CEE Oct-Dec 2002

' - • ' I ·' • • • I . VDZ CONGRESS 2002 - A CONFERENCE _- - 1 - WITH .A -DIFFERENCE - ( • ' [ ' I Dr. A. 1\. Clwttei:jee,.f(muer~l' ofACC, Mumbai, am/ current~}' with The C/wtte1:jee Group (TCG), /(o/!tata. ll'liS a special invitee to the Cougressji·omludia. He delivered tm invited talk 011 "B/ell(/ed Cements and Their Importance for tile 1m/ian Cement Market" at tile Congress ami participated in t!te 125'" annil'ersaiJ of VDZ. T!te following is a brief report on the Congress l'oluntari~l' pro1•ided by Dr. Clratte1:jee for the Indian cement commuui~J' ..... Ed The German Cemen tworl--.s t\ssociation (Ve rein Deutscher /emelll\\erke c.v. or VI)/'.) has been organising international congresses nn ··Proces:-. I cchnolog.~ oiTemcnt ivl <1 nu fa cturing.. ove r th e Ias t -;e\ e ra! decades. This year the Congress ''as held from 24 to 27 '-;ep tember at Du sse ldo rf in Clcrman_v. This is a technical event of global signi licance and brings out the visible progress achic\ed in the process. plant and machinery used in the production of cement. ln 1hc Congress 2002. 738 delega tes from 35 countries in lo ur cnnlinenb w~ re regi stered. The technical programme of the Congress had six thematic sessions -;prcad over three days. Ano ther interesting feature of this )Car·s Cung.rcss ''as th~ celebration oft hi.! 12."' 11 annivcr<>ary of vnz on 24 S~ptembcr 2002. Apart from the p~rrormancc or a ''ell renowned \\T'>tcrn cl<~:-.sica l conce n troupe .tnd a g.;tln dinner. there \\Cl S nn in!L'rcstilll,!. tra\ el dO\\ n-the– lllCmOr) lane through a dialogue hcl\\een <1 ce leb rated local I'V ho<.,~es:, and one or the sen iormost ~1<11\\artsofVDZ Mr. K.arll<.roboth. A ..,pccla l publicati on tracing the 12." -~ ~ar old histor; of VDL in <Ierman ''as also released on thi.! occasion. !'he sa lient points of thi ~ hi..,tor) arc hricny mentioned beiO\\. \V it h 1he start of indu~trial prnt!ucllon ol· cement in German) 1n January I R77. th e founding membe rs of the Association o r German Cemen t Manufactu rers joined together into nn independent common-int e rest group. The primary focus was on technical issues. as there were no consistent standard testi ng procedures. then. Thanks to such emphasis on quality paramete rs. the li rst stand ard on cement \\'as pub! ished the very next year 18/8. Towards th e e nd of the 19' 11 century. the usc of granulated blast furnace s lag in cement making appeared on the sce ne . The Associat ion took the in itiative of conducting" ide-ranging studies. It took ,tlmost 1ive decade~ to bring together the resu lts of all research studies lor the growth of Portland Slag Cement as a product. In the 1950s. after the war. there "as an euphoria or reconstruction. In I949 The Associntion was refounded and in accordanc~..: with the •,tatutes. the Associa ti on undertook the monitonng or cements produced by it ~ member companies in nccordance '' ith DI N 11 64. fhe Assoc iation al so lormed thre e working committees vi z.. Laboratory Comm ittee. Ra\\· Materials Committee and Technical Committee. In 1954 the Concret<' Technology Committee was added. Ther~ arc' ery fe\\ example<> in the \VOrld nf indu~try assoc iati ons engaging in suc h 1horough and 22 ' 'ide-ranging technical acti\ itics. Then came the period or mid– ccntUI) recess ion foll owed h~ the oil-cric;is of the early seventies. I he number of cement companic<> came down from 70 in 196() to .J-9 in I075. But the spirit ofjoi nt '' t1rk ing continued. Only the focus shifted to energy conserva ti on. fhe \\ ct– proces~ kiIns "ere sh ut down. The uni t ki In capacity ''as raised from 350 to 2400 tpd on an average. In 1977 the lnrgest s uspen s ion preheatcr kiln or 4000 tpd came nn stream in South Germany. It may be worthwhile to mention here the role of the A~sociation in en\ ironmental protection. It is recorded that. as early as I0JO. ,1 ..Dust Committee" was set up b: the Association . In 19."0 a dust measu ri ng stati on was <>et up . I: rom those days of dust emiss ion at the level orJ- 5 per cent or product ion. the achievement of the currentlc\'cl nf Ill JO mg/Nm 1 i-; a success <>tor~ ofglobal socictnl signilicancc. ln 1968 an accident pn::\ention commission was formed \1 hich ushered in the sakty cul tu re in the German cement industry. The rc~carch st udies of VI)/ have al\\ays com111anded great respec t in the industr) and ahn amo ngst the o;;cien tt sts and techno logists a ll O\ cr thc '~orld. Today the Research Inst itut e in Dusseclorf is an a~sct not onh to the count ry but also to the \\'Orld at \ .....