REPUBLIC Cement and Building Materials, Inc. plans to set up technology that would speed up quality control in all of its manufacturing sites in the country by the end of the year.
Data science would help the company determine cement compressive strength, or its ability to withstand pressure, immediately after manufacturing instead of after the usual 28 days of molding and curing, Republic Cement Vice-President of Manufacturing Lloyd Vicente said in an online event on Wednesday.
“Using the massive amount of information and data that we already have, we actually predict the 28-day compressive strength of our cement. With this information, our operations can make it quick and precise adjustments to our recipe and other operating parameters, therefore reducing our carbon dioxide emissions,” he said.
Republic Cement is already using data science in three of its sites.
“Our next steps now is to deploy these in all our sites by the end of the year. So we still have three plants to go,” Mr. Vicente said.
A batch of cement is usually tested after 28 days to ensure quality required by the Philippine government. Data science tools collect information about chemical compounds found in cement throughout the manufacturing process to predict quality.
The data science tools, the company noted, would help inform its quality managers about the raw ingredient concentrations they would need to use.
The company partnered with the Aboitiz Data Innovation team to develop data tools.
Republic Cement is a joint venture of Dublin-based building materials firm CRH Plc. and Aboitiz Equity Ventures, Inc. (AEV).
Shares in AEV on Wednesday went up 0.43% or 15 centavos to close at P35 each. — Jenina P. Ibañez
