, in India, ready mix
concrete accounts for less than 5 per cent and as much as 82 per cent of cement
consumption is in the form of site-mixed concrete. While 70%of cement produced in a
developed country like Japan is used by Ready Mix concrete business there, here in India,
Ready Mix concrete business uses around 2% of total cement production. There are several
reasons for this. In early 70s both pricing and distribution of cement was controlled due to
shortage of supply. Ready mix concrete technology could not be implemented as investors
felt that Ready mix concrete plant will starve due to non-availability of cement. The levy of
additional taxes & duties on RMC, entry tax, excise duty also contributed to the slow
development of the concept. The growth of RMC is predominantly driven by demand from
the metro cities. In cities like Mumbai,
the mandatory use of RMC is in construction of flyovers provided the requisite impetus to
growth, according to an ICRA analysis. RMC is particularly useful when the
buildingactivity is located in congested sites where little space isavailable for siting the mixer
and for stock piling of aggregates. The use of RMC is also advantageous when only small
quantities of concrete are required or when concrete is to
be placed only at intervals.Even as the concept of ready-mix concrete (RMC) is stillcatching
up in the country, cement majors are keenly
focusingon entering the new area in a big way. Anticipating huge potential for the product,
cement majors, including Associated Cement Companies, Grasim, L&T, India Cements,
Priyadarshini Cements, Chettinad Cement and Madras Cements, are foraying into the RMC
business and the share of RMC is expected to go up from present levels of around 5 per cent
of the total cement production to the global average of 70 per cent, according to industry
players. The teething troubles has been overcome by the RMC Industry and at present there
are over 37 RMC plants delivering over one lakh cubic meters of mixed concrete every
month. RMC plants are working in Delhi area also. Envisaging higher demand, the16.4-
million ton cement major, ACC is planning to beef up its existing RMC infrastructure of 11
units with two new RMC units - one at Noida and the other in Mumbai, during the current
year. During the last fiscal, Madras Cements set up two RMC plants near Chennai, with a
capacity of approximately 9
lakhcubic metres, while Chettinad Cements installed an RMCfacility near Coimbatore.
Grasim's RMC business accounted for a turnover of Rs 116 crore during 2003-04, against a
turnover of Rs 59.8 crore during the previous year.

For growth of the industry, government bodies, private builders, architects/engineers,

contractors, and individuals required to
bemade fully aware about the advantages of using ready mixconcrete, government
bodies/consultants needs to include ready mix concrete as mandatory in their specification
for execution, government specifications for CPWD and PWD jobs should include Ready mix
concrete as a mandatory item. A part
formthis tax breaks are required for the growth of RMC anddevelopers/contractors needs to
be discouraged from piling up materials like metal, sand etc. on roads/foot paths.

OBJECTIVE OF THIS PROJECT

The objective of this study is to identify items which can be declared as disposable items.
This will help in improving working capital, reducing the storage, handling costs and various
indirect costs being incurred by Lafarge in maintaining such non-usable Items. The project
here by helps to understand the inventorys maintained by
Lafarge cement and categorising them as movable and non movable items. It also helps to
understand the valuation of items, how much the stock
of inventories Lafarge cement maintains and how it uses them

The Objectives of the study are as follows

Identification of companies which are power intensive

Study and understand their power requirement and its magnitude
Analyze the ways in which power is used by the company
 Analyze the companys background i.e. its credit rating history, its bankers, its
performance and some other factors
If the power used by the firm is bought at an expensive rate, then the firm
organization in concern is a potential target for future negotiation and the
whose process is called a deal origination

Scope:

The scope of the study was limited to the power intensive sectors. Initially, some of the
state and centre governed enterprises were discussed such as the railways but then their
power requirement was excessively high and supposedly doesnt have the capacity to fulfill
such a high requirement of electricity. Thus firms which are power intensive and their power
requirement were in the range of 100 to 500 MW were chosen. Thus, the scope of the study
was limited to firms whose power requirements were in line with the capacity up to which
can supply.

HISTORY

Ready mix concrete was first patented in Germany in 1903,

itscommercial delivery was not possible due to lack of transportation needs. The first
commercial delivery was made in Baltimore USA in 1913.The first revolving drum type
transit mixer was developed in 1926.

In 1931, a RMC plant was set up for the construction of Heathrow airport, London. In the
mid 90s there were
about1100 RMC plants in UK consuming about 45% of cement produced in that country. In
Europe in 1997 there were 5850companies producing a total of 305 million cusecs of RMC.
In USA by 1990, around 72% (more than 2/3 rd) of cement produced was being used
by various RMC plants. In Japan first RMC plant was set up in 1949.
By1992 Japan was the then
largest producer of RMC, producing 18196 million tons of concrete. In many other countries
of the world including some of the developing countries like Taiwan, Malaysia etc, RMC
industry is well developed.

Development in India
In India RMC plant arrived in 1950s and use was restricted to only major construction
projects such as, Bhakra dam was the first projects were RMC was used. Later on RMC was
used for other large projects such as construction of long span bridges, industrial complexes
etc. The first RMC plant was set up in Pune in 1993.
Ready mix concrete is a modern trend of introduction in the Asian Countries. It is already
introduced long before in the European Countries. It is new concept of use concrete in the
construction area. Ready mix concrete has advantages in the area where immediate
requirement of concrete mixture like in the preparation of bridge overhead roads on or the
road construction. In India there is a hopeful to get good scope of RMC within short period.
The batching, mixing, transportation, placing, compaction, finishing and curing are very
complimentary operations to obtain desired good quality concrete. The good quality
concrete is a homogeneous mixture of water, cement, aggregates and other admixtures.
Admixtures are chemical mixtures that are added to concrete to enhance its performance is
some fashion. Admixtures are materials other than cement, aggregate and water that are
added to concrete either before or during its mixing to alter its properties, such as
workability, curing temperature range, set time or color. Some admixtures have been in use
for a very long time, such as calcium chloride to provide a cold-weather setting concrete.
Others are more recent and represent an area of expanding possibilities for increased
performance. Not all admixtures are economical to employ on a particular project. Also,
some characteristics of concrete, such as low absorption, can be achieved simply by
consistently adhering to high quality concreting practices. The aim of quality control is to
ensure the production of concrete of uniform strength in such a way that there is a
continuous supply of concrete delivered to the place of deposition, each batch of which is as
nearly like the other batches as possible. India is the second largest producer of cement in
the world after China. Cement and ready-mix concrete demand is dependent on the level of
construction activities. Construction activities are in turn closely related to a number of
macroeconomic factors such as consumer spending, population growth, manufacturing
sector growth, inflation rates, government spending etc. The construction industry is the
second largest industry in India after agriculture. It accounts for about 11% of Indias GDP. It
makes significant contribution to the national economy and provides employment to large
number of people. Construction constitutes 40% to 50% of India's capital expenditure on
projects in various sectors such as highways, roads, railways, energy, airports, irrigation etc.
There are mainly three segments in the construction industry like real estate construction
which includes residential and commercial construction; infrastructure building which
includes roads, railways, power etc; and industrial construction that consists of oil and gas
refineries, pipelines, textiles etc. Building material is any material which is used for a
construction purpose. Many naturally occurring substances, such as clay, sand, wood and
rocks, even twigs and leaves have been used to construct buildings. Apart from naturally
occurring materials, many man-made products are in use. According to a study by
ASSOCHAM, the burgeoning Indian construction industry, currently worth $70 billion, will
rise to US$120 billion by 2010. The Ready-mix concrete business in India is in its nascent
stage. In a developed country 70% of cement produced is used by the Ready-mix concrete
industry. However, in India, the Ready-mix concrete industry uses less than 10% of the total
cement production. A large and growing middle class population of more than 300 million
people, a changing life style, better cost of living etc is growth drivers for this sector. There
is good scope to venture into this field for new entrepreneurs. Few Indian Major Players are
as under: A C C Concrete Ltd. Ahlcon Ready Mix Concrete Pvt. Ltd. Ahluwalia Contracts
(India) Ltd. Ashoka Buildcon Ltd. Grasim Industries Ltd. Larsen & Toubro Ltd. Madras
Cements Ltd. Prism Cement Ltd. R D C Concrete (India) Pvt. Ltd.

SCOPE OF READY MIX CONCRETE

Long, Long years ago, their where simple houses but in 21st
century we can see houses constructed in R.C.C. Thereforeconcrete got more importance th
en any other constructionmaterial. So the use of concrete is increasing day by day. For
construction most of the contractors and builders have to collect the raw materials required
for the construction before starting actual works. These materials should be stored at the
site properly. This technique can be possible when there will be more empty space at the
construction site which is not
possiblein congested areas. At this time there is one solution toovercome all these problems
that is nothing

READY MIX CONCRETE.

By using R.M.C we can save the time and money required

for the labours. In following places ready mix concrete can beused:-
1.Major concerting projects like dams, roads, bridges, tunnels, canals etc.

2.For concreting in congested areas where storage of materials is not possible.

3.Sites where intensity of traffic makes problems.

4.When supervisor and labour staff is less.
5.To reduce the time required for construction etc.
6. Huge industrial and residential projects.
COMPANY OVERVIEW

Lafarge currently has four cement plants in India : two integrated plants in the state
of Chhattisgarh , one grinding station each in Jharkhand & West Bengal. Total cement
production capacity of Lafarge in the Indian market currently stands at around 6.5 million
tons. Lafarge India produces different types cements like Portland Slag Cement, Portland
Pozzolana Cement. Lafarge Cement is famous all over the world for its premium quality and
has been used to build many landmark buildings, structures globally. The company is a
leading cement player in Eastern India. Its brands Lafarge Cement and Lafarge Concreto
Cement enjoy high brand equity here and are amongst the highest priced brands. Lafarge is
committed to the Indian market and has firm plans to expand its capacity in India. Lafarge
cement is available through a large dealer network, throughout eastern India- in the states
of West Bengal, Jharkhand, Bihar, Chattisgarh, Orissa and North-East States.

Lafarge Cement is also available in parts of Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra (Vidarbha
region), Part of Uttar pradesh, Andhra Pradesh &National Capital Region
 Research Methodology

Research methodology basically included data from the internet, their interpretations and
reading and analyzing the companys annual report. Understanding their power requirement
and the rate at which they purchase power from whatever source. It basically includes
understanding the entire sector followed by the analysis of major companies present within
those sectors. Understanding the growth rate of the sector and co relating it with those of the
companies, the sale records of the companies, comprehending the expansion plans of the
companies and studying and forecasting their future requirements were all the necessary
analysis in the project.

Salient Features

The Indian Cement industry with a total capacity of 190m tonnes in FY08 is the
second largest producer after China
Since top five players control almost 50% of the capacity, the balance capacity still
remains pretty fragmented

Quantitative Details

Specific thermal and electrical energy consumption for the plants ranges between 692
879 kCal/kg. of clinker and 66 127 kWh/ton of cement produced
In last ten years, this sector has recorded a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of
eight percent, against the world cement industry average of 3.5 %
The industry is highly power intensive and in some power plants the electricity cost
nearly 35% of the total manufacturing cost
There are a total of 124 large plants and 365 small plants
Production from large plants (with capacity above 1 MTPA) account for 85% of the
total production
 Many new plants now have a state-of-the-art dry process technology- the energy
intensity of the all the dry process plants (cost of energy as percentage of total
production cost of packed cement) varies from 29 to 61%
The best reported energy performance figures in the world re 65 kWh/t of cement and
650 kCal/kg of clinker whereas the best in India is 69 kWh/t of cement and 665
kCal/kg of clinker

Annual compound growth rate of primary performance indicators

Indicators (1988-89) to (2006-07)

Installed Capacity 7.09
Production 8.09
Capacity Utilization 0.93
Exports 35.38
Per Capita Consumption 9.35

Production in India in million metric tonnes in the year 2006-07 and

2007-08
10
8
6
4 Series1
2
0

2006-07
2007-08