A comprehensive Metso plant solution is said to be enabling India-based ARN Blue Metals to produce more top quality aggregates in less time. Guy Woodford reports
How to grow production to meet greater customer demand while keeping operating costs manageable? It’s a question familiar to quarry operators worldwide.
ARN Blue Metals, a subsidiary of the ARN Group, is an Indian company whose search for the answer to the above led them to a
Businesses like ARN Blue Metals need to act fast. India’s aggregate production industry is evolving faster than ever, as the increasing demand for roads, housing and infrastructure in the country has triggered an urgent need to produce more and more high-quality, consistent raw materials at competitive prices, all while keeping one eye on minimising environmental impact. The ARN Group, based in Tiruchirappalli in the Tamil Nadu state, is a reputed name with interests in automobiles, civil construction and real estate. In 1995, the ARN Group established ARN Blue Metals to support the aggregates requirements of the group.
“We work with the state government on various projects. To meet the tight schedules and quality parameters, we required a reliable source for raw materials like concrete and aggregates. Hence, we built our own supply chain. It was backward integration to maintain frontline delivery with our customers,” Paneer Selvam, managing director and proprietor of ARN Group, explains.
ARN Blue Metals operates two quarries and two batching plants to feed aggregates and ready-made-concrete (RMC) for its projects. According to Selvam, ARN has always focused on quality to differentiate itself.
“We laid roads in Tuticorn Port Trust in 2004, and we have been appreciated for our work even ten years later. We built the Ramanathapuram bypass, which is still the talk of the town as we have never compromised with quality,” he says.
But with its rapid growth, even ARN found it challenging to secure a reliable, high-quality channel of aggregate.
“We were producing 15,000 tonnes per month, but even that was not enough as we had to source the aggregates for our projects from outside. There was the constant challenge of maintaining quality and quantity,” Selvam explains.
In addition, ARN was facing other common aggregate crushing industry challenges, such as lack of skilled manpower to operate machines, increased downtime, high maintenance levels and high costs.
“We operate in a region where there is an acute shortage of trained manpower to operate machines. The workers damage machines during usage, due to lack of proper training. With business growing and more projects in the pipeline, we wanted solutions that offer high-quality output, low maintenance and maximum availability. We were looking to scale up our aggregate production with manageable operating costs.”
All the above considerations laid the foundation for ARN’s partnership with Metso. According to Selvam, ARN wanted to partner with a company who understands their business challenges and can provide sustainable solutions for future growth.
“We partnered with Metso, as their global knowledge, experience and sustainable solutions are an answer to our challenges. They understand the aggregate business and their customer-centric approach makes them market leaders.”
Metso’s first complete retrofit solution for ARN Blue Metals was supplied in January 2013. It includes a Nordberg C106 jaw crusher, a Nordberg GP11FC cone crusher with IC automation, a Nordberg CVB1540 II D P primary screen, and a Nordberg CVB1845 IV D product screen and a feeder.
The unit’s total production has exceeded 500,000tonnes in a span of 20 months, with an average production of 30,000tonnes/ month. The maintenance cost/tonne for spares and wear parts is low.
“We used to run our crushing operations for 20 hours a day to produce 15,000tonnes per month.
The maintenance costs were high, and plant availability was low. We wanted to scale up our production to 30,000tonnes per month. Metso has helped us to achieve those figures. Now we reach 30,000tonnes per month with the plant operating for only 10 hours a day. The maintenance is low and ensures maximum plant availability. We are satisfied with the performance of the plant. The support of Metso’s robust service network makes us confident,” Selvam says.
The partnership between Metso and ARN Blue Metals is now even deeper. In February 2015, Selvam inaugurated a second Metso plant featuring a Nordberg C106 jaw crusher, a Nordberg GP11FC cone crusher with IC automation, and a Nordberg CVB1845 IV D product screen and a feeder.
Like its first Metso plant, the second plant is said to have been performing to ARN Blue Metals’ expectations.
“ARN Group is growing fast, and we needed solutions to meet our internal demand. We had confidence in Metso solutions and decided to take the partnership to the next level. Metso solutions are best for performance under harsh conditions with minimum maintenance and maximum plant availability. We are now crushing 60,000tonnes per month with both plants, while operating only 10 hours a day. We use 80% of our production for our own requirements and the remaining 20% is for sale. The quality of Metso’s solutions is unparalleled,” Selvam proclaims.
“Our company is the only owner of two Metso solutions in this region and in five adjacent districts. Our commitment to quality and tight delivery schedules makes us stand out from the competition. We depend on Metso solutions for meeting the requirements of our customers,” he concludes.
CRUSHING
2 x Nordberg C106 jaw crushers
2 x Nordberg GP11FC cone crushers with IC automation
SCREENING
1 x Nordberg CVB1540 II D primary screen
2 x Nordberg CVB1845 IV D product screen
GP Series cone crushers
The Nordberg GP11FC cone crusher with IC Automation is a key part of the second Metso plant installed for ARN Blue Metals in early 2015. The optimised design of the Nordberg GP Series castings is said by Metso to enable the use of a higher power rating than any other cone crusher with an equal head diameter. The castings design together with premium quality Metso components make it possible to maintain high crushing performance in the toughest conditions. Claimed high crushing forces, excellent cavity geometry and proven kinematics result in first-class end-product shape and increased production of required end-product fractions.
The cone crusher’s dynamic setting control is said to maintain excellent, stable end-product quality. The crusher setting can be continuously adjusted under load in all Nordberg GP Series cone crushers. Meanwhile, Metso IC Automation maintains a high power draw and compensates for liner wear during crushing without interruptions.
Overall, Nordberg GP Series crushers are said to deliver when your aggregate or mining process requires high reduction, first-class cubicity or great capacity.
