ACC Limited was registered in Mumbai, India in 1936. It is India’s foremost manufacturer of cement and concrete. Formerly called The Associated Cement Companies Limited, its operations span the whole country with 17 modern cement factories, more than 50 Ready mix concrete plants, 21 sales offices, and several zonal offices. It has a workforce of about 9,000 persons and an extensive countrywide distribution network of over 9,000 dealers. The company has been a trendsetter and an important benchmark for India’s cement industry in many areas of cement and concrete technology. In 2005, ACC Limited became a part of the reputable Holcim group of Switzerland.What qualifies ACC as a Green company ACC Limited was ranked as India’s Most Admired Company in the cement sector by Fortune India and Hay Group India in 2013 and again in 2014. In 2013 ACC won the CII-ITC Sustainability Prize for Large Companies and was acknowledged as being one of India’s Most Sustainable Companies. This award is recognised as being among the country’s highest honours in the area of sustainable development. Three key initiatives in the last two years make ACC stand apart as being “a Green company”:
- An Institutionalising Excellence programme
- Green Building Centres
- Alternate Fuels & Raw Materials / Waste Management
The flagship project called “Institutionalising Excellence Journey” was started in January 2012.The programme, which addressed all pillars of sustainable development, aimed to deliver superior value to customers while simultaneously seeking cost leadership through improvements in manufacturing, sales & marketing, logistics and procurement of major inputs.The programme was designed to strengthen the core processes of the Organisation with a particular emphasis aimed at achieving excellence in the functions comprising manufacturing, logistics, sales & marketing, people processes and certain strategic procurement projects. The manufacturing excellence pillar includes efforts to reduce production cost through improvements in clinker factor, plant performance, thermal and electrical energy efficiencies. The programme was continued in 2013 with a strong focus on Safety and has helped the Company offset inflationary pressures by improving efficiencies, reducing operating costs and providing better customer service. Under this banner, the company is pursuing the creation of best-in-class logistics practices. On the environment front, significant reductions have been achieved in the level of CO2 emIssIons, again making us best-in-class. On the energy front, a new Waste Heat Recovery system was commissioned at ACC’s Gagal cement plant which can generate 7.5 MW of electricity using waste exhaust gases from the cement kiln. This is an important step in energy conservation. The electricity thus generated from waste heat costs only a fraction of purchased grid power.
ACC is a champion of sustainable construction, actively promoting the cause and practising it in different ways.Green Building Materials CentresACC has implemented a unique pilot project to promote sustainable construction through a business model that provides for the distribution of affordable and green building materials and transfer of low-cost technologies in rural and semi urban India in partnership with local communities. The Green Building Materials Centres provide simple and complete solutions for affordable and integrated construction solutions and also serve to provide education in good construction techniques to people from rural areas and help create business opportunities for them. The first such centres were set up in the states of Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Rajasthan in 2013. They facilitate strong partnerships within the local community, help in the creation of sustainable business models and opportunities to network with local entrepreneurs and government. ACC’s Green Building Centres function as one-stop shops for the sale of locally produced and affordable products like bricks, tiles, pavers, roofing and similar items. Training is imparted on how to produce and apply these products in the rural context. On display and sale are industrial machines which enable end-users to manufacture locally and cost-effectively. The centres familiarise customers with rural construction techniques. They come with a well-equipped quality laboratory to monitor product quality. ACC has plans to set up 10 more such centres in 2014 to reach out to a larger customer base.
ACC Green Building centres are designed as one-stop shops catering exclusively to rural customers with the following offerings:
- Locally produced, easy to use and affordable building materials like flyash bricks, blocks, tiles, pavers, roofing, walling, frames and other materials and solutions;
- Knowledge and training on how to produce and apply these products in rural settings;
- Well-equipped laboratories to monitor the quality of basic products;
- Industrial machines that enable end-users to manufacturethe products themselves and thus save money.
Key benefits of Green Building Centres
- Simple and complete solutions for the low-cost construction segment;
- Integrated construction solutions;
- Strong partnerships with local community;
- Sustainable business models and opportunities to network with local entrepreneurs and governments.
ACC has made an important beginning by setting up Green Building Centres in the states of Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Rajasthan. The company now plans to set up 10 such centres to reach out to a larger customer base.ACC Green Building Centres provide a valuable platform to enable distribution of low cost, local and environment-friendly building materials and solutions with opportunities for training and creating livelihoods. In a country which faces a massive shortage of affordable housing particularly in small towns and villages, what this project does is to redefine Affordable and Eco-friendly Construction in Rural India.Waste Management Services/ Alternative Fuels & Raw MaterialsACC actively promotes the use of alternative fuels and raw materials and offers total solutions for waste management including testing, suggestions for reuse, recycling and co-processing. It provides sustainable waste management solutions to various waste generating industries and civic bodies through co-processing of various industrial and municipal waste. The company’s portfolio of clients has further increased with new waste streams. Efforts continue to be made to reduce dependence on fossil fuel and increase the use of biomass as a renewable source of energy. The company’s initiatives of extending waste management services through co-processing in cement kilns are getting wider stakeholder acceptance. To cater to the increased requirement of co-processing services for waste management, the Company is setting up three pre-processing platforms for converting waste into acceptable quality Alternative Fuels and raw materials. The AFRs generated in these facilities will be utilised for co processing in three of our cement plants.Energy Efficient BuildingsACC has three Green buildings which includes its headquarters building, Cement House, which became the country’s first renovated building to win green building certification. With LEED Gold certification, Cement House also holds 5-Star Energy efficiency status awarded by the Bureau of Energy Efficiency Government of India, re-emphasised its energy efficiency by registering a reduction of eight per cent in energy consumed during 2013 thus recording the lowest level of energy consumption in the past six years. La Residency, ACC’s green building in Thane, formally received Platinum Certification from the Indian Green Building Council. This is a plush residential facility for delegates of ACC’s modern learning centre in Thane. The building was constructed in 1965 as a residence for ACC employees. Both buildings were used to showcase the ease of retrofitting old buildings to make them green. ACC has one other green building certified LEED Platinum which is the Central Control Room at its Chanda cement plant. A similar green building is also being built for the new Jamul cement project being implemented in Chattisgarh.
