PLANT-ENGINEERING

The main tasks of plant engineering include ensuring the reliability of all the equipment which is necessary for operation of the main units and therefore for the smooth flow of the entire production process. These systems sometimes account for 25 to 30% of the total investment. Investment costs can only reduce by increasing the reliability of the individual items of equipment. Savings in operating costs can be achieved by automating the systems, by the use of more efficient individual machines, by reducing wear by planned maintenance, by cutting back shift work, and by reducing time lost through industrial accidents. Development and optimization work is currently focused not only on appropriate layouts for new plants, but also on improvement of quarry operation, and on improvements in the storage and blending of primary materials and finished products, in the transport of materials between individual operating departments and plant sections, in packaging and despatch, and also in general in auxiliary systems, such as in the treatment of cooling water or the production and use of compressed air.