Artificial Sand cuts costs and enhances production of manufactured sand with Life Cycle Services

Quality, quantity, reliability and cost-effectiveness: key deliverables with LCS

The quality equipment and services enabled Artificial Sand to gain an 80% market share in the thriving region of Telangana, where demand for manufactured sand is growing rapidly. Today, Artificial Sand is producing 60,000 tons of aggregates and manufactured sand per month, on average. Mr. Rama Krishna, Owner, Artificial Sand, notes, “With the installation of Metso equipment, not only are we able to save INR 3 (EUR 0.03) per ton, which annually amounts to a saving of INR 24 lacs (EUR 30,000) on our power bill alone, we are also delivering the highest quality aggregate and manufactured sand.”

Artificial Sand chose to go with a Metso Life Cycle Services agreement from the day the plant was first commissioned. The company opted to support their plant with an Annual Maintenance Contract (AMC), which is one of Metso’s LCS offerings. Artificial Sand’s aim was to deliver a quality product to its customers while keeping the plant in optimal condition. In just a short time, the company was able to capture 80% of the market share in the region and create a niche for the products it manufactured. Even with the fluctuating supply of boulders from the quarry, due to mining issues, the company was able to deliver an average of 60,000 tons of aggregates per month.

“With the experience of using Metso crushers in the past, we had no doubt about Metso’s quality products and its robust and reliable equipment. When planning to set up our own plant for manufactured sand, we decided to go for Metso’s specialized service, i.e. an AMC (Annual Maintenance Contract). In this contract, Metso not only maintains the plant neatly on their own, but it also arranges to meet the targeted production, set by us and supported by a thorough analysis of the plant. They even manage the spares inventory on their own, which does not hamper the production on site,” shares Mr. Rama Krishna. He adds, “Despite certain issues we were facing at the quarry-end, we were able to produce 60,000 tons in a month. If we could manage the boulder supply properly, production from the 250 tph Metso plant could easily increase to 80,000 to 90,000 tons per month.”

The decision to select a Metso plant with LCS has provided Artificial Sand with peace of mind, as the plant is running successfully and delivering targeted production without any hassles. Even though Artificial Sand is only producing 60,000 tons per month on average, the company estimates they will save INR 24 lacs (EUR 30,000) in a year and close to INR 1 crore (EUR 125,000) in four years, just on power consumption.

“We were not facing any issues on the quality side and the quality we were delivering was unmatched in this region. Along with this, we even estimated that the production cost of a Metso plant with LCS comes out to INR 21-22 (EUR 0.26-0.27) or at maximum, when we recycle the material, INR 23 (EUR 0.28) per ton. Any other plant’s production cost would not be less than INR 24-26 (EUR 0.3-0.33) per ton, on average. This clearly shows that we are saving INR 3 (EUR 0.03) per ton, which, if we multiply with the total production done, i.e. 60,000 tons, it comes to a savings of approximately INR 2 lacs (EUR 2,500) per month. And, annually, it comes to a savings of INR 24 lacs (EUR 30,000) on the power bill alone,” divulges Mr. Rama Krishna. He adds, “During the initial period when the crusher is purchased, it is usually on lease. And to buy a Metso crusher, we approximately spend an additional INR 2 crores (EUR 250,000) in comparison to any competitor’s crusher. However, if we purchase a Metso crusher, we can save approximately INR 1 crore (EUR 125,000) in four years, just on the power bill. Hence, buying a Metso crusher has saved us more than what we spent initially.”

Looking to the future with manufactured sand

The acceptance and consumption of manufactured sand in the region has been steadily rising. Many players in the industry were trying to take advantage of the situation and venture into the production of manufactured sand, as it was reaping large profits to the various players in the space. Artificial Sand took an early lead by investing in equipment and Metso services, which gave them an edge.

“Manufactured sand is the material that is reaping huge profits to its producers. We are one of the players in the industry who can reap this benefit and we are happy that we partnered with Metso. With Metso, we can get good quality equipment, specialized services to help maximize production, product quality and cost savings. With LCS, the spares and wears are managed by the expert Metso team on site, and we have never encountered an unplanned downtime, which previously used to take days of production from us,” divulges Mr. Rama Krishna. He adds, “Our aim is to produce 250,000 tons of manufactured sand from four more Metso plants, which we plan to buy soon. Given the current scenario, and based on the performance, we are hopeful that not only the next four, but eventually all Artificial Sand plants will be Metso plants only.”